Coaching Neurodiversity . CPD Award
Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, tics, sensory processing differences. They are in every club, in every age group, and in a great many cases nobody has ever put a name to it, least of all the student.
This course is not about diagnosing anyone. It is about the coaching decisions that decide whether a neurodivergent student thrives in your class or quietly stops turning up.
Think about what a martial arts class actually offers. Predictable structure. The same ritual every session. Explicit rules rather than unwritten social ones. Repetition treated as a virtue instead of a chore. Clear progression you can see. Permission to be intensely interested in one thing for years. For a great many neurodivergent people that is close to an ideal environment, which is part of why they find their way to us.
And then think about what else is in the room. Sudden noise. Bright strip lighting. Unavoidable physical contact. Being watched while you perform. Being told to look someone in the eye. Instructions given verbally, at speed, to a group. Grading days that break every routine at once. Any one of those can undo everything the structure offered.
The difference between a club that keeps a neurodivergent student for a decade and one that loses them in six weeks is rarely goodwill. It is knowing which of those things can be adjusted, and how to adjust them without singling anybody out.
Twelve lessons across three modules, finishing on a final examination. Nothing summarised away: this is the course exactly as it runs.
The shift from deficit to difference, the language that goes with it, and what the core forms of neurodivergence genuinely involve rather than what they are assumed to involve.
The mechanisms you cannot see, why girls and women are so routinely missed, how neurodivergence changes across a life, and why ranking people by severity is the wrong question.
What martial arts already offers that suits neurodivergent students, how to adapt without singling anyone out, reading behaviour as communication, and handling disclosure without overstepping.
Neurodivergence in girls and women is under-recognised, under-diagnosed and diagnosed later. The presentation is frequently different, the masking is frequently better, and the result is a great many women who reach adulthood knowing something about how they work but never having had a name for it.
For a martial arts instructor that has a very practical consequence. If your mental picture of an autistic or ADHD student is a boy who cannot sit still, you will not recognise the quiet, capable, apparently compliant girl who is exhausting herself holding it together for an hour and then falling apart in the car. She is the one most likely to disappear from your register without ever telling you why.
Module Two also covers neurodivergence across the lifespan, because adults are the other group nobody plans for. Your adult beginners class contains people who were never assessed as children and who have spent thirty years assuming they were simply bad at things.
They overlap, and clubs often use the words as though they mean the same thing. They do not, and treating them as one is how a club ends up with a policy that covers neither properly.
Most neurodivergent people in your club will never appear on a SEN register. They have no diagnosis, no paperwork and no plan, and they are relying entirely on whether the person taking the class understands what they are looking at.
A governing body that never changes its own qualifications is not being consistent, it is being inattentive. Our CPD catalogue is reviewed on a rolling cadence rather than left to age, and reviewed again out of cycle whenever something material shifts: new legislation, updated statutory guidance, a sector-wide review, or clubs telling us that what we teach no longer matches what they are dealing with.
Coaching Neurodiversity began as material inside our wider inclusion training, and it was clear from how instructors used it that it was doing two jobs at once. Neurodivergence is not a subset of special educational needs, and teaching it as one meant the parts that matter most to instructors, the mechanisms and the misconceptions, were always compressed. It is now a course in its own right.
Our workforce of instructors, assistant instructors and volunteers is who this is for. When their job changes, the training that supports it should already have changed, rather than catching up afterwards.
Neurodiversity is a subject with a great deal of confident bad information around it, some of it sold as training. Here is what sits behind ours.
BMABA is a CIMSPA Endorsed Training Provider, and we map our qualifications to a recognised professional standard wherever one exists. Mapped is not the same as endorsed: a course is only formally CIMSPA Endorsed CPD once it has been submitted, reviewed and certified, and we say so on the course itself when it has.
We are listed on the UK Register of Learning Providers under UKPRN 10098149, the government-maintained record of organisations delivering learning in the United Kingdom. Check our listing.
This sits inside Inclusive Martial Arts, our standing programme to make the mats reachable for people historically left off them: free SEND training on every tier, a published National SEN Policy, and Individual Learning Plan tooling built into the club software.
Certified under UKAS accreditation via the British Assessment Bureau. Content is version-controlled, reviewed on a cycle and traceable, which matters in a field where the accepted understanding has moved considerably and is still moving.
Also UKAS accredited, with zero non-conformities at our most recent audit. Relevant here because disclosure is a lesson on this course, and a disclosure creates a record that has to be held properly.
We hold a seat on the Martial Arts Safeguarding Group, sit on a CIMSPA advisory board, hold Cyber Essentials certification, and are named in Sport England’s own safeguarding guidance for martial arts.
Straight from the membership inclusion handbook, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
If your assistants and volunteers need inclusion training and this tier is out of reach, SEND Level 1 is free on every account type including theirs. Start there.
Check It In The Handbook
Our qualifications and awards are delivered entirely online through our own learning platform, on the website or in the BMABA app. Phone, tablet, laptop, whatever you have in your hand.
Your place is saved as you go, so you can do a lesson on your lunch break, another while the kids are at training, and finish the exam on a Sunday evening. Nothing expires part way through and nothing has to be done in one sitting.
Worth knowing if you are neurodivergent yourself: the course is self-paced, your place is saved, there is no live session to attend and no time limit to work against.
Twelve lessons, three modules, an exam and a certificate the same day. Included with Silver and Gold membership.
This is one course out of more than thirty in the library. Every one is written for martial arts specifically, delivered online, mapped to CIMSPA professional standards where a standard exists, and included with membership rather than sold separately.
Well I was with another organisation for 4 years and came across these guys. They have great vetting, were really helpful at every stage of my application, the actual app is amazing with training opportunities for members, also student membership. All round 10 out of 10.Facebook recommendation
Been a member for a number of years and they go above and beyond to support their members. Everything from safeguarding and legalities to certified courses, websites, club manager software, just to name a few of the benefits.Google review
A huge resource of helpful information and support for those setting up or running a martial arts club. Well put together coaching courses and great safeguarding advice and policies. Really pleased to have access to this exemplary organisation to help me with my new kickboxing club.Google review
Simply amazing. BMABA are more than just a governing body for martial arts, they are a team of incredible people, always willing to go the extra mile to make sure you feel supported. Incredible customer service, amazing response time, and an honour to be governed by.Google review
Previously searched for similar organisations but after speaking to Giovanni over the phone I knew that BMABA was the right one for me. He was very informative, patient and had a lot of time to answer any questions. Extremely reassuring and helpful. Their website and documentation are also very professional and high quality.Google review
Having been a part of BMABA for a short while, I can say that already they have been far more helpful than any other association I have been involved in. After 10 years of martial arts, I hope to continue instructing under BMABA for many years.Google review
Great people to work with.Facebook recommendation
Having left my previous association in November, and being very daunted by the prospect of being responsible for all my own compliance and everything else I can honestly say BMABA have made the whole thing possible and even pleasant. The training resources are great, it's been fantastic for me to be able to quickly up skill my team, the insurance is really easy to sort out, the team are super friendly and helpful, the perks on Gold membership are also fantastic.Member review
I have been a customer of BMABA for two years now, and I am extremely impressed with their services. First and foremost, the customer service provided by BMABA is exceptional. Their team is responsive, professional, and genuinely dedicated to ensuring that our needs are met. Whenever we had a query or require assistance, they responded rapidly and effectively.Member review
Found these guys in Martial Arts Illustrated doing a piece on professionalism in martial arts and thought, as an instructor, they might be worth looking at further. Really impressed from the moment I hit their website through to now, 3 months on as a member. Great staff, Giovanni is rediculously knowledgable and our club is now growing under the banner of what has got to be the best martial arts org in the UK.Member review
The BMABA are unlike any other org I've come across in this industry. Their honest, professional, politics free and most importantly, they know what they're doing. Website is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest, insurance is comprehensive and their overall customer service is just unlike anything else I've had in 25 years of martial arts. Amazing through and through. Would definitely recommend.Member review
I joined the BMABA right in its infancy (I believe I was their second member!). Giovanni is the most helpful, respectful and genuine person who has turned the possibility of a non-political, highly respected and supportive Martial Arts Association into a reality. I could bang on for hours about the BMABA but don't take my word for it – go and visit the BMABA website and see for yourself.Member review
As we all know 2020 has been the year from hell for martial arts. One thing that has come out of that is BMABA have done everything in their power to keep clubs like mine up to date with what's happening and tried to push the government to notice us. Couldn't wish for a better association to be a part of. Once again big THANK YOU to you guys for all the help. 💙🐺👊Member review
As i'm heading into the brave world of starting up my own small self defence club in our village, i can say with complete honesty and satisfaction that BMABA have been the most supportive and upfront association i have come across. i have seen and had first hand experience with the Mcdojo's offering you the greatest adventures of a life time. but these guys are the real deal… i hold my head high, and say with great pride "i am a BMABA member"Facebook
As someone with 22 years of experience in martial arts, who saw enough big egos and leaders who only look after their own benefits… I am highly IMPRESSED by the BMABA. I wanted to make sure they don't just promise the world but actually deliver. They support us all the way and constantly look for new ways of making our whole industry better for ALL of us. THANK YOU!!Facebook
Always quick to respond and thoughtful. Great service delivered at a very reasonable price and very supportive of the community. Been a member for a couple of years now and recommend highlyMember review
Simply the best organisation I have ever worked with. Everything is so stress free and I am definitely sticking with them for the rest of my career.Facebook
A regulated, multi-award winning not-for-profit, certified to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2022 under UKAS accreditation, and built from the ground up since 2012.
Underwritten by AXA XL Insurance Company UK Limited, accessed through our FCA-authorised broker.
CPD Built To National StandardsBMABA CIC is a CIMSPA Training Provider Partner. Our courses are developed in line with CIMSPA professional standards, with programmes submitted for formal endorsement and confirmed course by course as approvals are granted.Explore The Course Library →Award winning, completely free, with no per-student fees. Not now, not ever.
Completely FreeYour Club CRMEverything your club needs in one place, free with membership.Explore The Platform →GoCardless Direct Debits, Stripe payments and manual payments, built in→Technology worth thousands, included with membership. No one else in UK martial arts comes close.
Whatever your club needs next, there is structured, expert support behind your membership.
