Autism Masking - How to Assess and Support

Over the years assessing children with neurodiversity it has become clearer and clearer to me that many children have the cognitive capacity to mask their distress and social communication difficulties in certain environments and situations. Ultimately if this not identified and sensitively and effectively supported, individuals can development mental health issues, emotional based school avoidance and ultimately not achieve their potential.

Assessment tools to assess for autism can be a blunt tool and it is essential to carry out a skilled multi-professional assessment to identify children and young people that may present with subtle difficulties, but who can easily slip through rigid assessment pathways, which expect behaviour to present the same in all settings at a high threshold.

I will discuss how I have learnt to adapt my assessment and support processes over my years of practice to support children and young people and also their families.

What You Can Take Away from This CPD

• Clinical Nuance: Understand why many children do not present with “textbook” symptoms and how this affects diagnosis.
• Assessment Evolution: Learn how to adapt autism assessments to recognise more subtle presentations, especially in children who mask.
• Multi-Disciplinary Practice: Discover how working alongside education and health professionals improves outcomes for neurodivergent children.
• Emotional Wellbeing Focus: Reflect on the link between missed neurodivergent presentations and later mental health challenges such as anxiety, emotional-based school avoidance, and low self-esteem.

Presenting: Claire Scott

I have worked as a Consultant Community Paediatrician, both in the NHS and privately since 2003. I specialise in autism assessments including girls with autism I also assess children with developmental delay and ADHD and developmental co-ordination disorder. I find that many children do not fit one diagnostic box.

I believe in supporting children and young people, families and schools to work together to ensure each child achieves their potential, maintains their emotional well being and is able to thrive.

I believe in working in a multi-disciplinary fashion with other professionals to support clients and their families to feel empowered and to put in strategies and work with education and health partners to ensure the best outcomes for children and young people.

Please Note: Attendees must arrive at least 15 minutes before the event start time to allow for registration and ensure a prompt start, preventing any delays. Refreshments will be available. 

Please note: This event is only available to qualified talking therapy professionals that hold a BACP, BPS or similar membership. A CPD certificate will be issued after the event to all attendees.

Free tickets are for Eaves affiliates only. If you are a professional outside of The Eaves, you can purchase your space using the £30 ticket option.

Please let The Eaves Admin Team know as soon as possible if you can no longer attend this event. This allows us to open up the space for other therapists.