How do you know if your students are autistic?
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“Teachers are not there to diagnose their students as autistic — we have medical professionals to do that — but they can play an important role in the process of helping a student to obtain a diagnosis.”
As a teacher, especially a teacher of young children, it may be unclear to you whether certain behaviours that students display are, in fact, the result of their autism or down to something else. Potential uncertainty around a students’ status can make it more difficult for teachers to know how to include these students at school. When the student in question goes on to obtain a diagnosis of autism, this uncertainty is removed, and you can take specific action to ensure the student is included. The process of getting a diagnosis of autism from a medical professional is often a long one, but it’s a process in which teachers have an important role to play.
Teachers are not there to diagnose their students as autistic — we have medical professionals to do that — but they can play an important role in the process of helping a student to obtain a diagnosis. Students with a diagnosis are, or at least should be, more likely to be treated with empathy by their teachers and benefit from accommodations, such as allowing them to keep their coat on in the classroom because they feel too cold. Students without a diagnosis, on the other hand, are more likely to be compelled to do things that they struggle with or feel uncomfortable doing, such as working with a partner to do online research when they would much prefer to gather information on their own, in their own way. These undiagnosed students don’t (yet) have that stamp of approval which officially qualifies them for that extra layer of understanding and empathy.
However, the issue of diagnosis in autism is not as clear cut as we might like it to be. One of the things that differentiates autism, and neurodiversity as a whole, from other physical differences that impact people’s lives is that there is often no clear and decisive evidence of the neurological differences which give rise to autism in the classroom. Even when we do have a kind of evidence, this typically takes the form of anecdotes about episodes of behaviour, and these anecdotes can be presented in different ways according to the subjective opinion and bias of the observer. There’s no blood test that can be done and no brain scan which will reveal what’s going on in there. The procedure for diagnosing autism typically involves either medical professionals asking questions to find out about an individuals’ behaviour and medical professionals observing that behaviour themselves. However, in many countries waiting lists for the chance to see a medical professional and take this questionnaire are long. And by ‘long’, I mean several years long. In England, for example, the average waiting time for an autism diagnosis in 2024 was 318 days. Many parents are forced to resort to private healthcare providers so they can get a diagnosis for their children faster and with it the possibility of greater support at school or transfer to a school that either specialises in educating autistic young people or which has the right staff and facilities to support them.
In the US, the average age of diagnosis with autism is five. This age is a time when children have typically developed enough socially, emotionally and linguistically for differences in their behaviour to have become apparent both at home and in nursery or primary education. The interaction between experiences at home and experiences in their educational setting is often what leads to discussions about the possibility of a child being autistic.
“These acts of informed noticing — not diagnosing but noticing — can be key stepping stones on the path to diagnosis.”
For example, a child might react in an extremely distressed way to an incident, such as not being able to have their first-choice book or pen, which neurotypical children would react to in a moderate way or show no noticeable reaction to at all. Situations like this where children appear unable to regulate their emotions effectively are the type of situations which parents and educators should be discussing with each other as they work together to better understand the child in question. As well as noticing how children and young people regulate their emotions, educators can also consider how they react to sensory input, such as significant noise, and monitor their interest levels in activities, as autistic children are likely to show tremendous enthusiasm for certain activities, contrasted with a complete lack of interest in others.
These acts of informed noticing — not diagnosing but noticing — can be key stepping stones on the path to diagnosis. Noticing should then feed into conversations between parents and educators if there are tendencies which suggest autism. Educators need to take part in these conversations without judging the child or their parents in any way and with the awareness that their role is to notice and communicate; not diagnose. Given the fact that the process of obtaining a diagnosis, assuming that the child is, in fact, autistic, is often a long and sometimes arduous one, teachers need to keep the conversation going with the parents during this time.
It is also worth remembering that many people are not diagnosed with autism around the age of five. A range of factors can contribute to later diagnoses, including diagnosis in adulthood which has risen dramatically over the last decade. Notable factors include a lack of knowledge about how autism manifests itself on the part of parents and educators, which can lead to autistic tendences being falsely labelled or simply dismissed as “bad behaviour”. There also continues to be a certain stigma around autism which can make parents feel reluctant to entertain the thought that their children may have it. While educators may feel that noticing behaviour which suggests autism simply isn’t part of their remit, or they may simply lack the knowledge to identify such behaviour, never having received any relevant training. When I gave a webinar about increasing accessibility for autistic students at the Macmillan Global Festival 2025, I outlined some signs that teachers can look out for to help them identify possible signs of autism, and training can take the form of these informal community events with experts which don’t require a great time commitment.
Although a diagnosis is not a prerequisite for an autistic child or young person being successful at school — and some achieve great school results and thrive without a diagnosis — it gives that child or young person, and their teachers, a framework to understand their behaviour. Although diagnoses of autism may still be associated with negative assumptions that, for example, autistic people are ‘strange’, ‘cold’ or ‘anti-social’, a lack of diagnosis can often lead to low self-esteem and conflict with educators and parents due to this lack of understanding of the real reasons why the child or young person feels different to their peers.
“Many of those recently diagnosed with autism and their parents… often say that their diagnosis changed both nothing and everything for them at the same time.”
Many of those recently diagnosed with autism and their parents, in the case of children, often say that their diagnosis changed both nothing and everything for them at the same time. Although a diagnosis won’t help to make anyone’s autism “better”, it can definitely help to create greater acceptance and foster more understanding of autistic people and their needs. The role of teachers in this process is to be aware of autistic tendences and behaviours, notice these and then serve as an open, non-judgemental channel of communication about the child or young person with their parents or caregivers. This may quickly lead to an autism diagnosis, to a diagnosis secured years later, or to no diagnosis at all, but there will nevertheless be effective communication about the child’s behaviour and discussion about possible solutions.
Where there’s clear communication about a student’s behaviour between a teacher and the child’s parents or caregivers, there can be effective cooperation between these two parties to ensure the child is included and has their needs met. I think we would agree that this is true for all students, but it is crucial for students with autism, as it can lead to greater clarity about the reasons for their behaviour and greater understanding of this behaviour.