Why do we need to identify neurodivergent children earlier?
As many of us are aware, waiting lists for diagnosis of neurodivergent conditions have skyrocketed in recent years, for a variety of reasons. However, many of those seeking assessment are adults who were not identified as neurodivergent during their school years. They have struggled through, masking heavily with poor mental health and feeling like they are inherently different to everyone around them. On reaching adulthood, it is no surprise they have fallen apart. Many, upon receiving their diagnosis, feel a sense of grief for the years they lost in pain. They wonder ‘how would things have turned out if I had been diagnosed earlier?’
Working in primary schools, I have come across many children whom I strongly suspect are neurodivergent. I have seen them struggling with literacy, socialising, fundamental movement skills, or attention. Yet, it seems that the people who need to notice, don’t, or perhaps aren’t allowed to. The problem is that these children are left to struggle alone, unaware of why, falling further behind and losing every ounce of self-esteem they once had.
It is vital that we identify neurodivergent children as early as possible, so that they can access the support they need, understand their brain and become confident young people who are hopeful about their future.
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How to identify neurodivergent children
It’s not going to be easy to spot every neurodivergent child by the age of six- my point is not that we need deadlines, just intent. Every child will behave differently to each other, with their own likes, dislikes, skills and quirks. However, having a good understanding of the diagnostic criteria for each condition would help teachers and parents identify any developmental differences in their children.
Drawing on this knowledge, it should be easier to look beyond the surface behaviour to what is really going on for the child. Diagnostic criteria is a guideline, after all:
Knowing that the autism criteria refers to ‘restricted and repetitive behaviours’, an adult may notice a child’s special interest in dinosaurs, their repeating of new words, and various forms of stimming.
Knowing that dyspraxia affects ‘fine motor development’, a teacher may notice the child cannot tie their laces, struggles to fasten buttons, and has difficult-to-read handwriting.
Awareness of what each neurodivergent diagnosis really means, allows us to put together many seemingly meaningless behaviours, to create a bigger picture. However, this means it is also vital that parents and teachers are both on board with neurodiversity and are willing to have open and honest conversations about what they are observing.
Too many times, a parent raises a concern and the teacher replies, “they’ve never done that at school”. Too many times, a teacher flags a child’s progress or behaviour and the parents put up a brick wall in defence. There needs to be active listening and effective, supportive communication between stakeholders in the child’s life, in order to find the right answers and get access to the right support.
A lot of the time, differences between what teachers and parents see are due to masking.
Masking involves changing one’s behaviour, consciously or subconsciously, to blend into society. Essentially, it is pretending to not be autistic. This is done by watching and mirroring other people, whether in real life, books or TV (National Autistic Society, n.d.).
Those who are female or non-binary tend to mask more than boys and men, potentially due to different social expectations. Masking is also a double-edged sword when it comes to diagnosis- those who mask are less likely to be identified to be assessed, but those who are not diagnosed early are more likely to mask.
For many autistic children, they will attempt to mask at school by:
Tailoring their interests to those of their peers.
Making eye contact and monitoring facial expressions and body language.
Stimming in less noticeable ways, such as chewing or fiddling with a pencil.
Scripting conversations.
People pleasing.
Reducing reactions to sensory stimuli.
However, this uses a lot of energy and when they get home the child may ‘explode’ having a meltdown due to exhaustion and overwhelm. Alternatively, they may spend more time alone, quietly engaging in repetitive activities, to ground their nervous system.
This is why it’s so important for teachers and parents to listen, believe and trust each other, centring the child’s needs and development.
What are the benefits of early diagnosis and intervention?
Early diagnosis of neurodivergent conditions leads to early intervention and support. In turn this improves social, emotional and academic outcomes, enabling neurodivergent children to develop a strong sense of self and reach their potential.
Understanding of oneself, reducing feelings of shame and ‘otherness’.
Access to learning.
Less likelihood of misdiagnosis in later life.
Reduced exclusion rates.
Strategies for emotional regulation and executive functioning.
Reduced maladaptive coping mechanisms.
Improved mental wellbeing.
Permission to be authentic.
Less energy expended from masking.
Ability to focus on strengths.
Peers learn to include people who are different to them.
Barriers to early identification
As I have already touched upon, attitudes are a huge barrier to identifying neurodivergent children. I’ve heard teachers say that they disagree with educational psychologists and believe that children are not autistic, just rude. I’m not sure where these types of attitudes come from, whether it is due to the myth of overdiagnosis making us distrust professionals, or if it is something else.
Not all teachers think like this, and many have great knowledge of neurodiversity and readily try to support children emotionally and academically. However, with 30 children in a class, it must be difficult to identify and balance the needs of all. One’s patience wears thin when 30 children are misbehaving and it would be easy to overlook neurodivergence because the behaviour just looks like naughtiness or tantrums. This is all totally understandable and points to the need for an overhaul of our education system.
In addition, it highlights the important role of parents. Teachers cannot be responsible for monitoring, recording and analysing every behaviour of every child. When masking is added to the mix, it is understandable that only the children with the most external struggles are attended to.
However, I’ve have seen parents in denial about their child’s challenges. Shame and stigma are still prevalent in conversation around neurodiversity. Even with suspected dyslexia, parents can fear being ‘to blame’. We need to stop thinking about neurodiversity as a problem or responding to news of diagnosis with ‘I’m sorry’. Instead, we need to think of neurodiversity simply as difference, whether that is in how we learn, or communicate, or experience the world. Difference is not a bad thing, so we shouldn’t be blaming or shaming for a child struggling at school. Parents need to take responsibility for advocating for their child and pushing for answers so that appropriate support can be provided. Only then, will the child feel proud of their neurodivergence, confident in their abilities and prepared to thrive.
Of course, even if we can overcome attitudes and decide together that assessment is required, there are more barriers waiting. There are not enough educational psychologists to assess or support the number of children with SEND (British Psychological Society, 2024). The number of EHCP applications has risen every year since 2014, reaching an all time high of 13,700 in 2024 (Children’s Commissioner, 2024). When considering the many responsibilities of educational psychologists, having just 2325 employed in local authorities in 2022 is not enough (Atfield et al., 2023). Furthermore, 88% of local authorities reported recruitment difficulties and 34% reported retention difficulties. This highlights the need for more educational psychologists, ensuring timely assessment and adequate support for schools.
Neurodivergent children struggle to thrive in the current education system, when following the standardised curriculum and teaching practices. Their learning differences and needs can prevent them from meeting expectations when support is not in place. However, doing things differently requires money and resources, which schools don’t have the budget for. Things are only going to get worse- schools are set to have their funding cut for a fourth year in a row (National Education Union, 2025).
This lack of resources prevents teachers from providing the reasonable adjustments that children with SEND are entitled to. This will no doubt discourage schools from referring potentially neurodivergent children for assessment. The less children diagnosed, the fewer they must adapt for. Of course, this will only have negative consequences for undiagnosed children, their families and their peers.
What needs to happen?
I think most of us would agree that we need an overhaul of the current education system:
Increased funding to cover resources and teacher salaries.
Reviewed curriculum to include interesting and useful topics that better support children’s development and understanding of the world.
Teaching practices that are tailored to neurodiverse classrooms.
Funding to train more teachers and educational psychologists, with significant efforts to improve retention.
I also believe that screening should be mandatory for any child falling behind academically or struggling socially and emotionally. Those that meet the threshold should be referred for assessment. This is unlikely to be feasible with the current state of the system, but it would surely help us to identify differences and challenges, rather than labelling children ‘lazy’, ‘emotional’, ‘badly behaved’ or ‘happy on their own’.
However, until the government sees the importance of these issues, what can the rest of us do?
This is where people like me come in- educating teachers and parents about neurodiversity, so that they can understand children's behaviour. This allows them seek diagnosis, recognise areas of need and provide appropriate support.
Educating oneself about neurodiversity can be done through reading books and research articles, exploring websites like the British Dyslexia Association and National Autistic Society, watching TV shows (e.g. Chris Packham’s Inside our Minds), and attending workshops and INSETs.
Once teachers and parents have better awareness, they can record any differences or difficulties and compare with other people’s observations, as well as diagnostic criteria. This can pre-empt honest conversations centring the child and their needs, rather than focusing on blame. In time, this should reduce the shame of suggesting neurodiversity. After all, it is better to push for assessment and find the child doesn’t need support, than ignore red flags and leave them without the help they need.
I think one of the most important things to remember is that neurodivergent children become neurodivergent adults. If they are not identified early, they may grow up to have poorer academic outcomes, lower self-esteem, and difficulty adjusting to adulthood. Every neurodivergent person has the right to be supported and achieve their potential. It is our responsibility to ensure that, and it is the government’s responsibility to create a system in which we can do so.
References
Atfield, G., Baldauf, B. & Owen, D. (2023). Educational psychology services: workforce insights and school perspectives on impact. Department for Education. Accessed 12 November 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1166208/Educational_Psychology_services_-_Workforce_insights_and_school_perspectives_on_impact.pdf
British Psychological Society. (2024). BPS responds to record waiting times for autism and ADHD diagnoses detailed in new report. BPS. Accessed 12 November 2025. https://www.bps.org.uk/news/bps-responds-record-waiting-times-autism-and-adhd-diagnoses-detailed-new-report
Children’s Commissioner. (2024). New statistics on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) for children with special educational needs. Children’s Commissioner. Accessed 12 November 2025. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/blog/new-statistics-on-education-health-and-care-plans-ehcp-for-children-with-special-educational-needs/
National Autistic Society. (n.d.) Masking. National Autistic Society. Accessed 11 November 2025. https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour/masking
National Education Union. (2025). Schools to face a £630 million cut in funding next year. NEU. Accessed 12 November 2025. https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/schools-face-ps630-million-cut-funding-next-year
