Abstract / Summary
Research into school non-attendance is expanding, yet the perspectives of young people, particularly neurodivergent students, remain underrepresented. Card-sorting tasks offer a promising, accessible method for capturing these perspectives. The Student Stress Investigation (SSI) uses a structured card-sort approach to facilitate young people’s self-report of school-related stressors.This study used the SSI to explore school-based stressors among 31 children and adolescents (mean age = 12.16 years) diagnosed with both autism and ADHD (AuDHD). On average, they missed 3.46 days of school per month. Participants first categorised stressors as relevant or irrelevant, then ranked relevant items from smallest to largest stressors.The most frequently identified major stressors were classroom environments that were too loud or quiet (35.5%), uninteresting tasks (32.2%), unpredictability (29.0%), school days being too long (29.0%), and being rushed (29.0%). Qualitative responses highlighted variability in how stressors were experienced. For example, some students reported that the classroom being too loud or quiet was a sensory-related stressor, while others reported it as having an impact on attention or executive functioning.These findings provide direct insight into the everyday school experiences contributing to stress and non-attendance among AuDHD students. The results underscore the value of self-report tools and highlight the need for targeted, individualised, and proactive adjustments to reduce stress that may in turn support an increased capacity to consider a return to school.