Masking in Autism at School and Home

Your child’s teacher tells you they’re doing wonderfully—sitting still, following directions, making friends. But the moment you pick them up from school, everything changes. The car ride home is filled with tears. They refuse to talk about their day. By dinnertime, a simple request leads to a complete meltdown.

You find yourself wondering, “Why is my child like Jekyll and Hyde? Am I doing something wrong at home?”

The answer isn’t what you might expect. Your child isn’t being difficult, manipulative, or “saving their worst behavior” for you. What you’re seeing is often the exhausting aftermath of masking in autism—when children with autism work incredibly hard to appear neurotypical during the school day, then release that built-up stress once they’re home and feel safe.

For Maryland families navigating autism, understanding masking in autism is essential. Research shows that masking affects the majority of children on the spectrum, with some studies estimating rates as high as 94%. The emotional and mental toll can be significant, contributing to anxiety, burnout, and delayed access to the support children truly need.

At The Learning Tree ABA, we’ve worked with hundreds of Maryland families experiencing this exact pattern. This guide will help you understand what masking in autism looks like, how to recognize the signs, and how evidence-based ABA therapy strategies can support your child’s authentic self—both at school and at home.

What Is Autism Masking?

Autism masking, also called camouflaging or social camouflaging, happens when children with autism consciously or unconsciously suppress their natural behaviors to appear more neurotypical. Recent research has identified three core components of masking:

Masking Behaviors: Actively hiding or suppressing natural responses like stimming (hand-flapping, rocking), avoiding eye contact, or expressing intense interest in specific topics. Children learn to hide these traits because they’ve noticed that others react negatively or that these behaviors make them stand out.

Compensation Strategies: Using alternative approaches to navigate social situations despite experiencing social-communication challenges. This might include memorizing conversation scripts, studying others’ facial expressions and body language to copy them later, or following detailed mental checklists for social interactions.

Assimilation Tactics: Making deliberate efforts to “blend in” with neurotypical peers through careful observation and imitation, even when this feels uncomfortable or confusing. Children might force themselves to participate in activities they find overwhelming or pretend to understand social nuances that genuinely puzzle them.

According to a 2025 meta-analysis published in Scientific Reports, females with autism consistently display higher masking scores than males across multiple assessment methods, though masking occurs across all genders. The research demonstrates that while masking can help children navigate specific social situations temporarily, it comes with significant psychological costs.

It’s important to understand that masking often develops as a protective response. Children aren’t trying to deceive anyone—they’re responding to real social pressures, fear of rejection, bullying, or negative feedback they’ve experienced when showing their authentic selves.

Why Masking Happens: The School Environment

Schools create the perfect conditions for masking to occur, even when educators are well-intentioned and supportive. Understanding these environmental factors helps parents and teachers work together more effectively.

Social Pressure and Peer Dynamics

Children with autism are keenly aware that they experience the world differently than their classmates. A 2024 study in Autism Research found that masking is most intense in structured settings like schools, where social norms are rigid and nonconformity may result in negative consequences. Children observe their peers’ behaviors constantly, noting differences in:

• How classmates initiate and maintain conversations
• The volume and tone others use when speaking
• How peers react to changes in routine or unexpected events
• What topics generate enthusiasm versus confusion or teasing
• Social rules that seem unwritten but universally followed

This constant observation becomes exhausting as children feel pressure to match behaviors they don’t naturally display.

Academic Expectations and Classroom Demands

The structured school day requires sustained attention, behavioral regulation, and quick transitions—all areas where many children with autism face challenges. Rather than requesting support or accommodations (which might draw attention to their differences), children often work overtime to:

• Sit still despite overwhelming urges to move
• Maintain focus through sensory distractions like fluorescent lights, classroom noise, or uncomfortable clothing
• Switch between activities quickly even when their brain needs more processing time
• Follow multi-step directions without asking for clarification
• Participate in group work despite social-communication difficulties

Fear of Bullying and Rejection

Research published in Autism in 2024 confirms that children often mask most intensely to protect themselves from bullying and social exclusion. A study examining elementary school children found that while autistic girls could achieve the superficial appearance of successful social interaction through masking, they didn’t actually gain deep friendships or sustained social engagement.

Children learn early that certain behaviors attract negative attention. When they’ve experienced teasing, exclusion, or hurtful comments, masking becomes a safety strategy rather than a choice.

Teacher Expectations and Behavioral Standards

Even the most compassionate, well-trained teachers work within systems that reward quiet, compliant, “typical” behavior. Children pick up on these expectations through:

• Praise for sitting still and making eye contact
• Rewards for behaviors that feel unnatural or uncomfortable
• Corrections when they stim or need sensory breaks
• Subtle social cues about what’s “appropriate” versus what makes them “stand out”

Maryland educators in Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Howard County, and across the state work hard to create inclusive classrooms, but systemic pressures still exist.

The Exhausting Reality: What Masking Costs Children

Masking isn’t simply adapting to different environments—it requires enormous mental, emotional, and physical energy. Understanding these costs helps parents recognize why their child seems so different after school.

Mental Exhaustion and Cognitive Load

Imagine translating every conversation in your head, monitoring every facial expression and body movement, following complex unwritten rules, and suppressing your natural responses—all day, every day. Research from 2024 published in Molecular Autism found significant associations between masking behaviors and elevated cortisol levels (a biological marker of stress), particularly in autistic individuals.

Children experience constant cognitive overload as they:

• Analyze social situations in real-time while simultaneously planning responses
• Suppress comfortable behaviors (like stimming) that help them regulate
• Force uncomfortable behaviors (like sustained eye contact) that feel unnatural
• Monitor peers’ reactions to ensure they’re “passing” as neurotypical
• Remember and apply social scripts learned from observation or media

This level of mental effort leaves little capacity for actual learning, making homework and evening activities feel impossible.

Emotional Regulation Challenges

When children use all their energy managing their outward presentation, they have nothing left for processing and regulating emotions. A 2025 systematic review in Clinical Psychology Review found strong links between masking and mental health challenges including anxiety, depression, and autistic burnout.

The emotional toll manifests as:

• After-school collapse: The moment children reach a safe space (home, car), their carefully maintained composure crumbles
• Delayed emotional processing: Feelings experienced during the school day finally surface hours later, often as seemingly unprovoked meltdowns
• Difficulty identifying emotions: Constant suppression makes it harder for children to recognize and name what they’re feeling
• Accumulated stress: Each day’s emotional burden adds to the previous day’s, creating a snowball effect

Physical Symptoms and Sensory Overload

The body keeps score even when children successfully mask their distress. Maryland parents frequently report physical symptoms including:

• Frequent headaches, often starting during or right after school
• Stomachaches with no medical explanation
• Extreme fatigue requiring hours of rest after school
• Sleep difficulties despite exhaustion
• Changes in appetite or increased pickiness with food
• Heightened sensitivity to sensory input at home

These aren’t psychosomatic complaints—they’re genuine physiological responses to sustained stress. The 2025 study measuring hair cortisol concentration confirmed that masking is associated with increased biological stress markers in autistic individuals.

Identity Confusion and Self-Esteem Impact

Perhaps most concerning, chronic masking can lead children to lose touch with their authentic selves. Research published in Autism in Adulthood in 2024 found that extensive masking was associated with:

• Lower self-esteem and self-acceptance
• Difficulty recognizing personal preferences separate from what they think others expect
• Feeling like an “imposter” or “fraud” even around family
• Questioning whether anyone would accept their true self
• Shame about natural autistic traits and behaviors

One autistic adult reflected in a 2024 study: “When you spend your whole childhood masking, you don’t know who you are without the mask.”

Recognizing Masking in Your Child: Signs Maryland Parents Notice

Masking can be subtle and often looks different in different children. Here are patterns Maryland families frequently observe across home, school, and community settings.

The Jekyll and Hyde Pattern

The most common red flag is stark behavioral differences between settings:

At School (According to Teachers):

• Quiet, compliant, well-behaved
• “No problems at all”
• “Such a pleasure to have in class”
• Sits still, follows directions, appears engaged
• Minimal behavioral concerns or meltdowns

At Home (What Parents Experience):

• Immediate meltdowns upon arriving home
• Refusal to talk about the school day
• Extreme emotional reactions to minor requests
• Need for hours of quiet, alone time to recover
• Physical complaints (headache, stomachache, exhaustion)
• Difficulty with basic tasks they could do earlier in the day

This isn’t inconsistent parenting or “saving bad behavior for Mom and Dad.” It’s a child who has used every ounce of energy maintaining their mask at school, finally releasing stress in their safest space.

Post-School Shutdown or Meltdowns

Pay attention to the timing and pattern of difficult moments:

• Tears or irritability starting in the car on the way home
• Needing to decompress alone immediately after school
• Inability to transition to homework, dinner, or evening activities
• Meltdowns triggered by seemingly minor things
• Gradual recovery over several hours, only to repeat the cycle the next day

These aren’t behavior problems—they’re nervous system responses to sustained stress.

Weekend and School Break Improvements

Many Maryland parents notice their child seems like a different person on weekends, holidays, and summer break:

• More relaxed, cheerful, and communicative
• Fewer meltdowns and less irritability
• Increased interest in activities and hobbies
• Better sleep and appetite
• Willingness to engage with family

Then Sunday evening or the start of a new school week brings a return of anxiety and stress behaviors.

Physical and Emotional Red Flags

Watch for cumulative signs across time:

• Increasing reports of headaches or stomachaches
• Growing reluctance or refusal to attend school
• Sleep difficulties including trouble falling asleep or nightmares about school
• Comments like “I wish I could be someone else” or “Nobody likes the real me”
• Perfectionism or excessive worry about mistakes
• Social withdrawal at home, avoiding previously enjoyed activities

Grade and Gender Patterns

Research shows masking often intensifies:

• As children get older and social awareness increases (particularly middle school)
• For girls and female-presenting children, who show consistently higher masking behaviors
• For children who are academically capable and “high-functioning” (a problematic term, but one teachers still use)
• When children are socially motivated and desire friendships

How ABA Therapy Helps: Supporting Authentic Self-Expression

ABA therapy isn’t about teaching children to mask more effectively—it’s about building genuine skills, confidence, and self-advocacy so masking becomes less necessary. At The Learning Tree ABA, our Maryland-based team uses evidence-based approaches that honor each child’s authentic self.

Teaching Self-Awareness and Emotional Recognition

Children can’t communicate their needs if they don’t recognize what they’re feeling. Our BCBAs work on:

Emotion Identification: Using visual supports, social stories, and natural environment teaching, we help children recognize and label their internal experiences—stress, overwhelm, frustration, anxiety, contentment.

Body Signal Awareness: Teaching children to notice physical cues that indicate rising stress (tight muscles, faster heartbeat, headache, stomach discomfort) before reaching meltdown threshold.

Preference Assessment: Helping children identify what activities, environments, and sensory experiences make them feel calm versus stressed, empowering them to advocate for their needs.

Building Communication and Self-Advocacy Skills

The most powerful antidote to masking is the ability to communicate needs directly. Our therapy focuses on:

Requesting Breaks: Teaching children to recognize when they need sensory or social breaks and communicate this need appropriately at school and home.

Expressing Preferences: Supporting children in communicating their authentic preferences, even when different from peers (“I’d rather read than play on the playground” or “Can I skip the assembly? It’s too loud”).

Asking for Accommodations: Practicing language and strategies for requesting needed supports without shame (“Can I use my fidget during class?” or “I need the instructions written down”).

Saying “No”: Empowering children to decline uncomfortable social situations when appropriate, rather than forcing participation that leads to shutdown.

Research from 2024 confirms that self-advocacy skills significantly reduce the need for masking behaviors while improving overall well-being.

Creating Regulation Strategies

Rather than suppressing natural regulation behaviors (stimming), we teach children when and how to use them effectively:

Acceptable Stimming: Identifying sensory strategies that provide regulation without drawing negative attention at school (subtle fidgets, chewing tools, quiet foot tapping).

Scheduled Sensory Breaks: Working with schools to build in movement breaks, quiet time, or sensory room access before overwhelm occurs.

Transition Support: Using visual schedules, timers, and preparation strategies to make daily transitions less stressful.

Collaborating with Schools

Effective support requires partnership between home, therapy, and school. Our team:

Educates Teachers: Helping Maryland educators in Baltimore, Montgomery County, Howard County, and throughout our service areas understand masking and its impacts.

Develops Environmental Supports: Identifying classroom modifications that reduce the need for masking (flexible seating, alternative communication methods, sensory-friendly spaces).

Monitors Well-Being: Tracking not just behavioral compliance but emotional well-being, fatigue levels, and authentic engagement.

Supporting Parents and Families

Families need strategies too. Our parent training helps Maryland families:

• Create post-school decompression routines
• Recognize early warning signs of burnout
• Respond to meltdowns with compassion rather than punishment
• Celebrate authentic self-expression at home
• Advocate effectively within school systems

Our in-home ABA therapy brings these strategies directly into your family’s natural environment, and our center-based programs in Hunt Valley provide additional opportunities for skill-building in a supportive setting.

Supporting Your Child at Home: Practical Strategies for Maryland Families

While ABA therapy provides professional support, there’s much you can do at home to help your child navigate masking and develop authentic self-expression.

Create a Safe Haven for Unmasking

Home should be where your child can completely relax and be themselves without judgment or correction.

Dedicated Decompression Time: Build in 30-60 minutes immediately after school where your child can do whatever helps them regulate—lying in a dark room, stimming freely, engaging with a special interest, or simply being alone.

Respect Need for Space: When your child arrives home overwhelmed, resist the urge to ask about their day, request chores, or transition immediately to homework. Let them decompress first.

Sensory-Friendly Spaces: Create areas in your home where sensory input is minimized—dim lighting, quiet, comfortable seating, access to preferred sensory tools (weighted blankets, fidgets, noise-canceling headphones).

Celebrate Stimming: Rather than correcting or redirecting natural regulation behaviors at home, normalize and celebrate them. “I love how you flap your hands when you’re excited!” sends a powerful message of acceptance.

Adjust Expectations and Routines

Maryland families often find success by restructuring after-school hours around their child’s real needs rather than conventional schedules.

Delay Homework: If possible, let your child fully decompress before attempting homework. Some children work better after dinner or even first thing the next morning when regulated.

Minimize After-School Activities: Resist the pressure to fill every afternoon with sports, lessons, or playdates. Your child needs recovery time more than additional social demands.

Simplify Evenings: Reduce demands around mealtime, bathing, and bedtime. Save energy for what matters most.

Flexible Weekend Plans: Honor that your child may need weekends for recovery rather than constant social activities. It’s okay to decline birthday parties or family events when your child is depleted.

Validate and Empathize

The most powerful support you can offer is believing your child’s experience.

Name What’s Happening: “You worked so hard to hold everything together at school. It makes sense you’re exhausted and overwhelmed now.”

Remove Blame: “You’re not being difficult or dramatic. Your body and brain need time to recover.”

Acknowledge the Unfairness: “It’s not fair that you have to work so much harder than other kids just to get through the school day.”

Celebrate Effort: “I’m proud of how you handled school today, AND I want you to know you don’t have to work that hard at home. You can completely be yourself here.”

Build Communication About Masking

Help your child understand what’s happening and develop language to talk about it.

Age-Appropriate Explanations: Use terms your child can understand: “Sometimes your brain works really hard at school to do things that don’t come naturally. That’s why you’re so tired when you get home.”

Check-In Questions: Rather than “How was your day?” try “What was the hardest part of today?” or “Did anything happen that made you feel stressed or worried?”

Masking Awareness: For older children, discussing masking directly can be empowering: “Some people with autism talk about feeling like they wear a ‘mask’ at school to fit in. Do you ever feel like that?”

Create a Signal System: Develop a simple way for your child to communicate their stress level—a color code, number scale, or visual card system they can use when words feel impossible.

Working with Your Maryland School: Advocacy Strategies

Your child’s school wants to help but may not understand masking and its impacts. Here’s how to partner effectively with Maryland educators.

Document and Share Information

Teachers can’t support what they can’t see. Create a clear picture of the home-school difference.

Keep a Log: Track after-school meltdowns, physical complaints, and recovery time needed. Note patterns related to specific school days or activities.

Share Observations: Write a clear letter to your child’s teacher and IEP team explaining: “While reports indicate my child is doing well at school, at home we’re seeing [specific behaviors]. Research on autism masking suggests my child may be using significant energy to appear ‘fine’ during the school day.”

Request Input: Ask teachers to observe for subtle signs of stress during the school day—withdrawal during unstructured time, reluctance to participate, physical complaints, fatigue.

Request Appropriate Evaluations

If masking is hiding your child’s true needs, request assessments that look beyond surface compliance.

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA): An FBA can identify triggers, patterns, and hidden struggles even when behavior appears appropriate.

Social-Emotional Assessment: Request evaluation of anxiety, stress, and emotional regulation, not just academic performance and behavioral compliance.

Occupational Therapy Evaluation: An OT can assess sensory needs and regulation challenges that your child may be masking.

Advocate for Accommodations

Work with your school to reduce the need for masking rather than expecting your child to maintain it.

Built-In Breaks: Request scheduled sensory breaks, movement opportunities, or access to a quiet space—preventively, not only when problems occur.

Sensory Accommodations: Flexible seating, noise-reducing headphones, fidgets, alternative lighting—whatever helps your child regulate without masking discomfort.

Communication Supports: Visual schedules, written instructions, extra processing time, and permission to ask for clarification all reduce cognitive load.

Modified Participation: Your child may need permission to opt out of overwhelming activities (assemblies, pep rallies, group projects) or participate differently (observe rather than participate in PE, eat lunch in a quieter space).

Reduced Demands During Stressful Times: Consider requesting reduced workload during particularly stressful periods rather than pushing through.

Maryland schools are required to provide accommodations through IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) or 504 Plans. Organizations like Pathfinders for Autism and Parents’ Place of Maryland offer advocacy support for Maryland families.

Educate the Team About Masking

Share current research with your child’s team. Resources from Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism Services, Science and Innovation (CASSI) provide excellent information for Maryland educators.

Key points to communicate:

• Masking is an exhausting coping mechanism, not a sign that support isn’t needed
• “Good behavior” at school may come at significant cost to well-being
• After-school meltdowns are often directly connected to school stress
• Reducing the need to mask (through accommodations and acceptance) is more beneficial than praising a child’s ability to mask

When to Seek Additional Support

While some level of behavioral difference across settings is normal for all children, certain signs indicate professional support may be helpful.

Red Flags Requiring Attention

Reach out to your pediatrician, therapist, or ABA provider if you notice:

• Increasing school refusal or physical complaints before school
• Signs of depression (persistent sadness, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, hopelessness)
• Anxiety symptoms (excessive worry, panic, sleep disturbance)
• Self-harm thoughts or behaviors
• Statements about wanting to be someone else or not wanting to exist
• Complete withdrawal from social interaction, even at home
• Regression in previously developed skills
• Signs of autistic burnout (profound exhaustion, loss of skills, emotional shutdown)

Finding the Right Support in Maryland

Maryland families have excellent resources available:

ABA Therapy Providers: The Learning Tree ABA serves families throughout Maryland including Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County, Harford County, Carroll County, and beyond. Our team provides in-home, center-based, and school-based ABA therapy.

Mental Health Support: Seek therapists trained in autism and masking. Kennedy Krieger Institute offers comprehensive mental health services for children with autism.

Parent Support Organizations:

• Pathfinders for Autism provides Maryland-specific resources, support groups, and advocacy assistance
• Parents’ Place of Maryland offers information and support for families of children with disabilities
• Autism Society of Baltimore-Chesapeake hosts events and support groups throughout the Baltimore area

Insurance and Access

Most Maryland health insurance plans, including Maryland Medicaid, cover ABA therapy services. The Learning Tree ABA accepts all Maryland Medicaid plans and most major commercial insurance. We handle insurance verification and prior authorization to make access as simple as possible for Maryland families.

Looking Forward: Building a World Where Masking Isn’t Necessary

While we support children in navigating the world as it currently exists, the ultimate goal is creating environments where children with autism can thrive as their authentic selves.

Promoting Neurodiversity Acceptance

Real acceptance means celebrating neurological differences rather than requiring conformity. This involves:

Educating Communities: Schools, recreational programs, and community organizations need training on autism, masking, and neurodiversity.

Changing Expectations: Moving from “this child needs to act more neurotypical” to “how can we make this environment work better for this child?”

Celebrating Differences: Helping neurotypical children understand and appreciate different ways of thinking, communicating, and experiencing the world.

Reducing Stigma: Challenging harmful stereotypes and assumptions about autism in media, schools, and communities.

Supporting Your Child’s Identity Development

As your child grows, help them develop a positive autistic identity:

Introduce Autistic Role Models: Share books, videos, and stories about successful autistic adults who embrace their neurology.

Connect with Autistic Community: When appropriate, connect your child with other young people with autism and adult mentors.

Celebrate Autistic Traits: Frame autism as a different way of experiencing the world, with unique strengths and challenges, not as something wrong or broken.

Support Self-Determination: As your child matures, support their choices about disclosure, when to unmask, and how they want to navigate the world.

Research from 2024 demonstrates that autistic adults who develop positive autistic identity and self-acceptance experience better mental health outcomes than those who spent their youth masking extensively.

Your Child Is Exactly Who They’re Meant to Be

If you’re reading this article because your child seems like two different people—perfect at school, struggling at home—please hear this: You’re not imagining things. Your child isn’t being manipulative. And you’re not failing as a parent.

What you’re witnessing is your child’s extraordinary effort to navigate a world that wasn’t designed with them in mind. The meltdowns, the exhaustion, the tears—these aren’t behavior problems. They’re communication from a nervous system that’s been working overtime to manage overwhelming demands.

Your child trusts you enough to fall apart in your presence. Your home is safe enough for them to drop the mask. That’s not a failure—it’s a testament to the secure relationship you’ve built.

At The Learning Tree ABA, we’ve walked alongside hundreds of Maryland families through this exact challenge. We’ve watched children develop the skills, confidence, and self-advocacy to thrive as their authentic selves. We’ve seen families transform when they truly understand what their child is experiencing.

You don’t have to navigate this alone. Our compassionate team of BCBAs and behavior technicians provides evidence-based support tailored to your child’s unique needs and your family’s goals. Whether through our in-home therapy services, our beautiful center in Hunt Valley, or school-based support, we’re here to help your child build a foundation for lifelong success.

Your child is perfect exactly as they are. Let’s work together to build a world—and daily experiences—where they can show up authentically and thrive.

Schedule your free consultation today to learn how The Learning Tree ABA can support your family’s journey.

Frequently Asked Questions About Autism Masking and School Behavior

1. What is autism masking and why does my child do it?

Autism masking (also called camouflaging) happens when children with autism consciously or unconsciously hide their natural behaviors to appear more neurotypical. Children mask to avoid bullying, meet social expectations, gain acceptance from peers, and reduce negative feedback from adults. Research shows masking affects up to 94% of individuals with autism and requires enormous mental and emotional energy, often leading to exhaustion, anxiety, and after-school meltdowns.

2. Why does my child with autism seem fine at school but melts down at home?

Children with autism often use all their energy maintaining appropriate behavior at school through masking. By the time they reach home—their safe space—they’re completely depleted and can no longer hold everything together. The meltdowns you see at home aren’t “bad behavior” saved for you; they’re the release of accumulated stress from suppressing natural responses all day. This pattern is called “after-school restraint collapse” and indicates your child feels safe enough at home to drop their mask.

3. How can I tell if my child is masking at school?

Common signs include stark behavioral differences between school and home, with teachers reporting no concerns while you experience daily meltdowns; extreme exhaustion after school requiring hours of recovery time; physical complaints like headaches or stomachaches; reluctance to discuss the school day; improvement in behavior during weekends and school breaks; and reports that your child is very quiet or withdrawn at school. If your child’s teacher says “no problems at all” but home life is extremely challenging, masking may be occurring.

4. Can ABA therapy help children who are masking their autism?

Yes, evidence-based ABA therapy can significantly help by teaching self-awareness and emotional recognition, building communication and self-advocacy skills, creating appropriate regulation strategies that don’t require suppression, collaborating with schools to reduce environmental demands, and supporting families in creating home environments where children can be authentic. At The Learning Tree ABA, our Maryland-based BCBAs focus on empowering children to express needs directly rather than masking discomfort, reducing the need for exhausting camouflaging behaviors.

5. What accommodations should I request at my Maryland school if my child is masking?

Request built-in sensory and movement breaks (preventive, not only when problems occur), sensory accommodations like flexible seating, fidgets, and noise-reducing headphones, communication supports including visual schedules and written instructions, permission to opt out of overwhelming activities like assemblies when needed, and a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) that considers regulation and stress, not just visible behavior. Document the difference between school reports and home behavior, and share current research on masking with your IEP team. Maryland organizations like Pathfinders for Autism and Parents’ Place of Maryland can provide advocacy support.