It has hit the headlines that the number of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) is at an all-time high. Here, we delve into the stats to find out what the most common difficulties faced by pupils are.

We also show the drop in the number of “coordinated support plans” - which give pupils with special needs the legal right to support - that is causing campaigners to call on the Scottish government to carry out an “urgent review” of how local authorities are supporting pupils with complex and high level needs.

• The number of pupils with an additional support need (ASN) hit 199,065, according to last year’s pupil census
• That’s an increase of an 8 per cent on the 2017 figure of 183,491 and an increase of 68.6 per cent on the 2012 figure or 118,034
• Now, children with ASN - which range from learning disabilities to mental health problems - make up 28.7 per cent of the pupil population
• A more detailed breakdown of the figures will be published later this year, but the 2017 figures show the vast majority of pupils with ASNs - over 90 per cent - are educated in mainstream primary and secondary schools all of the time
• The most common additional need in 2017 was social emotional and behavioural difficulties (39,642), followed by pupils for whom English is an additional language (30,135)
• Boys were more likely to have an additional support need than girls, with roughly 60 per cent of those with ASNs in mainstream schools male in 2017
• The rise in pupils with ASN comes as specialist teacher numbers are falling. ASN teacher numbers dropped from 3,248 in 2012 to just 2,733 in 2017
• Also concerning those campaigning for better support for children with special needs is the fall in coordinated support plans, which give pupils the legal right to support. The number of pupils with a CSPs fell from 3,448 in 2012 to 1,986 last year
• Now, 1 per cent of pupils with an ASN have a CSP (2.9 per cent in 2012)
• There has also been a fall in average spend per pupil by local authorities on additional support for learning education from £4,276 in 2012-13 to £3,548 in 2016-17, amounting to £728 per pupil and representing a 21.9 per cent cut in real terms.