Masking

Masking or camouflaging autistic traits is what some people do to improve their ability to fit into social situations and decrease their visibility in an attempt to hide their autism features to avoid being stigmatised or detected. Some individuals on the spectrum may model behaviours from peers or idols, learning scripts and practicing common responses to help them in social situations.

Children can adopt a variety of personas as a means to communicate confidently with others, A child may script TV shows and will narrate to others how they should respond, you may notice a child presents as calmer and confident when adopting new personas particularly when there is shared appreciation with others. This is a useful strategy to use as a means of engaging a child on the autism spectrum to carry out tasks.