On day four of The Herald's special investigation into ASN provision, Louise Gilmour - GMB Scotland Secretary - says the plight of support staff must not go unnoticed.

It is a diagnosis most commonly linked to battlefields and life during wartime not a primary school in the Highlands.

The only Scots not shocked by doctors concluding a pupil support assistant (PSA) had suffered post traumatic stress disorder, however, will be her colleagues in classrooms up and down the country.

The 32-year-old worker’s mental health collapsed during 18-months supporting a nine-year-old boy with autism.

She said: “His teacher basically said he had to be taken out of class because he was so disruptive and I was asked to work with him alone.

“Virtually every day he would become enraged, kicking, punching, slapping, trashing the room, breaking windows, throwing chairs, overturning desks.

“I was covered in bruises all the time, a million bruises, but the mental impact was worse than the physical injuries.

“People would ask me if I was okay and I would always say I was fine but I........

© Herald Scotland