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Neurodivergent adolescents & the emotional burden at school

DormouseAtRest_25

Anna Freud (a mental health charity for children and young people) recently published material around the latest research (from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, in partnership with Anna Freud and University College London) into;

"Neurodivergent adolescents experience twice the emotional burden at school compared to their neurotypical peers":

https://www.annafreud.org/news/neurodivergent-adolescents-experience-twice-the-emotional-burden-at-school/

The research conclusion highlights the potential value of using a "My Emotions in School Inventory (MESI)" to help measure the exposure of neurodivergent adolescents to emotional burden (EB).

"The ‘My Emotions in School Inventory (MESI)’ was co-produced with young people with ADHD and/or autism to measure levels of emotional burden (EB – combining frequency of exposure to common upsetting events and intensity of emotional responses to them) in adolescents."

Particularly pleasing; was the realisation that this emotional burden self-report measure for adolescents was actually co-produced with neurodivergent adolescents.  I believe that was really important.

Many people in our community here might potentially wish to be aware of and consider this research.

As a volunteer with a community service organisation (supporting adolescents) I take the opportunities, where possible, to participate in that organisation's strategy consultation process and inclusion programmes. 

I definitely intend to think further upon this research (not least because; I am all too aware that it may not actually be within the school setting that a neurodivergent young person initially chooses to share their emotional burden issues / concerns with someone and seeks some guidance or support).

Research paper:

Lukito, S., Chandler, S., Kakoulidou, M., Griffiths, K., Wyatt, A., Funnell, E., Pavlopoulou, G., Baker, S., Stahl, D., Sonuga-Barke, E. and the RE-STAR team (2025), Emotional burden in school as a source of mental health problems associated with ADHD and/or autism: Development and validation of a new co-produced self-report measure. J Child Psychol Psychiatr. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70003

The research paper website:

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.70003

Or, in PDF format:

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jcpp.70003

(Hoping some of the above might prove to be of interest to people in support of neurodivergent young people in their lives and communities).

  • High school for me was the worse , followed by university I’m now out of the education system from my own experience it felt like hell. Majority of my teachers refused to understand me (they wouldn’t help getting an Autism diagnosis - I managed to get one in the end through other doctors) I took all my emotions out at my parents and I do regret that now but they listened and tried to help. If I had the diagnosis when I was younger would I’ve had a better time - honestly no. 

  • in reply to Martin

    On my very first day in school, I locked myself in the car and refused to come out. This was before central locking, so I just had to keep pushing on the little pop-up lock button. Eventually my mother and the headmaster, approaching from opposite sides of the car managed to pry me out. It went downhill from there.

    School wasn't all terrible. I have some fond memories (like getting slashed in art class and ending up in A&E needing stitches—people were nice to me that day). But the school environment in general probably did me a lot more harm than good.

  • I have never come across an autistic person who has said that they enjoyed school. For most it is somewhere between unpleasant and unbearably traumatic. I still consider that my response to starting school at four and a half years of age, three months of selective mutism, was a reasonable one. Society has a long way to go to make mainstream school a pleasant or even bearable experience for autistic children.

  • DormouseAtRest_25 said:
    The ‘My Emotions in School Inventory (MESI)’ was co-produced with young people with ADHD and/or autism

    It's good to read that NDs are informing the research on NDs. There was far too much research being done to confirm to NTs that we NDs are much more broken than they are. Everything had to be a "disorder", or a "deficit", or an "impairment", or an "abnormality", or a "dysfunction". We're people too. We see them use those words and we are expected to ... what? ... agree we're less worthy? ... not take it personally?

    Research like this aimed at developing tools to identify problems that can then (one hopes) be addressed with appropriate supports and accommodations is far more welcome than yet another paper on how we're not fully human.