different
lemurs
You have a half-dozen, bold, white stripes around your tail - I have two. Your ears have a pointy tuft of fur - mine do not. At the coffee shop, one has reddish brown fur - you and I are peppery grey. We are all lemurs, but different. We may share a diagnosis, but we have highly individualized profiles. different lemurs is dedicated to honoring and celebrating those individual differences for greater self-awareness, understanding, and compassion.
What is a Spectrome™?
A Spectrome™ is a personalized visual representation of your unique neurological profile across 13 domains of functioning. It's like a personalized "fingerprint" of your neurodiversity, highlighting your strengths and challenges in areas such as emotional regulation, executive function, sensory processing, and more.
different lemurs has created a 51-question neurodivergence quiz. Your responses will generate a FREE individual wheel called a Spectrome™. Just like your genome is unique to you, your Spectrome™ wheel is unique. There are 39.7 quadrillion possible Spectrome's. See some examples in the images below.
Autism and other forms of Neurodivergence are not linear. They are best represented as a pie with each "piece" representing a different feature or capacity that can vary in each individual.
Example Spectrome™
What does it mean?
If some pie segments are larger than others, that represents areas where your neurobiology expresses a more neurodivergent pattern. Neurodivergence is not less than or a deficit; it is a difference - a difference that when understood and supported can provide tremendous strength.
There is no ideal Spectrome™ chart. The goal of this tool is to promote discovery, empathy, and growth, in the moment that you are in - Yes, your Spectrome™ can change!
Understanding your Spectrome™ can help you develop greater self-awareness, identify accommodations that work for your specific profile, and better communicate your needs to others.
Does my Spectrome chart cover everything about me?
No, that quiz would be too long! Instead, there are questions covering 13 categories that are most often impacted by neurodivergence.
About the Creator
Jessica Richards is a therapist with over two decades of experience working with children, teens, and adults having various forms of complex profiles (a/k/a "neurodivergence"). The limitations of the current diagnostic system, and the experienced brilliant advocacy of (and from) the autistic community inspired Jessica to create a tool that honors individual differences, often over-shadowed by broad generalizations. Rather than fitting complexity into Box A, B or C, this tool aims to reveal the many personal facets of you. Here is Jessica's Spectrome™
Jessica's Spectrome™
"This chart reveals so much about me - how I function, how I react, and how I interact with others and the environment - revealing more than any label or diagnosis ever could. I hope everyone finds their Spectrome™ just as useful and insightful."
