For many students with ADHD, homework is not just “schoolwork at home”. It can feel like sitting at the bottom of a hill with a heavy backpack, knowing everyone expects the climb to be simple. The task may look small from the outside: read the chapter, answer the questions, finish the worksheet, revise spellings, practise maths. But ADHD affects the skills that make homework manageable. Starting, planning, focusing, remembering instructions, judging time, and sticking with a

A student who refuses to write may have brilliant ideas but weak fine motor control. A child who calls out may be trying to hold a thought before it disappears. Another who looks away while listening may be concentrating better than if eye contact were required. Neurodivergent learners are often misunderstood when classrooms are designed around one “typical” way to pay attention, process language, manage emotions, and show understanding. Good inclusive teaching changes that.

Choosing a school for a child with autism can feel like standing at a crossroads with too many signs. One route may offer specialist teaching, smaller groups, and a calmer pace. The other may offer local friendships, wider opportunities, and a familiar community. Both can work well. Both can also fall short if the support does not match the child. The real question is not whether special school or mainstream education is “better”. The better question is: which setting gives t

Many autistic children arrive at school ready to learn, but the school day is often built around demands that make learning harder before a lesson has even begun. Bright lights, noisy corridors, sudden changes, unclear instructions, social pressure, and behaviour systems that reward compliance can quickly turn an ordinary day into a distressing one. When support works well, autistic students can thrive. They can build friendships, develop confidence, make academic progress, a

A change that looks small from the outside can feel enormous to an autistic person. A different route to school, a supply teacher, a delayed train, a new food brand, a house move or the shift from one activity to another can all place heavy demands on the brain and body. Transitions are part of daily life. They happen between places, people, routines, tasks, seasons and life stages. For autistic children, young people and adults, these moments can bring stress, confusion, shu

A child flaps their hands when excited. An adult rocks gently while waiting in a noisy room. A teenager repeats a phrase under their breath before answering a question. To someone unfamiliar with autism, these actions may seem unusual or distracting. For many autistic people, they are meaningful, useful, and often deeply regulating. These repetitive behaviours are commonly called stimming, short for self-stimulatory behaviour. Stimming can involve movement, sound, touch, sigh

Noticing that a child communicates, plays, learns, or reacts to the world differently can bring a rush of questions. Is this a phase? Is it anxiety? Is it speech delay? Could it be autism? For many families, the hardest part is not the first concern. It is knowing what to do next. Autism assessments can feel confusing, especially in London where different boroughs may have different NHS pathways, waiting times, school processes, and support options. A clear guide can make the

Autism, ADHD and Sibling Relationships: How to Build Understanding and Stronger Family Bonds

Every child is different. Some children seek pressure, movement or strong textures. Others need less noise, softer lighting and simple surroundings. The best starting point is observation. Notice what your child avoids, what they return to, what helps them calm, and what seems to trigger distress.

Burnout can look like laziness from the outside. For many autistic people, it is closer to running out of fuel after years of pushing through noise, pressure, masking, uncertainty and social demand. Autistic burnout is not simply being tired after a busy week. It can affect speech, memory, movement, mood, sleep, sensory tolerance and the ability to manage daily life. It can also carry a heavy mental health cost, especially when it is misunderstood as anxiety, depression, poor

Masking can help someone get through a difficult moment. It can also come at a serious cost. For many autistic children and adults, including boys, girls, men, women, and non-binary people, masking becomes a daily survival strategy that affects mental health, identity, relationships, and access to support.

Sleep problems are common in neurodivergent children. Some children struggle to fall asleep. Others wake for long periods in the night, rise very early, snore, move constantly, or seem exhausted even after a full night in bed. These patterns can be confusing, especially when daytime behaviour is already being shaped by sensory needs, anxiety, impulsivity, or communication differences.

A child who melts down before school, an adult who cannot stop replaying a conversation, a teenager who avoids noisy places, a person who feels constantly “on edge” because they keep forgetting things. These experiences can look like anxiety, autism, ADHD, or all three. That overlap can be confusing. Parents may wonder whether their child is anxious, autistic, struggling with ADHD, or simply having a hard time. Adults may recognise lifelong patterns and ask why everyday tasks

When a child is struggling at school, parents often sense it long before any formal system catches up. You may notice anxiety before school, slow progress despite hard work, behaviour that seems to mask frustration, or homework that takes hours longer than it should. If that sounds familiar, you do not have to wait and hope things improve. In the UK, children with special educational needs have legal protections, and parents have rights to ask questions, request assessments,

A diagnosis should not be the door that takes years to open. Yet for many autistic people, people with ADHD, and families trying to support them, that is exactly how the system can feel. Across the UK, demand for autism and ADHD assessments has risen sharply. More people now recognise neurodevelopmental differences earlier. Schools, GPs and employers are more likely to suggest assessment. Adults who were missed as children are also coming forward, often after years of anxiety

For many autistic children, a mainstream school day can feel like trying to learn while the volume is too high, the lights are too bright, the rules keep changing, and everyone else seems to understand a language no one has explained. Mainstream schools can be warm, skilled, inclusive places. Many autistic pupils thrive in them, especially when staff understand their needs and support is planned well. Yet too many children still spend their school years feeling overwhelmed, m

An EHCP can make a real difference. It can set out a child’s needs clearly, name the support they must receive, and help schools, health services and local authorities work from the same plan.

Routine is often misunderstood as rigidity. From a psychological perspective, it is better seen as a support system. Predictable routines can reduce uncertainty, lower anxiety, protect energy, and help autistic people move through daily life with more confidence. For many children, young people, and adults, routine is not a preference for sameness in a simple sense. It is a way of making the world feel safer and more understandable.

Children may struggle with play and social skills for many reasons, including sensory differences, hidden social rules, communication needs, anxiety, flexible thinking and the fast pace of group play. These struggles are real, but they are not a sign that a child does not want connection.

Occupational therapy looks at these day-to-day challenges in a practical, compassionate way. For autistic people and people with ADHD, it can help build skills for self-care, learning, play, work, relationships, and rest. The aim is not to change who someone is. It is to make daily life more manageable, more predictable, and more meaningful.