The Evolution of Assessment: It's More Than Just a Score
Release Date: 07/29/2026
The Evolution of Assessment: It's More Than Just a Score
Neurodiversity Podcast
As public understanding of neurodiversity continues to grow, evaluators face a shifting landscape when assessing clients whose traits don't match traditional, less nuanced pictures of autism. Many individuals—especially women and girls—learn to navigate daily social interactions through pattern recognition and learned strategies rather than intuitive processing, masking their traits enough to miss early identification. Dr. Jeremy Sharp, a licensed psychologist, founder of the Colorado Center for Assessment, and host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, joins Emily to unpack the realities...
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Autistic Girls Are Going Undiagnosed or Misdiagnosed
Neurodiversity Podcast
Often, autistic girls are called shy, introverted, perfectionistic, confused, anything BUT autistic. There is a pervasive impression, even in the medical community, that autism occurs in boys vastly more often than girls. The result is, autistic girls are missing out on services and tools that are available to them. Holly Blanc Moses is a therapist, and the host of the Autism ADHD Podcast, and she joins Emily Kircher-Morris in this encore presentation to talk about missing autism in girls. You can for our upcoming continuing education course for mental health professionals, Clinical...
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The Right to Be Heard: Reclaiming Communication Autonomy
Neurodiversity Podcast
The baseline premise of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) rests on the fundamental principle that communication is an inherent human right rather than a privilege to be earned through baseline cognitive compliance. Too often, school systems and clinical providers inadvertently stall access to verbal alternatives by requiring non-speaking students to prove communicative readiness or complete repetitive testing metrics. Brenda Del Monte, an AAC specialist and author, alongside Sarah Kinsella, an assistive technology specialist, join Emily Kircher-Morris to discuss ways to reverse...
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What We’re Learning About (Pervasive) Pathological Demand Avoidance
Neurodiversity Podcast
When an autistic child or teen consistently pushes back against daily expectations, traditional parenting and teaching methods often default to high-pressure enforcement. This pattern routinely triggers escalating defensive behaviors, creating a continuous loop of friction that strains the entire family system. In this encore conversation, Sandra McConnell, an advocate known as the PDA Mama Bear, joins Emily Kircher-Morris to unpack the nuanced framework of pervasive demand avoidance and explore how it reshapes typical social navigation. They talk about ways to shift the focus away from...
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The Parenting Long Game: Finding the Problem Under the Problem
Neurodiversity Podcast
Today we talk about how parent reactivity, historical family patterns, and systemic overwhelm inadvertently trap families in cyclical power struggles. Emily Kircher-Morris welcomes Diane Dempster, a professional coach, author, and co-founder of ImpactParents, to talk about how urgency often drives parents out of an objective problem-solving mindset, and toward reactionary behaviors that over-manage their kids, rather than supporting their neurological growth. They talk about the family as an interdependent system, and about how interpersonal traps of the traditional drama triangle can cause...
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The Rewards and Punishment Paradox with Alfie Kohn
Neurodiversity Podcast
Within traditional educational and parenting paradigms, behaviorist strategies such as token economies, behavior color charts, and positive reinforcement models are frequently treated as standard mechanisms for human development. However, these compliance-driven metrics often collapse under long-term evaluation, obscuring the critical psychological friction they introduce. Alfie Kohn, a prominent educational theorist and author of Punished by Rewards, joins the program to systematically critique the reliance on traditional behavioral modification systems, including school-wide positive...
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Educator Burnout: Why "Remember Your Why" Isn't Enough
Neurodiversity Podcast
The high statistical prevalence of burnout in the education system has moved past the realm of speculation and into undeniable systemic reality. While modern teacher preparation programs provide good technical training, they consistently fail to equip people with the emotional tools required to withstand chronic occupational stress. Katrina G. Huels, an educational consultant, former special education leader, and author of Transformational Tools for Special Educators, joins Emily to talk about the cumulative emotional load of behavior management, chronic staffing shortages, and high...
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Deconstructing Gifted Burnout
Neurodiversity Podcast
When highly capable children spend years cruising through an educational system where academic rigor is geared toward the average, they fail to develop the neurological muscles required to process difficulty. This week, we present an encore chat with Dr. Brian Housand, coordinator of the academically or intellectually gifted program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Andi McNair, a gifted education author and digital innovation specialist. They discuss how burnout can be a result of long-term exposure to unrealistic expectations and a profound fear of failure, and how it can...
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Waiting for Sleep: Chronobiology and Neurodivergence
Neurodiversity Podcast
When a neurodivergent child or teen struggles with daytime focus, emotional volatility, or low frustration tolerance, caregivers naturally look for behavioral or psychological explanations. However, chronic sleep deprivation frequently hides behind these daytime struggles, acting as an unseen amplifier for executive dysfunction and sensory overload. Dr. Melisa Moore, a clinical psychologist and board-certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist at Rady Children's Health San Diego, joins Emily Kircher-Morris to reframe sleep not as an isolated nighttime issue, but as a continuous 24-hour...
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Understanding ADHD Children
Neurodiversity Podcast
Parents often believe they know their children, when in reality they haven’t made the effort to really understand them. That understanding can be even harder when adding ADHD into the mix. Dr. Sharon Saline is a clinical psychologist and author of the book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew. She talks with Emily Kircher-Morris about how to go about understanding your child better, and how ADHD can complicate the relationship. This conversation was previously released. Perfectionism can be difficult to identify in therapy, and once identified, still very difficult to overcome. If you're a...
info_outlineAs public understanding of neurodiversity continues to grow, evaluators face a shifting landscape when assessing clients whose traits don't match traditional, less nuanced pictures of autism. Many individuals—especially women and girls—learn to navigate daily social interactions through pattern recognition and learned strategies rather than intuitive processing, masking their traits enough to miss early identification. Dr. Jeremy Sharp, a licensed psychologist, founder of the Colorado Center for Assessment, and host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, joins Emily to unpack the realities of camouflaging and what it takes to catch these less obvious presentations during a diagnostic evaluation.
TAKEAWAYS
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The increasing prevalence of self-identification and online research requires evaluators to look beyond traditional, high-support presentation models when assessing for autism.
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Camouflaging and masking rely on active cognitive problem-solving and pattern recognition rather than intuitive social processing, creating high internal fatigue that standard testing environments can miss.
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Structured, one-on-one assessment settings can artificially boost a person's immediate social performance, making ambiguous or unstructured interactions essential during clinical observations.
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Traditional assessment tools like the ADOS can be less sensitive when evaluating females, who often demonstrate higher surface social fluency and culturally common special interests.
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Arriving at an accurate diagnostic picture requires gathering broad collateral information from parents, partners, and teachers rather than relying on a single test score.
You can register now for our upcoming continuing education course for mental health professionals, Clinical Implications of Late-Identified Neurodivergence: Strategies for Identity Integration and Therapeutic Support. The course will be presented by Dr. Amy Marschall, author of the book Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy, and will be available both as a live event on Friday, August 7 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM Eastern, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific, and afterwards in video form. Both versions are worth 1.5 hours of APA and NBCC-approved CE credits. Register here.
Dr. Jeremy Sharp is a licensed psychologist and Director at the Colorado Center for Assessment, a multimillion-dollar private practice that he founded in 2009. He specializes in psychological and neuropsychological evaluation with kids and adolescents.
As the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast and consultant for clinicians, Dr. Sharp provides private practice coaching for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow assessment services in their practices.
In 2020, Dr. Sharp partnered with a seasoned software developer to co-found Reverb, the premier AI report-writing platform for testing psychologists that helps clinicians write faster, better reports and get their time back for what matters most.
Dr. Sharp earned his undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina before getting a Master’s and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife (also a therapist) and two teenagers.
BACKGROUND READING
Jeremy’s website, Testing Psychologist podcast, Facebook, LinkedIn
The Neurodiversity Podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and you’re invited to join our Facebook Group. For more information go to www.NeurodiversityPodcast.com
If you'd like members of your organization, school district, or company to know more about the subjects discussed on our podcast, Emily Kircher-Morris provides keynote addresses, workshops, and training sessions worldwide, in-person or virtually. You can choose from a list of established presentations, or work with Emily to develop a custom talk to fit your unique situation. To learn more, visit our website.