EMILY RUSHTON, SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF WEST LONDON, UK
Introduction
Historically, teachers have identified neurodivergence through externalising behaviours. This means neurodivergent girls often go unnoticed because they are better at masking their traits. However, recent research by McKinney et al. (2024) shows that adolescent girls find masking to be the most exhausting part of their daily lives, and doing it constantly leads to high levels of anxiety and depression. This article outlines the importance of developing continued professional development (CPD) based on research focused specifically on the experience of neurodivergence in girls, to create safe unmasking environments that positively impact mental health.
Masking: The performance of ‘normal’
Masking, or social camouflaging, is a conscious or subconscious strategy whereby neurodivergent individuals suppress their natural traits as a coping mechanism. For many people, masking involves either mimicking as an unconscious attempt or learning as a conscious effort to adopt socially acceptable behaviour that a neurotypical environment imposes (Bargiela et al., 2016). In a classroom setting – especially for girls – this moves far beyond perceptions of compliance; it is a combination of thoughts and behaviours (Cammuso and Knapp, 2024) that lead girls to act compliantly while hiding who they truly are.
Girls will often collect information on the behaviours, tones and body language demonstrated by those around them as a means of fitting in (Bell, 2026). For example, in a study by Milner et al. (2019), women who masked reported learning stock phrases or consciously studying the ‘appropriate’ amount of time for which to maintain eye contact. In the classroom, a girl might force eye contact despite it causing sensory overwhelm, or script her conversation to avoid incongruent phrasing.
Why do girls mask?
The historical gap in the diagnosis of neurodivergent females, first formally noted by Wing (1981), has still not been rectified in the modern classroom (AGN, 2022). As many diagnostic tools were historically normed on male presentations, girls who do not display symptoms that boys may demonstrate are frequently missed; in the UK, girls are still diagnosed as autistic on average two to three years later than boys (Russell et al., 2021; AGN, 2022).
This delay can have a knock-on effect, with girls reporting high stress, anxiety, negative emotions and exhaustion (Cammuso and Knapp, 2024). Although further tools are now being developed – like the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q), which evaluates masking behaviours – these are still not widely used. Therefore, the diagnostic bias continues to prevent students from receiving adequate or timely support.
Furthermore, girls are socialised to be ‘people-pleasers’, compliant and socially attuned, often developing special interests that don’t match the stereotypical expectations that people have of neurodivergent individuals. For example, Bell (2026) argues that women use their focused interests to fit in by curating ‘socially acceptable’ topics or engaging in a ‘curation of friendships’ in a highly organised and systematic manner, in place of special interests that may seem more overtly connected to neurodivergence.
Dangers of masking
By trying to blend in, girls avoid the immediate fear of bullying and stigma. However, the long-term ‘masking tax’ can be instrumental in girls’ loss of identity, heightened vulnerability and compromised mental health. Perpetual social mimicry and the repression of integral autistic behaviour can lead to a high incidence of mental health problems, exhaustion and burnout (Cassidy et al., 2018).
When girls spend their school days masking, this can cause them to lose track of their own preferences, needs and voice. This loss of identity intensifies experiences of social exclusion and isolation (Bargiela et al., 2016; Cridland et al., 2014). Furthermore, as masking relies on following social scripts and pleasing others, neurodivergent girls may struggle to identify when a situation is unsafe or when boundaries are being crossed. Therefore, they can be at a significantly higher risk of grooming or peer manipulation, because they have been trained to ignore their ‘gut’ in favour of social harmony.
The pressure to mask is magnified at the intersection of race, culture and gender. For girls from global majority backgrounds, the ‘mask’ isn’t just about neurotypicality; it’s about navigating systemic biases where existing factors of cultural exclusion can create multiple masks and compound loss of identity (Botha and Gillespie-Lynch, 2022). For these students, the pressure to mask is doubled, resulting in a disconnect between external perceptions and internal experience (Nelson and Lichwa, 2025). Further practice in this area must acknowledge that for some students, unmasking is not just a psychological hurdle – it is renegotiating a sense of safety.
Why should CPD focus on girls?
Drawing on both research and classroom practice, the following CPD components should be considered:
- Understanding the ‘why’: Teachers must understand that masking is often a reactive, involuntary response to an unsupportive environment. We should consider how we can adapt our environments to support safe unmasking. For example, teachers can validate internal experience by offering sensory breaks without question even if the student does not ‘seem’ overwhelmed.
- Social agency over social skills: Instead of teaching girls how to mimic neurotypical behaviours, we should teach social agency by giving them the tools with which to navigate the world. A teacher could provide role cards during group tasks so students can choose to contribute as the quiet note-taker without feeling pressured to force eye contact or spontaneous speech.
- Co-cultivating neuro-affirmative spaces: Schools should consider how reasonable adjustments – like sensory breaks, noise-cancelling headphones or alternative seating – are incorporated as part of a school’s universal inclusive design, in order to reduce the ‘othering’ of neurodivergent students. Schools should explore how to create spaces for peer neurodivergent communities to come together – co-designed by neurodivergent students to support their agency and advocacy development – which can reduce the demand to mask (Scheeren et al., 2025; Bell, 2026).
- Rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD): Staff should be given a wider understanding of RSD – an intense, emotional pain related to perceived failure or rejection – which is prevalent in neurodivergent girls. This can often manifest as debilitating perfectionism, school refusal or perceived combative behaviour. Staff could reconsider how they deliver assessment for learning or constructive feedback through person-centred approaches so that the student understands the feedback is not a rejection, but a source of support.
- Celebrating the ‘spiky profile’: CPD should help us to redefine how active listening is demonstrated in our classrooms, not measuring it by sustained eye contact and stillness. CPD should encourage teachers to celebrate these ‘spiky’ cognitive profiles, rather than ‘smoothing them out’ to fit a neurotypical mould. This could be shown through creating inclusive classroom charters that offer different ways that students can demonstrate engagement in the classroom without feeling compelled to follow neurotypical ‘norms’.
- Modelling vulnerability and authenticity: Modelling problem-solving processes and verbalising thinking provides neurodivergent students with a safe, structured example of how to articulate a concern or navigate a difficult issue. Even when something as trivial as the interactive whiteboard malfunctioning happens, articulating that ‘I’m feeling flustered right now so I am going to pause and ask for help’ is an opportunity to show students you are recognising your own emotional barometer and when it is time to seek support.
Conclusion: Taking off the mask
The goal of girls-specific neurodiversity CPD is to adapt the environment that makes them feel that they must hide. When we prioritise CPD that is based on girls’ experiences, we stop penalising them for their survival strategies and start valuing them for their unique perspectives. In fostering classrooms where authenticity is valued over compliance, we do not just support our neurodivergent girls – we create a more empathetic, honest and effective educational system for everyone.
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