Francesca Anderle

I am a licensed Clinical Psychologist with expertise in psychodiagnostic assessment and psychoeducational interventions for neurodivergent children, particularly autistic children, children with ADHD, and those with specific learning differences. My research focuses on improving assessment methods and developing evidence-based, neurodiversity-affirming interventions that support neurodivergent children and young people.

I completed my academic training at the University of Trento, Italy. During my Master's degree (2020-2022), I conducted an experimental study evaluating a gamified training programme designed to enhance reading and writing skills in neurotypical and neurodivergent children aged 8-11 years across educational and clinical settings. My PhD (2022-2026) research focused on the adaptation and validation of a novel battery of performance-based tasks to assess executive functions in neurotypical and neurodivergent children and adolescents aged 3-17 years. Specifically, the project aimed to identify more context-sensitive measures of executive functioning for autistic children and young people, with the goal of improving clinical assessment and informing more tailored educational and intervention strategies.

I currently work on the All About Me project, where I contribute to the development and evaluation of a strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming toolkit designed to support children and young people across home, clinical and school environments. The project aims to promote more personalised, effective, and strengths-focused support for neurodivergent children and young people. My current research is particularly focused on the Early Years, where I am developing an observational framework to identify and monitor children's strengths over time within naturalistic settings.