You KNOW you’re neurodivergent. . .
but you want proof.
Supported self-assessment for masked Autistic ADHDers and the Neuro-Curious
. . .from the comfort of your own home.
You don’t need a full neuropsych eval, but you want more than TikTok videos (as much as you love them).
You’ve always:
felt different and worried about saying or doing something wrong, or hurting people’s feelings
been on a roller coaster alternating between periods of productivity and collapse
had intense sensory perception (even painfully so) but sometimes missed what’s going on right in front of you
spent hours researching the things that are interesting to you, but struggled to get the dishes done, file the taxes, or find a therapist
wondered how you can be both “gifted” and non-functional at the same time!
And now your kids are getting diagnosed with ADHD. . .and Pathological Demand Avoidance (we call that Pervasive Drive for Autonomy here thank you very much) and you’re thinking “They’re perfectly normal kids! They’re just like I was. . .am. . . wait a minute…
The structure and routine you had for your life used to hold you together, but something happened these last few years and it’s all falling apart. It’s like your life skills are just disintegrating…
TALK TO US!
Work, life, family, friendships. . .it feels like one false move and everything falls apart.
You’re spending more and more time in bed, scrolling, or watching your favorite shows on repeat.
You’re embarrassed when your partner comes in and sees you watching The Office AGAIN. “Did you get up today?” they ask.
Your mental health is becoming a flashpoint for fights at home.
You try to explain but there are no words. And no energy to say the words even if you could find them.
You love your people but feel yourself slipping further and further into numb isolation. Which is a relief because when you’re present everything hurts! The lights are too bright, the sounds are too loud, and the things your brain is saying to you are getting certifiably weirder. But there’s no one to talk about it with and what could they do even if you could tell them?
How can supported self-assessment help?
Just getting a label for yourself doesn’t change your life. . . or does it?
A funny thing happens when you finally realize you’re Autistic and ADHD.
It no longer makes sense to blame your partner, your job, or your SELF for the things you’re struggling with. Suddenly there’s a FRAMEWORK for understanding what you need.
It’s like you’ve been jumping in the air trying to change a lightbulb your whole life and then someone pulls a chair over for you. . . and all of a sudden there’s light. It’s had nothing to do with your lightbulb-changing skills THIS WHOLE TIME, you just needed more height.
How many struggles in your life might be like that?
Think about it this way: What do you want for your life?
And where EXACTLY is the point where things go awry between here and there?
That’s the point where you have an unmet access or support need.
For most masked AuDHDers, the new normal of being allowed to have needs is mind-blowing. A lifetime of masking and trying to keep everyone else’s needs met has required you to suppress and deny your own needs.
Taking the time to figure out how your brain works will help you STOP putting energy into dead-end, low pay-off projects and focus your energy on what really works for you.
So no, the label doesn’t change anything. But learning how you work lets you change everything.
We get it and can help!
Supported Self Assessment Options
What to expect from 1:1 individual assessment process:
Individual 1:1 Sessions
This option includes an interview (about 90 minutes), followed by the client completing the assessments. They then send us the results to review. After that, we meet for another 90-minute session to discuss the results and whether they meet the criteria for Autism. This process, without a report, costs $900.
Contact us: The first step is contacting us so that Amy or Miranda can have a casual, free conversation with you. On this call we can answer any questions and make sure our program is a good fit for you. For example, we do not provide a medical diagnosis. In most states you will need a psychologist, neurologist, or MD for that.
Take the CAT-Q: Before our first meeting you will fill out the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionairre (CAT-Q) to get a baseline for how much you are currently masking. Masking is HIDING Autistic traits and presenting yourself in the way you think others want you to be, instead of exactly how you are naturally. It’s often been going on for your whole life, so it may even be invisible to you. This assessment helps you see if it’s a factor in your situation, and part of why you weren’t diagnosed earlier in your life.
Meet with us on Zoom: At our first video meeting, we’ll do a structured interview designed to help you describe your personal neuro experience. This takes about 90 minutes to 2 hours. We’ll also help you think about the ways you may already be accommodating your neurodivergence. For example, if a question is “is it difficult to do your grocery shopping?” you might answer “No” because you keep a running grocery list all week, use an app to order the groceries, and have them delivered. No problem! But for that question, we’d have you imagine that you had to do your shopping in person, with no headphones or sunglasses inside, and check out with the cashier, not the self-check out. Still no problem or are you sweating as you even imagine this scenario?
If you ARE neurodivergent and you’ve made it this far without it being diagnosed, it’s likely because you have found work-arounds for your unique neuro-challenges. To take the assessments, you will need to NOTICE these invisible accommodations and pretend you were not allowed to use them for the purposes of these questions.
Take the Assessments: After our first meeting you’ll take a few weeks to complete a series of assessments. We’ll write up a report for you based on our initial interview and the results of the assessments.
Final Zoom Session: When the report is ready, we’ll meet a final time to go through it together and make sure it reflects your true experience. We can add things you’ve remembered or change things that don’t feel like we got them right the first time. We can discuss whatever has come up for you during the process, and consider what your next steps might be. For most of us, learning we’re neurodivergent is just the beginning of a process of self-discovery and emotional growth.
Follow Up: After the final meeting we will put the finishing touches on your report, and then share it with you so that you have a permanent document of the work that you did to refer back to or share with whomever you wish.
What to expect from group assessment process:
Group Assessments
One-Time 90-Minute Group: This option is $150 per meeting. In this group of up to 8 people, we discuss topics like masking, hidden accommodations, communication differences, and more. We also briefly introduce the assessments we recommend, providing them with a rubric for interpreting their scores, after which the group participants complete the assessments on their own. We will also offer an optional second group meeting for an additional $150 to answer any questions people may have after taking the assessments.
8-Week Group: This more in-depth group costs $150 per week ($1200 total). Each week, we explore different assessments and discuss what participants experience throughout the process. Topics include unmasking, relationships, echolalia, the combination of Autism and ADHD, internalized ableism, and others. The goal is for participants to have a supportive community during their journey of discovering Autism.
We want you to know:
There are a lot of reasons NOT to self-identify.
It can make you feel worse!!! This is a natural part of the process of learning that you have a developmental disability. It’s not a pain-free process. We find it leads to cycles of grief and relief as we look back over our lives and ahead to the future.
It can send you on special-interest-level hyper-fixation rabbit holes. DO NOT PROCEED if you don’t want to get really excited about your brain and do all kinds of thinking and researching about who you are and how to take great care of you. This is a well-known side effect of adult diagnosis/identification.
It makes you feel suddenly WAY MORE AUTISTIC than you did last week.
When you learn about certain ND traits or qualities you start noticing it everywhere instead of ignoring it or attributing it to something else. For example, maybe last week you would have labeled not starting a task as procrastination, but this week you realize it’s actually Autistic Inertia. “How did I ever get anything done with this Autistic Inertia?” you wonder. Well, never fear, these traits are just becoming obvious to you now, but they were always there before.
A second reason for this phenomenon is UNMASKING. Sometimes we get “way more Autistic” because we now understand who we are and feel good about it and allow ourselves to b e more free! So, yeah. . .in that case. . . you are actually allowing yourself to be just as Autistic as you always were instead of hiding it.
But for the masked ND adult who is ready to know,
There’s so much that KNOWING can do for you:
Identify your neuro-type
Validate your internal experience
Finally make sense of your unique needs and limits
Directly address your NeuroDivergent Imposter Syndrome
And help you start the process of unmasking