Parents and carers and young people are needed to take part in a new study to understand why some children are self-diagnosing themselves as being neurodivergent.
The research will explore the impact of this and what sort of support would be helpful for families.
It aims to examine whether young people are self-diagnosing neurodivergence, whether self-diagnosis really as dangerous as the media says it is, and if self-diagnosis could be a route to self-compassion and self-advocacy.
Those who should be involved in the online surveys and interviews should be aged 13 to 17 and young people who have felt curious, fairly sure, or certain that they are neurodivergent, and the parents/carers of young people who have felt like this.
This will be the first research of its kind to explore neuro-identity curiosity and self-diagnosis from the perspectives of adolescents and parents/carers.
The research is being carried out by Alma Foster, a doctoral student and trainee educational psychologist at the University of Exeter.
Alma's previous research paper on this topic, published in Educational Psychology in Practice, has been viewed internationally over 17,000 times. Her research has been featured in Womanthology, and Alma has presented this groundbreaking topic at the Division of Educational and Child Psychology Trainee Educational Psychologists' Annual Conference and the Southwest Educational Psychology Conference.
Alma said: "The topic of neurodivergence self-diagnosis among young people has been widely reported in international media; however, the voices of young people and parents/carers are often missing from the conversation.
"I would be very grateful to hear from young people who are curious if they are neurodivergent. I want to listen to young people's stories to learn what support young people feel would help.
"This study is not about telling young people whether they are right or wrong to feel that they may be neurodivergent. Young people are the experts on themselves; they know their experience better than anyone else."
Volunteers are needed for the study if at some point they have felt curious, or fairly sure, or certain that they are neurodivergent, and did not first start to feel this way because of a diagnosis from a doctor or psychologist.
The online survey aims to examine when the young person start to feel curious, fairly sure or certain they are neurodivergent; what led them to feel this way, and what support they think would be helpful.
All young people must have consent from their parent/carer to take part. Parents and carers can use this link
