Education and Tangible Resources:
Dive Into Insights and Tips

*What it actually can look like in daily life, instead of calling it “symptoms”

by LK, LPC

This guide provides examples of how some neurodivergent traits (ADHD, autism, dyslexia, sensory processing differences, etc.) may show up in daily life.

Neurodivergence is simply recognizing patterns in nervous system activation, and how we are reacting to our environment.

Many traits overlap, and experiences vary. This is not an all inclusive list, you don’t have to have every single thing here to be neurodivergent, and you will see many things that humans “commonly do.” The question for neurodivergence is about frequency, intensity, duration, and patterns. Use this list to reflect on patterns you may not have consciously noticed before with openness and self curiosity.

**No humans are the same, every experience is different – neurodivergent or not – but these categories and ideas can help you assess possible spaces you can get curious about to see possible impacts you didn’t even know to look for. Maybe your whole life you thought “everyone is trying this hard,” so you didn’t think any more about it... or you were worried people would notice how “weird” you were so you didn’t want to bring it up. Either way. Openness, honesty, and awareness can set you free if you let it.

As you read through these, you will also find that some traits will be present sometimes, but not at other times. They are not “faking it” sometimes, it’s common for the capabilities and presentations to shift based on things like: being triggered, sleep status, nutrient status, time of day, etc. You may notice that you experience some things only when you are very tired, or very overwhelmed - learning this can help us prepare and balance appropriately.

There may also be natural fluctuations between the things listed. For example, you may sometimes be both sensory seeking like wanting to ride roller coasters, as well as sensory avoiding, like only preferring certain fabrics. There may be days you prefer spicy foods and days you prefer safe foods. We are again, looking at patterns and themes.

You may also notice that there are things you have learned to “cope your way through ” so maybe you used to forget appointments, but now you have 13 alarms and other reminders to help, so you think you don’t have that trait anymore. Having ways of coping through them doesn’t mean they aren’t impacting the energy needed to get through the day. So, “I used to hate the sensory experience of doing the dishes, but now I have gloves, and tools, and specifically scented things to help me so I’m fine.” There is still a sensory sensitivity there.

I. Sensory Processing & Body Awareness

Hypersensitivity (Over-Responsive)

• Sound Sensitivity → May gets overwhelmed in restaurants, malls, or offices because of background noise. Needs noise-canceling headphones or leaves early.

• Clothing Sensitivity → Cuts tags out of shirts, prefers soft/stretchy clothes, refuses to wear jeans, struggles with socks or stockings seams on their toes, has “go to clothes” consistently for comfort.

• Food Sensitivity → Avoids certain textures (e.g., slimy, crunchy, mixed textures) and may stick to a small number of “safe” foods.

• Touch Sensitivity → May flinch at unexpected touch or avoids hugs unless they’re in control. May find light touch unbearable but enjoys deep pressure. Hard time touching certain textures, including dirty dishes, putty, slime, cotton balls, microfibers, etc.

• Smell Sensitivity → Gets headaches or nausea from perfumes, scented laundry detergents, candles, or cooking smells.

Hyposensitivity (Under-Responsive, sometimes Sensory Seeking)

• High Pain Tolerance → Doesn’t realize they’ve cut or bruised themselves until they see blood. Able to push through pain in ways that surprises others when they learn about it.

• Craving Stimulation → May enjoy tight clothing, interactive jewelry, textured fabrics, weighted blankets, or pressing against things for grounding. Pops knuckles or joints frequently, or go-to physical soothing like pinching between thumb and forefinger or lip biting.

• Movement-Seeking → Spins in circles, rocking back and forth, bounces leg/foot, paces, jumps off furniture, loves rough housing, or loves roller coasters.

• Sound Cravings → Loves loud sounds, perhaps bass heavy sounds that make their body feel like it’s “shaking”, may listen on headphones at intense volumes.

• Food Cravings → Seeks out hot, spicy, crunchy, or extreme flavors of foods. Perhaps adding lots of salt or sauces to many foods. Likes to hit extremes in their “sensory food diet.”

Vestibular & Proprioception Differences

• Clumsiness → may be athletic when focused, but clumsy when walking or casually moving. Bumps into doorways, misjudges distances, spills drinks frequently, or drops items.

• Fidgeting for Regulation → Rocks in chairs, taps fingers, pen clicking, head bobbing, tight blinking, runs hands through hair, bounces legs, chews on lips or objects when thinking, humming, singing to self, talking to self/objects, pinching skin, twiddling with hands.

• Strength Regulation Issues → Grips things too tightly without realizing (e.g., breaking a pencil when writing)

II. Communication & Social Interaction

Language & Expression

• Info-Dumping → Talks for extended time and in great depth about a favorite topic, bonus if it’s without realizing the other person isn’t engaged.

• Struggles with Small Talk → Can’t understand the purpose of (or may actively despise) casual greetings or “How’s the weather?” conversations.

• Precise or Formal Speech → May use big words or overly detailed explanations, even in casual situations. (Usually in effort to be precise, perhaps because commonly feels/gets misunderstood.)

• Difficulty with Timely Processing → May needs time to think before answering, often responds late in conversations, or needs space to return to the topic later

Social & Emotional Processing

• Social Energy Drain → Loves deep conversations but feels exhausted afterward. Needs to be alone to recharge.

• Masking & Social Scripts → Has a memorized system for conversations (e.g., rehearsing greetings, mirroring others’ behaviors).

• Confusion Over Hidden Meanings → Takes sarcasm literally or struggles to understand passive-aggressive comments. May need extra time to formulate thoughts to respond because of the connections being made inside their head.

• Over-Attuned to Others’ Emotions → Soaks up people’s moods like a sponge but doesn’t always know how to respond.

• Relationship Intensity → Goes all-in on friendships but disappears for weeks when overwhelmed.

Eye Contact & Nonverbal Cues

• Avoids Eye Contact → Looks at a person’s nose or uses “tricks” to seem engaged without actually making eye contact. (Possibly overuses eye contact to compensate for discomfort.)

• Struggles with Facial Expressions → People often ask them, “Are you mad?” when they’re just neutral. They may ask others “are you mad?” a lot. May read someone else’s face as annoyed with them if they are not overly welcoming or happy to them.

• Body Language Processing Delay → Needs extra time to interpret social cues, leading to awkward interactions.

• Social Cue Confusion → May be reading too many social cues simultaneously, and getting confused by them. For instance a friend yelling “I’m fine” at them. The words and the tone don’t match, and they may be confused what cue they are supposed to be responding to.

III. Executive Functioning & Daily Life Patterns

Time Management & Organization

• “Time Blindness” → Plans to do something for five minutes but realizes an hour has passed if they are in a flow state. Or for non preferred tasks, the time feels like it is not passing at all it’s going painfully slow. Has a hard time estimating how long something will actually take.

• Chronic Procrastination → Knows something is important but can’t bring themselves to start until it’s urgent. (Interest based nervous system means we can only engage with it if we are interested in it, it’s fun, or we’re so stressed we panic accomplish it.)

• Over-Reliance on Reminders → Uses dozens of alarms, sticky notes, or to-do lists; but may still forgets things.

• Struggles with Prioritization → Cleans the entire kitchen but forgets the one thing they actually needed to do. May see a whole list of things to do and can’t figure out where to start.

Memory & Processing Speed

• Forgetfulness → Walks into a room and forgets why they went there. Constantly loses keys, phone, or wallet. May recheck the locks repetitively “just to make sure.”

• Needs Written Instructions → Can’t follow multi-step verbal directions unless they’re written down.

• Hyper-Focus on Details → Remembers obscure facts about a random small topic but forgets big things others have said.

Task Initiation & Avoidance

• Mental Paralysis → Wants to start a task but sits staring at it for hours or distracting with other random tasks without knowing how to begin.

• Avoids Tedious Tasks → Puts off making phone calls, opening mail, or responding to emails/messages

• Overwhelmed by Chores → May let laundry pile up until they have nothing left to wear. Puts off returning items to stores, or piles up letters and mail to sort through at a future date. Look for dead plants.

IV. Repetitive Behaviors & Special Interests

Self-Soothing (Stimming)

• Fidgeting → popping knuckles, biting lips, bouncing legs, picking nails/skin, twirls hair, plays with jewelry, taps fingers constantly, rubs back of neck, ripping paper, etc.

• Repetitive Sounds → Hums, clicks tongue, sings, repeats words under their breath for comfort. Will listen to favorite songs on repeat.

• Watches the Same Show Repeatedly → Rewatches a favorite comfort show instead of trying something new.

Fixations & Routines

• Hyperfixation on Interests → Becomes obsessed with a new hobby, does nothing but that for weeks, then drops it completely… until months or maybe years later.

• Needs Routine for Stability → May feel anxious when a routine is disrupted, even by small changes. May have strategies for dealing with these disruptions, but is drained energetically by dealing with them.

• Talks in Deep Detail About Interests → Excitedly explains a favorite book, show, or topic without noticing if the listener is engaged. (May be annoyed when others do this back at them, though.)

Avoidance & Resistance

• Avoids New Situations → Possibly prefers eating at the same restaurant every time rather than trying new places. Or has developed rituals for how to try new things to try to embrace it.

• Shuts Down from Change → Feels disoriented or anxious when a plan suddenly changes. Even if it’s something positive, transitions from current space to a new task or place or energy input can cause a lot of internal distress, sometimes external distress.

• “Freezes” Under Pressure → Goes completely nonverbal or mentally checks out when overwhelmed. Feels this is better than letting the big emotions unleash, so tries to minimize entirely. 0 or 100.

V. Emotional Regulation & Burnout

Emotional Intensity

• Emotional Intensity in general → Feels every emotion at level 100, can go from zero to 100 very quickly. Not just annoyed, ANGRY, not just lonely, REJECTED, not just happy, ECSTATIC. (Over time this can be replaced by feeling nothing on purpose because they get scared to feel it that big anymore.)

• Big Reactions to Small Things → Could cry or get angry over minor frustrations but suppresses bigger emotions over more substantial things. Or could be at stage or burnt out and now upset over small things affecting them so they shut out everything and say nothing bothers them, they are “fine.”

• Emotions Feel Physical → Anxiety may feel like nausea, excitement may feel like jitters, sadness may feel like exhaustion.

• Processing Delay → Reacts hours or days later to an emotional situation after having time to think about it. Can hold onto “grudges” as it is still playing out in their system as they process the emotions even after the even has passed.

Burnout & Recovery

• Cycles Between High and Low Energy → One week is super productive, the next week is complete exhaustion. Or has high energy when certain people are present, but crashes after.

• Needs Extended Alone Time → Avoids talking to people for days to recover from social exhaustion. Or is afraid of alone time and can’t be with their own thoughts so wants others constantly to distract their mind.

• Masking Leads to Shutdown → Functions well in public but crashes as soon as they get home.

VI. Reading, Writing & Cognitive Patterns

Dyslexia & Processing Differences

• Skips Words When Reading → Reads a sentence multiple times but struggles to process the meaning.

• Avoids Writing → Has a hard time writing or typing, may use speech to text as much as possible to not interact with writing or spelling on their own.

• Forgets What They Just Read → Can recall the general idea of a book but not specific words or phrases.

• Writes Out of Order → Has great ideas but struggles to organize them coherently in writing.

• Hyper-fixation on language use → Feels overly invested in vocabulary, diction, or finding the “perfect word” to use, or pays closer attention to language rules when trying to communicate and be understood. May have a hard time emotionally expressing themselves verbally, though, even if orally processing at high analytical levels.

Thinking & Learning Styles

• Learns Best Through Hands-On Work → Can’t absorb information just by listening, needs to do it themselves.

• Sees Patterns Others Miss → Notices inconsistencies in logic, numbers, or social interactions.

• Struggles with Sequential Thinking → Can see the “big picture” but has trouble breaking things into steps. Or may be so focused on one small step they can’t move on to the big picture.

VII. Unconventional Coping Strategies & Internal Experience

Masking & Social Camouflage

• Acts Differently in Different Settings → Has a “work persona” vs. a “home persona” and feels exhausted from switching.

• Mirrors Other People → Adopts speech patterns, interests, or behaviors of those around them to fit in. Can be really hard if different social groups collide at the same time.

• Feels Like They’re “Acting” Normal → Has spent years studying social behavior to appear “functional.” May observe extensively before interacting.

Stress Responses

• Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn → Goes nonverbal (freeze), suddenly leaves (flight), gets defensive (fight), or people-pleases to avoid conflict (fawn). (Neurodivergent people are kicked into the amygdala response quicker and more often than neurotypicals – again think frequency, intensity, and duration patterns. Some neurotypicals are triggered almost constantly without knowing it, so this can be hard it ID because it just feels like our “standard” way of being.

• Emotional Shutdowns → Disassociates during high-stress situations and struggles to recall what happened. Will avoid talking about any form of their own emotions.

Final Thoughts from LK, LPC:
If many of these examples resonate with you, you may be neurodivergent in some way. Use this list as a starting point for self-reflection, and continue exploring other resources/spaces for further information or context. Keep exploring what you’re noticing and keep “putting the sand in the sandbox” so you can “build” helpful things later on!