NeuroSpark Health

12/24/2025

People don’t understand how extensively we plan and prepare ourselves for an event, and often pre-budgeted the exact amount of energy that it will require of us.

When something changes, it can be highly distressing. We’re not being difficult… our nervous systems are particularly wired for predictability, familiarity, and safety. It’s literally part of the autism criteria.

12/19/2025

Autism doesn’t just “show up one day.” It’s been there our whole lives but just didn’t have the awareness or language for it yet.

It was camouflaged by masking, high achievement, people-pleasing, or pure survival mode. And eventually, everything we’ve been suppressing comes to the surface.

…often as a result of an intense burnout or life transition, which is when a lot of our clients come to us to pursue formal evaluation.

12/17/2025

All about stimming, and what it does to regulate our brains and bodies. 🙏

12/16/2025

This child is articulating an experience that most of us didn’t have the language for even until much later in life: MASKING.

It all starts by observing. Mimicking/mirroring. Learning how to “look normal” to “blend in.”

Most of us start masking in childhood, and sometimes even we can’t tell where it ends, and our true selves begin.

Late-diagnosis can be exactly what we need to begin the process of learning how to unmask behaviors that have been so ingrained our whole lives. Reach out if you’re interested in adult autism/ADHD assessment.

12/15/2025

Part of why a late autism diagnosis is helpful is that it can help adults contextualize lifelong family dynamics, especially around neuronormative expectations, masking, why holidays may have always felt difficult.

Wishing you a smooth holiday season that actually honors your wants and needs. ❄️

12/11/2025

We are so incredibly grateful and honored to announce that we are now offering services in Hawai’i. 🤙🌺

This one was a long time coming. We heard your need for autism, ADHD, and AuDHD-affirming assessments that actually make sense.

We’re so excited to offer care rooted in cultural respect, neurodivergent insight, and deep listening.

Welcome, Hawaiʻi. We’re with you. ❤️

12/08/2025

And this is EXACTLY how how most of our adult autism and ADHD assessments go: we want to hear ALL the context and details of your story. 😍

12/05/2025

12/03/2025

We chatted with Katie Arnold-Ratliff of New York Magazine for her piece— “Are You Lazy or Do You Have Pathological Demand Avoidance?”

We shared our expertise and lived experience about how so many PDAers have to power our way through demands others don’t even notice… even when our system is completely overwhelmed.

Full article available on The Cut!

12/01/2025

Yes, we might have had a good time. That doesn’t mean we’re not drained. 🫠

Being neurodivergent means you can love the moment and still pay for it later (in sensory debt, shutdowns, or silence.)

Sometimes joy is effort. And recovery is essential whether we enjoyed ourselves or not.

11/25/2025

We might be trying to listen intently to what someone is saying, but auditory processing differences can make that hard.

Our brains may organize/interpret sounds with delays, overload, or missing pieces.

This is why we may need subtitles while watching TV, or why we might lock into a small detail of someone’s story that we caught while missing the overall message.

If this feels familiar, an autism or AuDHD assessment can help you understand why it happens and what supports actually work for your brain.

11/24/2025

Tone bias means autistic people (especially Black and Brown autistic people) get read as ‘rude’ or ‘angry’ when they’re actually just being literal, direct, and totally neutral.

Then, we end up overcompensating and masking more (forcing a lighter tone, smiling more, filtering ourselves) to avoid being misperceived.

It’s exhausting.