Think about being an eight-year-old who is aware of they expertise the world otherwise however has no phrases to clarify why. Faculty feels overwhelming, friendships are complicated, and on a regular basis duties appear more durable than they do for everybody else. A dad or mum notices these struggles and seeks assist, solely to find they’ve to attend years for an evaluation (NHS England, 2025).
Most of the youngsters on the centre of this concern could also be experiencing traits related to consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD) or autism, together with variations in consideration, exercise ranges, social communication and interplay, sensory processing, and patterns of pursuits or behaviours (APA, 2022).
Whereas the Equality Act (2010) states that affordable changes needs to be offered no matter whether or not a toddler has a proper prognosis or not, this authorized entitlement just isn’t persistently carried out (Ward & Powell, 2026). In consequence, many youngsters stay unable to entry the understanding and lodging they want (Autistica, 2024). As youngsters wait, their difficulties don’t pause. Delayed recognition has been linked to decrease shallowness, faculty disengagement, and a higher chance of tension and despair (French et al., 2023).
Psychoeducational sources have been proven to enhance understanding, coping, and high quality of life for recognized neurodivergent youngsters (Powell et al., 2025). Nonetheless, many current sources are written utilizing scientific, deficit-focused language and are designed for youngsters who’ve a prognosis. This leaves an necessary query: what assist is offered for youngsters who’re nonetheless ready or might by no means obtain a prognosis? Shore and Powell’s (2026) qualitative examine explores whether or not co-produced, neurodiversity-affirming sources can bridge this hole.
Strategies
The authors needed to discover how neurodiversity-affirming psychoeducational sources have been perceived by youngsters aged 7-11 with out a formal prognosis of autism or ADHD, their households, {and professional} stakeholders. Twenty-four households have been recruited by means of faculties and group networks, and 7 stakeholders have been recruited by comfort sampling. Baby members attended mainstream faculties and included these on diagnostic waitlists or with suspected autistic or ADHD traits. Stakeholders included academics, instructional psychologists, clinicians and advocacy representatives.
Households acquired one among two interactive booklets tailored from current ADHD- and autism-focused sources. Utilizing strengths-based, non-clinical language, the booklets assist child-led studying by means of interactive actions, open-ended prompts, visible parts, and sensible methods that may very well be personalised to particular person experiences.
Households used the sources for not less than two weeks earlier than participating in a semi-structured interview exploring their relevance, acceptability, usefulness and accessibility, alongside recommendations for enchancment. Stakeholders reviewed the prototype booklets and gave written suggestions. Household interviews and stakeholder suggestions have been analysed collectively utilizing Braun and Clarke’s (2021) reflexive thematic evaluation to establish patterns and themes throughout the information.
Outcomes
Evaluation recognized one overarching theme, supported by six themes:
- Energetic participation and the facility of partaking design highlighted how members felt the colorful design, interactive actions and personalised duties inspired youngsters to have interaction with the sources. Contributors described the actions as motivating, accessible and confidence-building, and valued the partaking, child-friendly format in contrast with conventional, text-heavy psychoeducational supplies.
- Harnessing phrases as a foundational precept confirmed that members valued using clear, non-pathologising language. Relatively than specializing in “problems” or “signs”, the sources used strengths-based phrases corresponding to “traits” and “superpowers”. Households felt this decreased stigma and helped youngsters view their variations extra positively, and stakeholders believed the accessible language made sources extra appropriate to be used in faculties.
- Private resonance as a mechanism for self-acceptance demonstrated that youngsters recognised their very own experiences within the sources, which members felt supported self-understanding and a extra optimistic view of their neurodivergent traits.
- Communication as a first-line assist device highlighted how members felt the sources created a shared, non-clinical language that helped youngsters talk their wants and supported extra collaborative discussions between youngsters, households and professionals.
- Tailoring for progress in a common design emphasised the significance of versatile, child-led design, with members valuing a number of methods of partaking that helped youngsters entry the sources in ways in which suited their particular person wants and preferences.
- Methods for challenges to boost well-being demonstrated that members felt the sources supported planning, emotional regulation and coping, whereas additionally supporting shallowness, confidence and self-acceptance.
Empowering individualised engagement was recognized because the overarching theme, as a result of all themes highlighted how members felt the sources enabled youngsters to actively discover their experiences in an individualised and affirming method. The co-produced, non-clinical design allowed youngsters to have interaction with their cognitive profiles with out requiring a proper prognosis, whereas strengths-based language and private resonance supported youngsters to develop a extra optimistic understanding of themselves. Stakeholders considered the individualised strategy as significantly worthwhile for inclusion and assist whereas youngsters awaited evaluation.
Conclusion
Maybe crucial message from this examine is that youngsters mustn’t have to attend for a prognosis earlier than they’ll entry assist, recognise their strengths, talk their wants and develop sensible coping methods. Neurodiversity-affirming psychoeducation may assist bridge this hole, with members significantly valuing sources that have been co-produced, partaking, versatile and grounded in strengths-based, non-clinical language. Though additional analysis is required to determine their effectiveness, this examine presents an necessary reminder that assist needs to be guided by youngsters’s wants, relatively than ready for a diagnostic label.
Strengths and limitations
This examine has a number of notable strengths:
- The qualitative design utilizing semi-structured interviews enabled members to offer detailed accounts of their experiences and views that will not have been captured by means of quantitative measures alone.
- Together with youngsters, dad and mom/caregivers {and professional} stakeholders captured views from completely different teams concerned in supporting neurodivergent youngsters and helped establish themes throughout participant teams.
- Households engaged with the sources for not less than two weeks earlier than offering suggestions, giving them time to discover their usefulness and relevance to on a regular basis experiences relatively than counting on preliminary impressions.
- The researchers demonstrated specific reflexivity by acknowledging how their neurodivergent identities may have influenced the analysis course of. Reflexive journals and discussions round coding choices elevated the transparency of the evaluation. Nonetheless, their shut involvement may have formed how interviews have been carried out and findings interpreted, which needs to be thought-about when deciphering the findings.
A number of methodological limitations also needs to be thought-about:
- Potential choice bias: The pattern was largely White British and concentrated in a couple of areas of England, and recruitment by means of faculties, group networks and comfort sampling might have attracted households already all in favour of neurodiversity-affirming approaches. The examine was additionally explicitly framed across the neurodiversity paradigm, with dad and mom figuring out their youngsters as experiencing challenges related to consideration, exercise ranges or social-sensory processing. Households who perceive their youngster’s experiences otherwise might due to this fact have responded otherwise to the sources, probably limiting the transferability of the findings.
- Reliance on grownup assist: For youthful youngsters or these with higher assist wants, the usefulness of the sources might depend upon lively involvement from dad and mom or faculty employees. Households or faculties with restricted time, capability or engagement might due to this fact expertise completely different outcomes, limiting the transferability of the findings.
- Mainstream faculty setting: All the youngsters attended mainstream faculties, which means the findings might not switch to youngsters in specialised instructional settings. Youngsters with higher studying, communication or sensory wants might require additional variations to the sources or how they’re carried out.
- Quick analysis interval: The sources have been evaluated over a comparatively brief interval, so it stays unclear whether or not the perceived advantages can be sustained over time or translate into significant enhancements in youngsters’s wellbeing.
Implications for follow
This examine highlights that assist for neurodivergent youngsters doesn’t have to attend till after a prognosis. As a substitute, neurodiversity-affirming psychoeducational sources may present worthwhile first-line assist by giving youngsters the language and methods to higher perceive themselves.
Though the Equality Act 2010 states that affordable changes mustn’t depend upon formal prognosis, many households proceed to report a scarcity of assist till one is obtained. Neurodiversity-affirming sources may probably be embedded inside whole-school approaches, pastoral assist or SEND (particular instructional wants and disabilities) provision to encourage self-understanding and communication between youngsters, households and employees. Nonetheless, additional analysis is required to determine how successfully these sources might be carried out inside faculties.
The findings may have implications for well being companies. With rising ready instances for autism and ADHD assessments throughout the UK, GPs, clinicians and early intervention companies may take into account how evidence-informed psychoeducational sources may assist youngsters and households whereas they wait. Though not an alternative choice to complete evaluation, members felt the sources helped youngsters higher perceive their experiences and inspired collaborative problem-solving inside households. This strengths-based strategy is supported by wider autism analysis, with higher strengths use related to higher high quality of life, wellbeing and psychological well being (Taylor et al., 2023). Importantly, as a result of Shore and Powell’s (2026) sources don’t assume a prognosis, they might be related to youngsters who establish with the experiences described, no matter whether or not they finally obtain an autism or ADHD prognosis.
Future analysis ought to now transfer past acceptability and discover effectiveness. Bigger and extra numerous research are wanted to find out whether or not these sources enhance outcomes corresponding to emotional wellbeing, shallowness and college engagement. Analysis also needs to discover how they are often carried out inside instructional settings. Offering sources in faculties may improve entry for households with much less time, capability or information to have interaction at house, whereas faculty employees could also be nicely positioned to facilitate engagement. Exploring their integration into current SEND assist, pastoral provision and whole-school approaches may due to this fact assist set up their feasibility in on a regular basis follow.
As an Training Psychological Well being Practitioner working in faculties for the SEND Psychological Well being Help Workforce, I discovered these findings significantly encouraging. I continuously work with youngsters who’re on lengthy ready lists to obtain an evaluation. Throughout this time, households typically really feel that they’re left alone and uncertain how greatest to assist their youngster. These findings counsel that easy, evidence-informed sources may very well be embedded inside faculties and NHS pathways to assist youngsters and households whereas they anticipate evaluation. Future analysis is now wanted to determine whether or not this strategy is efficient and possible to implement at scale.
Assertion of pursuits
Jess Stace works as an Training Psychological Well being Practitioner inside a SEND Psychological Well being Help Workforce and often helps the psychological well being of kids with a neurodevelopmental prognosis or awaiting an evaluation. This expertise has influenced her curiosity in early intervention and psychoeducational approaches. She has no different conflicting pursuits to declare. AI instruments have been used for proof studying and within the enhancing course of.
Edited by
Dr Nina Higson-Sweeney.
Hyperlinks
Main paper
Evie Shore, & Lauren Powell. (2026). Bridging the hole: Co-produced neurodiversity-affirming sources for undiagnosed youngsters aged 7–11: Insights from youngsters, households and stakeholders. Journal of Analysis in Particular Instructional Wants, 26, e70077. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.70077
Different references
American Psychiatric Affiliation. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical handbook of psychological problems (fifth ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
Autistica. (2024) ‘Not a precedence’ highlights disaster in autism evaluation and assist. https://www.autistica.org.uk/weblog/no-a-prority
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). One measurement suits all? What counts as high quality follow in (reflexive) thematic evaluation?. Qualitative Analysis in Psychology, 18(3), 328-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2020.1769238
French, B., Daley, D., Groom, M., & Cassidy, S. (2023). Dangers related to undiagnosed ADHD and/or autism: a mixed-method systematic evaluation. Journal of Consideration Problems, 27(12), 1393-1410. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547231176862
NHS England. (2025). Report of the unbiased ADHD Taskforce: Half 1. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1/
Powell, L., Parker, J., Stott, J., & Colbert, E. J. (2025). The influence of psychoeducation interventions on social abilities in autistic 5–12-year-olds: A story systematic evaluation. Neurodiversity, 3, 27546330251356718. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330251356718
Taylor, E. C., Livingston, L. A., Clutterbuck, R. A., Callan, M. J., & Shah, P. (2023). Psychological strengths and well-being: Strengths use predicts high quality of life, well-being and psychological well being in autism. Autism, 27(6), 1826-1839. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221146440
Ward, M., & Powell, L. (2026). The lived experiences of main and secondary training for autistic college college students. Worldwide Journal of Inclusive Training, 30(4), 732-748. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2025.2490596
