Reflections on the trouble with strengths-led assessments as a neurodivergent person with a spiky profile

Assessments, especially diagnostic assessments, have typically been pathologising - under a health framework, assessments are ways of putting labels on you that determine whether or not you might get support, and could alter how others see you.

However, after supporting someone close to me in their PIP review (a welfare benefit in the UK), I reflected on how the experience would be if it included a strengths-led component, and I think that would STILL be really scary!

As neurodivergent people we have spiky profiles, but there is little understanding out there in wider society. In an assessment situation that determines the outcome of support and provision, I don’t want to express having ANY strengths that could in any way get in the way of receiving the support I need and am entitled to.

An approach that is both needs and strengths-led could still be scary for CYP and their families. A young person might be trying to do the mental gymnastics of whether you can admit you’re good at Maths. Or that - actually - you don’t struggle with social interactions in your social group of other neurodivergent peers, but this is very much not the case in mixed-neurotype interactions.

For a CYP and their family to be able to engage with a strengths-led approach, there’s an awful lot of TRUST required - in the approach itself, in the school and staff around you. CYP and their families need to trust that an approach building on their strengths won’t take away from help they need in other areas.

I think this is something important to keep in mind as we develop approaches based on strengths-led support - for many CYP and their families, that trust is broken, and that trust is often broken inter-generationally. That trust will be hard to rebuild, but work to rebuild that trust is essential if approaches to building neuroinclusive school systems are to be effective.

My experience of PMS as an #ActuallyAutistic person is of an enhanced sensory and emotional experience. This can include overwhelm and emotional distress, but also a hyper-realness that draws my attention to the beauty in little things. Like a pre-menstrual monotropism.

This post represents my thought patterns right now - jumping between ideas like points of light in the fog. As such, it’s not as polished as my other writing. I’ve decided to not over-edit, embracing my thinking how it is right now.

Beauty in the little things:

  • new life! - daffodils are coming up!

  • scent of pine wafting across the air, but I couldn’t see from where

  • a beautiful moment of walking into my local bakery - finding the person who works their with a customer’s toddler on her hip, wielding a half-eaten jam doughnut

  • hugs with my partner, holding me up while I feel this intensity

  • a calling to connect with nature

  • how good it feels to bite down on good food

What else I noticed:

  • spoken speech is difficult today, especially expressing all these ideas in my head

  • the grating intrusion of vehicles on the road

  • I’m crying at everything, even (especially) the nice things

  • I’m second-guessing interactions with a co-worker, worrying I’m not doing the socialling properly

I want to set aside this day every month to spend a day in nature, allowing myself to just ‘be’: connecting, withdrawing, feeling, resting, restoring.

I waited three months to hear from the Adult Neurodevelopmental Assessment Service that apparently my GP didn’t provide enough information regarding the impact of being suspected #ActuallyAutistic

School Uniform

Auto-generated description: Three students wearing matching yellow shirts, blue striped ties, navy skirts, and white socks with black shoes are seated on chairs.

In the UK, almost all schools have a uniform. Occasionally we have a debate on why that is - to (supposedly) reduce class divides, to look 'smart', to deprive us of any sense of individuality? I have a mixed relationship with uniforms, which I intend to explore in this article.

I’m sharing a Zones of Regulation poster I made for myself and my (adult) family to help with alexithymia. The 4 colours represent emotional states + energy levels. I think it’s a lot more intuitive for #ActuallyAutistic people than traditional emotion labels: drive.google.com/uc?export=down…

We will place magnets on the chart to represent us and our emotional state. Step 1) identifying what zone we’re in, step 2) using stims to work through undesirable emotional states. Also works to communicate our emotional state so we don’t trigger each other.

I first discovered Zones of Regulation teaching primary school children, but then realised it helped with my own alexithymia. Would anyone be interested in reading more about this? #AskingAutistics

#AskingAutistics What do you do when you know you're burnt out but you can't switch off?

Christmas cake

Auto-generated description: A beautifully decorated white cake features pine cones, dried orange slices, cranberries, and frosted leaves, set alongside festive star decorations and a candle.

Transitioning from 2021 to 2022 with the help from a sugary delight

Christmas and New Year is a time that is usually rife with a sense of celebration and holiday cheer for many around the world. It's a time to get together with family friends, throw your work schedule out the window and indulge in rich food, bright lights and overspending.