Neurodiversity
Blog Articles

Starting the day can feel overwhelming, especially for neurodivergent individuals who may experience heightened sensory sensitivities and challenges with transitions. Mornings often bring a rush of stimuli and demands that can trigger stress and dysregulation. Creating a gentle, sensory-friendly morning routine offers a way to reduce this overwhelm, support emotional regulation, and set a positive tone for the day ahead. This blog explores practical strategies to build a calm

The holidays can be meaningful, but they can also feel loud, busy, and overwhelming. Many neurodivergent people notice sensory overload, pressure to socialize, changes in routine, and expectations from others. Your reactions make sense. You deserve a season that feels steady and supportive. This guide offers a few simple ideas for pacing yourself, setting boundaries, and shaping traditions that feel restorative. Understanding the Intensity of the Holidays This time of year of

For many neurodivergent individuals, special interests are more than hobbies. They can be steady sources of joy, focus, comfort, and meaning. These passions often help the nervous system to regulate, make daily life feel more manageable, and create a deep sense of identity. This guide celebrates special interests as essential pathways toward wellbeing, confidence, and connection. How Neurodivergent Special Interests Support Wellbeing Special interests are often misunderstood,

Honoring the Experience of Neurodivergent Adults Living With Chronic Illness Living with chronic illness calls for patience, flexibility, and an inner strength that often goes unseen. When you’re also neurodivergent, your experience becomes even more layered. You might notice patterns, changes in your body, or shifts in your energy more quickly than others. You may also develop creative and personalized ways of coping that help you move through your day. At the same time, chr

Our environments shape how our nervous systems feel. For many neurodivergent people, the sensory world is rich, detailed, and full of information. Light, sound, texture, and visual patterns can support your wellbeing or quietly drain energy. When your space matches your needs, your body often feels steadier, clearer, and more grounded. This guide offers simple ways to create sensory friendly spaces at home or work, honoring your nervous system as something worth caring for. W

Many neurodivergent adults describe an emotional experience that feels intense, sudden, and deeply tied to relationships. A small comment can land like criticism. A quiet pause in a conversation can feel like disapproval. Even imagining that someone might be upset can send the nervous system into alarm. If any of this resonates, you are not alone. These experiences often fall under the umbrella of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, sometimes shortened to RSD. Understanding Emotio

For many neurodivergent people, the idea of rest can feel complicated. Understanding how rest supports neurodivergent brains can transform how we think about energy, balance, and productivity. You may have been praised for your focus and drive but quietly judged for slowing down. You may have heard messages like “you just need to push through” or internalized the idea that rest equals failure. The truth is that rest is not avoidance. It is a vital form of regulation, repair,

Many neurodivergent people, including those who identify as autistic, ADHD, highly sensitive, or otherwise wired a little differently, know the feeling of the masking hangover. It is that deep exhaustion that settles in after you have spent hours or days pretending to be “okay.” You have smiled, nodded, maintained eye contact, and tried to meet social expectations. You have worked hard to blend in, to seem fine, to not make things awkward. And when it is over, your mind and b

What Does Accessibility Look Like for Neurodivergent Folks in the Therapy Room? Many neurodivergent individuals, especially those with ADHD or Autism, know firsthand how hard it can be to find neurodivergent talk therapy that truly fits. A lack of education and training among providers has led to frequent late diagnoses and misdiagnoses. Too often, clinicians treat what looks like anxiety or depression without first understanding that these experiences may be expressions of u

If you live with ADHD, you may know the paradox of attention all too well. While distractions can scatter focus in some areas, there are other times when your attention narrows so completely that hours can pass in what feels like minutes. This experience, often called hyperfocus, isn’t a flaw or a sign of being “too intense.” It’s actually a core part of ADHD brain wiring. What Is Hyperfocus? Hyperfocus is an intense, immersive concentration on an activity that feels deeply s

Friendship is often described as one of life’s great joys, a space for connection, belonging, and shared understanding. Yet for many neurodivergent adults, the path to meaningful friendship can feel more complex. Social norms, sensory sensitivities, communication styles, and the invisible labor of masking can all shape how we experience connection. But friendship doesn’t have to fit a neurotypical mold to be real, supportive, or deeply fulfilling. Friendship Can Look Differen

In a world that still measures worth by productivity, politeness, and predictability, many neurodivergent people, including those with ADHD and autism, find themselves chasing an impossible standard, the good autistic myth, that suggests worthiness depends on how closely one can appear to be “high-functioning” or “well-behaved.” The “good autistic” is often portrayed as the person who makes eye contact, speaks fluently, and suppresses their stims. The “good ADHD’er” may appea

Many neurodivergent professionals, whether navigating ADHD, autism, dyslexia, sensory sensitivities, or other ways of processing the world, aren’t always aware of the full range of workplace accommodations to ask for. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects your right to reasonable accommodations that allow you to thrive at work. Yet, many people hesitate to ask, worry they’ll be seen as “difficult,” or simply don’t know what’s possible. This blog will help you lea

As the days get shorter and the air turns crisp, many people feel the pull of fall routines, new school schedules, busier work demands, and the pressure of holiday planning just around the corner. For neurodivergent folks, these seasonal shifts can bring unique challenges, especially when sensory changes, transitions, and social expectations pile on quickly. The good news? You don’t have to meet autumn with hustle or overextension. Instead, this season can become an invitatio

Hosting guests as a neurodivergent person can be meaningful and enjoyable, but it also comes with unique challenges, like managing energy, sensory load, and preparation. Many people who are autistic, ADHDers, or otherwise neurodivergent find that hosting stretches their energy, increases sensory load, or requires careful preparation. If this is true for you, you are not alone. The good news: with planning, clear communication, and built-in recovery, it’s possible to welcome g

Receiving a diagnosis of ADHD or autism later in life can be life-changing. For many, it brings clarity, validation, and even a sense of relief: “Finally, there’s a reason why life has felt so different for me.”  Yet alongside that relief, there often comes a quieter, heavier emotion: grief for the years spent misunderstood, grief for the missed opportunities, and grief for the self you might have been if you’d had answers sooner. This grief is real, and it deserves space. Fo

Navigating Impostor Syndrome Post-Diagnosis Receiving a late autism diagnosis can feel like opening a door into a room you’ve always belonged in but never had the words to describe. Many people experience a sense of clarity, relief, and even celebration. Yet alongside that relief, another feeling often sneaks in: doubt. A common question I hear from clients is, “What if I’m not autistic enough?” This worry can stir up impostor syndrome, the unsettling sense that maybe you don

In a world that often rushes to label differences as “deficits,” many neurodivergent individuals are left feeling misunderstood, stigmatized, or pressured to conform. At our practice, we hold a different perspective: being neurodivergent is not about being broken, it’s about being uniquely wired. Understanding the Medical Model of Disability Traditionally, the medical model of disability has dominated how society views neurodiversity. This model focuses on diagnosis, impairme

For many neurodivergent folks, and truthfully, for many people in general, seemingly simple tasks can feel overwhelming. Sending an email, folding laundry, or starting a project may look easy on the outside, but on the inside it can feel like climbing a mountain. If you’ve ever wondered, “Why is this so hard for me?”  you are not alone. What you’re experiencing may be connected to something called executive dysfunction. Why Simple Tasks Feel Hard: Understanding Executive Dysf

In our therapy practice, we often hear people describe feeling “misunderstood” in conversations across differences, especially when one person is neurodivergent and the other is neurotypical. Traditionally, much of the focus has been on how neurodivergent people can adapt to fit neurotypical expectations. But research and lived experience highlight a more balanced truth: miscommunication is mutual. This is called the Double Empathy Problem. What is the Double Empathy Problem?