Autistic sensory journaling

Not medical advice. This doc is about journaling and self-knowledge. It isn't a diagnostic tool and doesn't replace an occupational therapist, doctor or therapist. The questionnaires named here are clinical or research tools; a journal borrows their ideas, not their scores.

Last checked: 2026-09-28. Uncertain points are marked (uncertain). Language is identity-first ("autistic person"), as preferred by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and many autistic adults.

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1. At a glance

2. Summary

Autistic sensory journaling is a quick, low-text log of how loud the world was, how full your body and brain got, and what helped. It borrows the four sensory patterns from Dunn's model (low registration, seeking, sensitivity, avoiding), the warning signs of meltdown, shutdown and burnout from autistic-led research, the cost of masking from camouflaging studies, and the "deposits and withdrawals" of energy accounting. Each day you circle a few icons and numbers. Each week you look for patterns. Over months you learn your own thresholds, so you can plan recovery before the crash rather than after. It is neurodiversity-affirming: the goal is fitting the world to you, not training you to tolerate more.

3. History and origin

Who and what it comes from

• Winnie Dunn (occupational therapist, University of Kansas) proposed a sensory processing model in 1997 with two axes: neurological threshold (how easily you notice input) and behavioural response (passive or active). Four patterns follow.
• Catana Brown and Winnie Dunn published the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (AASP) in 2002 (Psychological Corporation/Pearson). Age 11+, 60 self-report items, 5-point frequency scale, six categories: taste/smell, movement, visual, touch, activity level, auditory. Pearson lists it at qualification level B.
• Dinah Murray, Mike Lesser and Wendy Lawson (Lawson is autistic) described monotropism in 2005: attention gathered into a few deep "tunnels". Unexpected change is costly: "every unanticipated change is abrupt and is truly... catastrophic."
• Laura Hull, Will Mandy and colleagues studied camouflaging: first qualitatively (2017, 92 autistic adults, "Putting on my best normal"), then with the CAT-Q (2019; 25 items; 354 autistic and 478 non-autistic adults; α = .94).
• Dora Raymaker (autistic researcher) and the AASPIRE partnership defined autistic burnout in 2020 using community-based participatory research.
• Julianne Higgins, Samuel Arnold, Elizabeth Pellicano, Julian Trollor and others ran a Delphi study with autistic experts (2021) and a confirmation survey (2023, 141 autistic adults).
• Maja Toudal (autistic psychologist) created energy accounting; Tony Attwood popularised it. Their book Energy Accounting came out from Jessica Kingsley Publishers in December 2024.
• Kelly Mahler (occupational therapist) built the Interoception Curriculum, used with autistic children and adults.
• Mary Doherty (autistic anaesthetist) and colleagues published Autistic SPACE in 2023: Sensory needs, Predictability, Acceptance, Communication, Empathy.

Timeline

Cultural context

• The neurodiversity movement asks researchers to stop treating autism as a list of deficits. Pellicano & den Houting argue for three shifts: from deficits to diversity, from individual to context, from researcher-led to community-led.
• Much of the best burnout and masking work is co-produced with autistic people. Burnout was a community term (#AutisticBurnout) long before it was in journals.
• Older "behaviour charts" (ABC charts) track autistic people from the outside. A sensory journal is kept by the autistic person, for their own use.

Key quotes

• "Having all of your internal resources exhausted beyond measure and being left with no clean-up crew." (participant, Raymaker et al. 2020)
• "For an autistic person simply EXISTING in the world is knackering." (participant, Raymaker et al. 2020)
• "I'm hiding behind what I want people to see." (participant, Hull et al. 2017)
• "It's exhausting! I feel the need to seek solitude." (participant, Hull et al. 2017)
• "I was an encyclopedia of coping strategies... The amount I could use in the moment? Zero. I did not feel the signs in my body cueing me to use the strategies." (autistic adult quoted by Kelly Mahler)

4. Philosophy and principles

• Change the environment first. Barriers come mostly from settings built for non-autistic people (Pellicano & den Houting). The log's job is to show which settings.
• Your thresholds are real data. Not "overreacting". Dunn's model treats thresholds as a spectrum everyone sits on.
• Catch it early. Raymaker's participants and the NAS stress early recognition of burnout signs. Meltdown and shutdown have warning signs (Reframing Autism: confusion, sudden fatigue, tension headaches, irritability, numbness).
• Count masking as a cost. Camouflaging drains energy and can threaten identity (Hull et al.). Logging where you masked makes the cost visible.
• Protect what restores you. Special interests, stimming and alone time are deposits, not indulgences. Grove et al. found special interests linked to higher wellbeing, though very high intensity was linked to lower wellbeing.
• Low text, same layout. Predictability (the P in SPACE) applies to the page too.
• No guilt. Blank days are fine. A shutdown day is not a failed log day.

The problem it solves: autistic burnout builds over weeks, and interoceptive differences make it hard to feel it coming. A daily circle-the-number log makes a slow slide visible.

5. Core components

Sensory load

• Journalwright Studio already has this as a day page block: Sensory load, 0–3 per sense, with Sound, Light, Crowds and Touch on by default and Smell, Social, Temperature and Movement as options.
• 0 = fine, 1 = noticed, 2 = hard, 3 = too much.
• Add, if you want: temperature, movement/vestibular, taste, internal (pain, hunger). The AASP's six categories are a good checklist.

Sensory profile map

• Dunn's four patterns:

• You can be different per sense: avoid sound, seek deep pressure, miss hunger.
• A journal map is not the AASP. It's a one-page self-portrait. If you want the real measure, an OT can give it.
• Metz et al. (2019) found the threshold axis behaved like a real spectrum in 139 healthy adults but the passive/active axis did not. So hold the four boxes loosely.

Body signals (interoception)

• Interoception is "the sense that allows us to answer the question, 'How do I feel?'" (Mahler).
• Adams, Catmur & Bird (2026) found autistic adults differed most in negative evaluation of body signals (finding them unpleasant or worrying), more than in accuracy.
• Practical: a 3-times-a-day body scan with icons: stomach, water, toilet, thermometer, shoulders, heart, eyes. Circle what you notice. Over time, pairs show up ("shoulders + heart" = anxious; "heavy eyes + cold" = done).

Energy account

• Toudal's method: list things that withdraw energy and things that deposit it, give each a number, keep a daily balance.
• Keep your own price list on a back page. Example: bus with crowd −3, work shift −5, phone call −4, special interest hour +3, weighted blanket +2, quiet walk +2.
• The balance isn't a moral score. It's a forecast: a run of negative days predicts trouble.
• Related: the Studio's Spoons block. Spoons count what you have; energy accounting prices what things cost. Use one daily, not both, unless you like both.

Masking meter

• Circle 0–3: none, some, a lot, all day.
• Tick where: work, family, shops, medical, online, friends.
• Hull et al.'s techniques to notice: suppressing stims, forcing eye contact, scripting, copying others' expressions, hiding interests.
• Clarey et al. (2026) describe "dual-masking": hiding both autistic traits and the burnout itself. A "hid that I was struggling" box catches that.
• Don't use CAT-Q items as a daily checklist; it's a validated research measure. A 0–3 circle is enough.

Overload log (meltdown, shutdown, near-miss)

• Before: where, what senses, what changed, masking, sleep, food.
• During (after the fact): meltdown (outward: crying, yelling, pacing, escape) or shutdown (inward: withdrawal, unresponsive, low speech). Both are involuntary (Autism Society; Reframing Autism).
• After: what helped, how long to recover.
• Fill this in later, never during. Icons first, words optional.

Burnout watch

• Weekly checklist drawn from Raymaker 2020 and Higgins 2021 / Arnold 2023:
  • exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix;
  • pulling away from people;
  • thinking and planning harder (executive function);
  • daily living skills slipping (cooking, showering);
  • sensory tolerance lower than usual;
  • autistic traits more visible (more stimming, less speech).
• Raymaker used 3+ months as typical duration; Higgins and Arnold couldn't settle a duration. Treat 2–3 weeks of several ticks as a signal to reduce demands and talk to someone.
• Burnout is often misdiagnosed as depression (Arnold et al. 2023). Your log can help a clinician tell them apart.

Routine and change

• Two boxes: planned change / surprise change. One line: what.
• Monotropism explains why surprises cost more than planned changes.

Special interest journal

• Time spent, what you learned, one feeling word.
• Grove et al.: motivation for special interests was linked to higher wellbeing; very high intensity was linked to lower. A quiet flag for "forgot to eat/sleep" helps notice when a deposit turns into a withdrawal.

Stims and supports

• Icons: headphones, sunglasses, hood, weighted blanket, pressure, rocking, fidget, dark room, alone time, water, snack.
• Tick what you used. This becomes your menu for bad days.

Communication card

• Circle how you can communicate today: speaking ok / fewer words / text only / not now.
• Useful to show a housemate or a clinician. Autistic SPACE puts Communication at the centre of accessible care.

Recovery plan

• One page, written on a calm day: my early signs, what to reduce, what to add, who to tell, what to say.
• Reframing Autism suggests personalised shutdown plans and practising calming strategies ahead of time.

6. Setting it up

First setup (20–30 minutes, on a calm day)

1. Pick senses. Start with 4 (Sound, Light, Crowds, Touch). Add Smell or Social later.
2. Draw your profile map. For each sense, mark seek / avoid / miss / sensitive. Guess; revise later.
3. Write your price list. 5 withdrawals and 5 deposits with numbers. Add as you go.
4. Write your recovery plan. Early signs, what helps, who to tell.
5. Choose icons. Keep them the same every day.
6. Decide where to log. Pocket card for in-the-moment; day page for evening.

First day

• Evening: circle Sensory load. Circle masking 0–3. One deposit, one withdrawal. Done.

First week

• Add body signals 3× a day if you like.
• Day 7: look at the week. Which day had the highest load? What happened the next day?
• If it felt like too much, keep only Sensory load and one line.

7. Daily practice

Order of operations: body first (you might just need water), then senses, then masking, then energy. Finish with a deposit you'll do tomorrow.

Prompts (low text):

• Loudest thing today?
• Where did I mask most?
• What gave energy back?
• What will I protect tomorrow?

8. Rhythms

Weekly (5–10 min)

• Burnout watch checklist.
• Energy balance for the week: sum or just "mostly +" / "mostly −".
• Top sense of the week (highest total).
• One environment change to try (headphones at the bus stop; shop at a quiet hour).

Monthly (10–15 min)

• Count meltdowns, shutdowns, near-misses. Look at the "before" columns for repeats.
• Update the price list (things change cost over time).
• Update the recovery plan.
• Journalwright Studio: carry key numbers to the monthly Keeper handoff (counts only).

Quarterly

• Revisit the profile map. Seasons change light, heat and crowds (wildfire smoke in summer, dark afternoons in winter, depending where you live).
• Compare burnout watch ticks across three months.

Yearly

• Rewrite the profile map from the year's data.
• Special interests list: what came, what stayed.
• Archive the year's recovery plan; start fresh.

9. Page anatomy

Day block: sensory and energy

+--------------------------------------------------+
| (ear) Sensory load   0  1  2  3                  |
|   sound   (0)(1)(2)(3)     light  (0)(1)(2)(3)   |
|   crowds  (0)(1)(2)(3)     touch  (0)(1)(2)(3)   |
|                                                  |
| (mask) Masking  (0)(1)(2)(3)                     |
|   where: [work] [family] [shop] [med] [online]   |
|   [ ] hid that I was struggling                  |
|                                                  |
| (+) Deposits  ________  ________   = +__         |
| (-) Withdraw  ________  ________   = -__         |
|                           balance  ___           |
+--------------------------------------------------+

Proportions: sensory rows 40%, masking 25%, energy 35%. Circles at least 5 mm.

Body signals strip (3 times a day)

        stomach water toilet temp  tense heart tired
am        ( )    ( )   ( )   ( )    ( )   ( )   ( )
mid       ( )    ( )   ( )   ( )    ( )   ( )   ( )
pm        ( )    ( )   ( )   ( )    ( )   ( )   ( )

Overload log (half page, back matter or day page)

OVERLOAD   date ____   [ ] meltdown  [ ] shutdown  [ ] near-miss
BEFORE  where ________  senses: sound light crowd touch smell social
        change? [ ] planned [ ] surprise    masking (0)(1)(2)(3)
        slept ___ h   ate? [ ]   water? [ ]
AFTER   helped: headphones  dark  alone  pressure  stim  water  sleep
        recovery time: <1h  1-3h  half day  1 day+

Burnout watch (weekly, week spread)

BURNOUT WATCH        wk1 wk2 wk3 wk4
tired, sleep no help [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
pulling away         [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
thinking harder      [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
self-care slipping   [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
senses louder        [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
more stims/less talk [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
3+ ticks 2 weeks running -> reduce load, tell someone

Sensory profile map (one page, 8.5×11)

                 miss   seek   sensitive   avoid
sound            [ ]    [ ]    [ ]         [ ]
light            [ ]    [ ]    [ ]         [ ]
touch            [ ]    [ ]    [ ]         [ ]
smell/taste      [ ]    [ ]    [ ]         [ ]
movement         [ ]    [ ]    [ ]         [ ]
body signals     [ ]    [ ]    [ ]         [ ]
what helps: _____________________________________

Energy price list (back matter)

WITHDRAWALS            DEPOSITS
crowded bus      -3    special interest 1h  +3
phone call       -4    weighted blanket     +2
shift outdoors   -5    quiet walk           +2
...                    ...

10. Worked examples

All fictional.

A day

DATE Thu 15 Oct 2026   TITLE  bus was packed   TAGS sensory work
Body  am: water tired   mid: stomach(!) tense   pm: tired heart
Sensory load  sound 3  light 1  crowds 3  touch 2
Masking 2   where: [work] [shop]   [x] hid that I was struggling
Deposits   headphones on walk +2, bird book 40 min +3     = +5
Withdraw   packed bus -3, shift -5, surprise meeting -3   = -11
                                            balance  -6
Supports   headphones, hood, dark room 20 min
Special interest  birds, 40 min: learned red-breasted nuthatch call. calm.
Tomorrow protect: bus 20 min earlier (emptier).

A week

           Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun
sound       1    2    1    3    2    0    1
crowds      1    2    1    3    2    0    0
masking     2    2    1    2    3    0    0
balance    -2   -4   +1   -6   -5   +4   +3
overload    -    -    -   near shut  -    -
Burnout watch: tired [x] pulling away [x] senses louder [x]  (3 ticks)
Pattern: Thu–Fri high crowds + masking -> near-miss then shutdown.
Change to try: earlier bus Thu; ask to skip Friday huddle (text).

A month

OCTOBER
Overloads: 1 meltdown (10/3, store, lights + queue), 2 shutdowns
           (10/16, 10/24; both after 2+ days balance < -5), 3 near-misses
Top sense: crowds (total 41), then sound (36)
Burnout watch: wk1 1  wk2 3  wk3 4  wk4 2   -> reduced shifts wk3, helped
Price list update: phone calls now -5 (was -4); library +3 (new)
Special interests: birds (daily), transit maps (new, 3x)
Recovery plan edit: add "text only" card for housemate

11. Variations and offshoots

12. Community practice

• What people do (blogs, Reddit r/autism and r/AutismInWomen, YouTube, Instagram) (community practice; anecdotal):
  • colour-coded month grids for sensory load;
  • "social battery" icons (0–4 bars);
  • meltdown debrief pages written the next day;
  • special interest spreads (info-dumps to self);
  • noise-level logs using phone decibel apps;
  • "can't word today" cards.
• Common customisations: stickers for supports used; a traffic-light column; one-word days; typing instead of writing.
• Aesthetic vs minimalist: many autistic journalers prefer minimalist, predictable pages; busy spreads can be overstimulating. Others love detail when it's their special interest. Both are fine; predictable daily, playful on interest pages.
• Worries people raise: logging can become rumination; being "watched" by your own data; old deficit charts from childhood. Hence: self-kept, private, optional.

13. Official products and formats

Not applicable for the method. Related paid tools:

• Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (Pearson): kit about $214, 25 forms about $80, qualification level B (so usually through a professional).
• Energy Accounting book (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Dec 2024, $32.95).
• The Interoception Curriculum (Kelly Mahler; sold on her site).

Journalwright Studio already has day page blocks for Sensory load, Spoons, Scale, Words to circle and Care check-in.

14. Tools and supplies

• Pen: low-friction gel or felt tip if handwriting is effortful. Pencil for people who hate the sound of pens (sensory preference).
• Paper: matte, 90–100 gsm reduces glare and ghosting. Avoid glossy.
• Stickers or dot labels: fast marking (one colour per load level).
• Stamps: icons for supports.
• Ruler: optional.
• A pocket card (index card) for in-the-moment tallies.
• Ear defenders or earplugs logged as a support, not a supply.

15. Digital and hybrid versions

• Apps: mood/sensory trackers, spreadsheets, notes. Pros: reminders, charts. Cons: notifications, screen glare, subscriptions, data sharing.
• E-ink (reMarkable, Kindle Scribe, Boox): low glare, quiet; good for autistic users who find screens harsh.
• X4: e-ink, buttons, no notifications. Well suited to circle-a-number logging with no light or sound.
• Scanning: Journalwright Studio pages scan through their SEND TO strip; sensory data isn't very sensitive but overload logs might be. Route privately.
• Lost vs gained: paper is predictable and tactile; digital charts show patterns faster. Hybrid: log on paper or X4, read monthly totals on the Keeper handoff.

16. Evidence and research

Claimed vs supported:

• Supported: sensory differences, camouflaging costs and autistic burnout are real and measurable.
• Supported: special interests relate to wellbeing (association).
• Claimed: daily sensory journaling prevents burnout or meltdowns. No study found. Plausible because early recognition is recommended (NAS, Raymaker).
• Claimed: energy accounting reduces burnout. Endorsed in the book; no trial found.
• Claimed: interoception training helps autistic adults self-regulate. Mahler reports pilot work; evidence is early (uncertain).

17. Benefits

• Shows which environments cost most. Claimed.
• Early warning of burnout. Claimed (early recognition recommended by NAS and Raymaker; the journal's effect unstudied).
• Makes masking costs visible. Claimed, grounded in Hull et al.
• Builds a personal menu of supports. Claimed.
• Evidence for accommodations at work or school. Claimed.
• Helps clinicians tell burnout from depression. Claimed, grounded in Arnold et al.
• Protects special interest time. Claimed, grounded in Grove et al. (association).
• Better body-signal awareness. Claimed; interoception work is early.
• Lower demand than written journaling. Claimed.

18. Pitfalls

19. Accessibility and adaptations

• ADHD: big circles, one page, log at a fixed anchor (bedtime). Stickers for speed.
• Autism and sensory needs: this doc. Matte paper, no busy borders, predictable layout, icons with text labels.
• Chronic illness and low spoons: Sensory load + one number. Pair with the Spoons block instead of energy accounting.
• Depression and anxiety: burnout can look like depression; log both mood and burnout signs so a clinician can compare. Keep the recovery plan near the Safety plan.
• Trauma: skip the overload "before" questions if they re-trigger; log only what helped.
• Dyslexia and dysgraphia: icons and circles only; no lines required; voice memo optional.
• Low vision: 8.5×11, 7 mm circles, thick outlines; X4 large type.
• Motor or hand pain: tick boxes, stamps, X4 buttons.
• Trans and gender-diverse people: autistic people are more likely to be trans or gender-diverse (well documented; not re-checked here). Clothes, binders, makeup and voice work have sensory costs and rewards. See the sibling doc gender-euphoria-and-hrt-log.md. Masking gender and masking autism can stack.
• Shift workers: log by shift, not by clock day; outdoor weather and air are sensory load (the Studio has a Weather & air block).
• Low income: free: any notebook, printable pages. Public libraries are low-cost quiet spaces worth listing as deposits.

20. Comparison

21. Combining

• With the gender euphoria and HRT log: gender-euphoria-and-hrt-log.md. Share one masking row; note sensory side of clothes and voice practice.
• With spoons: use Spoons for "how much I have", Sensory load for "why it went".
• With a mood tracker: mood + burnout watch helps separate depression from burnout.
• With a Bullet Journal: a sensory signifier (ear icon) next to events that were loud.
• With routines/habit tracking: the Studio's Checkboxes and Habit dots blocks can track supports (headphones, walk, alone time).
• Other sibling method docs (spoon theory, mood tracking, bullet journal, habit tracking) live in this folder; see the methods index.

22. Ready-to-use bank

Prompts (low text)

1. Loudest thing today?
2. One thing that gave energy back.
3. Where did I mask most?
4. What did my body tell me first?
5. Planned change or surprise?
6. What would make tomorrow quieter?
7. What am I into right now?
8. Best support I used.
9. What do I need to say (or text) to someone?
10. What did I skip that I'm glad I skipped?

Headings and collections

1. My sensory profile.
2. Energy price list.
3. Recovery plan.
4. Supports menu.
5. Safe places in town (quiet corners, library, park benches).
6. Special interest notes.
7. Scripts I use (and ones I'd like to drop).
8. Accommodations I've asked for / got.

Trackers

1. Sensory load 0–3 × sound, light, crowds, touch, smell, social.
2. Masking 0–3 + where.
3. Energy balance (+/−).
4. Body signals strip (stomach, water, toilet, temp, tense, heart, tired).
5. Burnout watch weekly six boxes.
6. Overload count (meltdown / shutdown / near-miss).
7. Special interest minutes.
8. Communication today (speak / fewer words / text / not now).
9. Social battery 0–4 bars.
10. Supports used (headphones, hood, dark, pressure, stim, alone).

23. Glossary

• Autistic burnout: long exhaustion, loss of skills and lower sensory tolerance from chronic stress and unmet support needs (Raymaker 2020); also withdrawal and more visible autistic traits (Higgins 2021).
• Meltdown: involuntary, outward response to overwhelm (crying, yelling, pacing, escape).
• Shutdown: involuntary, inward response to overwhelm (withdrawal, unresponsive, low speech).
• Near-miss: you felt a meltdown or shutdown coming and it passed.
• Masking / camouflaging: hiding or compensating for autistic traits in social settings.
• Compensation, masking, assimilation: the three CAT-Q factors.
• Dual-masking: hiding both autistic traits and burnout (Clarey et al. 2026).
• Unmasking: reducing camouflaging where safe.
• Sensory profile: a person's pattern of sensory processing.
• Dunn's model: four patterns from threshold × response.
• Low registration / seeking / sensitivity / avoiding: Dunn's four quadrants.
• AASP: Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile.
• Interoception: sensing the inside of your body.
• Alexithymia: difficulty identifying and describing feelings.
• Energy accounting: Toudal's deposits-and-withdrawals method.
• Spoons: a unit of daily energy (from spoon theory).
• Social battery: community term for social energy.
• Monotropism: attention gathered into a few deep interests.
• Special interest: an intense, joyful focus.
• Stim / stimming: repetitive movement or sound that regulates.
• Neurodiversity paradigm: neurological differences are natural variation.
• Identity-first language: "autistic person".
• Autistic SPACE: Sensory, Predictability, Acceptance, Communication, Empathy.
• CBPR / AASPIRE: community-based participatory research / Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education.
• Delphi method: rounds of expert rating to reach consensus.

24. FAQ

1. Do I need a diagnosis? No. The journal is self-knowledge. Many autistic adults are self-identified.
2. Should I take the AASP? If you want a formal profile, an OT can give it. The journal map is a free, informal cousin.
3. Spoons or energy accounting? Pick one for daily use. Spoons are simpler; energy accounting shows costs.
4. How do I tell burnout from depression? Hard. Burnout centres on exhaustion, skill loss and sensory tolerance and tends to ease with lower demands; depression centres on mood and loss of interest. Arnold et al. found burnout often gets misdiagnosed as depression. Bring your log to a clinician.
5. Should I log during a meltdown? No. The next day, with icons.
6. Is masking always bad? It can keep you safe. The log shows its cost so you can choose where it's worth it.
7. What if logging makes me hyper-aware of sounds? Log once a day, in the evening, not in the moment.
8. Can special interests be too much? Grove et al. found very high intensity was linked to lower wellbeing. The "forgot to eat/sleep" flag helps.
9. Can I share it with work? Share summaries (e.g., "crowds 3 on four Thursdays"), not the book.
10. What if I don't feel body signals? Common. Use timed check-ins (am/mid/pm) and look for pairs over time.
11. Is this proven? The concepts are well studied; the journal itself isn't.

25. For Journalwright Studio

a. Printed book

b. E-ink companion (X4)

All calm: no reminders, no streaks, no charts that nag.

c. Editor blocks (built and proposed)

d. Proposed method layout: "Sensory & energy"

Planned: not in the editor's "Start from a method" list yet, but every block it needs exists today.

1. sky
2. events
3. care (Care check-in)
4. sensory — Sensory load (sound, light, crowds, touch)
5. scale — Masking 0–3
6. accounts — Energy account
7. checks — Supports
8. habits — Overload
9. words — Talk today
10. lines — Special interest
11. body — Writing space (blank, for drawing or nothing)

e. Don't adopt

• ABC / behaviour charts. Deficit-framed and designed for others to watch you.
• CAT-Q or AASP items printed verbatim. Licensed or validated research tools; not daily logs.
• "Tolerance training" goals (e.g., "increase time in loud places"). The method changes the environment, not the person.
• Red/green traffic-light colouring. Printed books are black-and-white; also moralises. Use numbers and icons.
• Streaks, badges or reminders on the e-ink companion. Out of scope and a stressor.
• Dense pages or decorative borders. Overstimulating.
• Sharing raw overload logs automatically via scans or exports. Summaries only, by choice.

26. Open questions

• Does daily sensory journaling reduce burnout or meltdowns? No study found.
• How long must signs last to call it burnout? Raymaker says ~3+ months; Higgins and Arnold couldn't set a duration.
• Is Dunn's passive/active axis valid in autistic adults? Metz et al. (non-autistic sample) found it wasn't ordinal.
• Does interoception training help autistic adults? Early pilot work only (uncertain).
• Is energy accounting better than spoons? No comparison study.
• Where is the line between healthy and harmful special-interest intensity? Grove et al. show association, not a cut-off.
• Should the bridge allow a 0-based scale? export_pack.py writes every scale as 1..steps, so 0–3 paper scales shift by one on the X4. Fine for counting, slightly confusing to read.

27. Further reading

• Raymaker et al. 2020, "Having all of your internal resources exhausted…": the burnout paper to read first; co-produced.
• Hull et al. 2017, "Putting on my best normal": readable account of camouflaging, with quotes.
• Toudal & Attwood 2024, Energy Accounting: the method from its creator.
• Murray, Lesser & Lawson 2005 (via monotropism.org): why change and transitions cost so much.
• Doherty et al. 2023, Autistic SPACE: short framework you can apply to your own home.
• National Autistic Society, autistic burnout guide: plain summary of signs and recovery.
• Reframing Autism, shutdown guide: warning signs and support plans.
• Kelly Mahler, "What is interoception?": accessible intro to body signals.
• Pellicano & den Houting 2022: the case for neurodiversity-affirming research.
• ASAN on identity-first language: why "autistic person".

28. Sources

All opened once on 2026-09-28.

1. Raymaker DM, Teo AR, Steckler NA, et al. "Having All of Your Internal Resources Exhausted Beyond Measure and Being Left with No Clean-Up Crew": Defining Autistic Burnout. Autism in Adulthood 2(2):132–143, 2020. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7313636/ (checked 2026-09-28)
2. Hull L, Petrides KV, Allison C, et al. "Putting on My Best Normal": Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions. J Autism Dev Disord, 2017. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5509825/ (checked 2026-09-28)
3. Hull L, Mandy W, Lai M-C, et al. Development and Validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). J Autism Dev Disord 49(3):819–833, 2019. ERIC record. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1206879 (checked 2026-09-28)
4. Metz AE, Boling D, DeVore A, et al. Dunn's Model of Sensory Processing: An Investigation of the Axes of the Four-Quadrant Model in Healthy Adults. Brain Sciences, 2019. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6406387/ (checked 2026-09-28)
5. Pearson Assessments. Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (Brown & Dunn, 2002), product page. https://www.pearsonassessments.com/en-us/Store/Professional-Assessments/Motor-Sensory/Adolescent-Adult-Sensory-Profile/p/100000434 (checked 2026-09-28)
6. Texas Statewide Leadership for Autism Training. Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile. https://www.txautism.net/evaluations/adolescent-adult-sensory-profile (checked 2026-09-28)
7. Murray D, Lesser M, Lawson W. Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism. Autism 9(2):139–156, 2005. Hosted at monotropism.org. https://monotropism.org/murray-lesser-lawson/ (checked 2026-09-28)
8. Grove R, Hoekstra RA, Wierda M, Begeer S. Special interests and subjective wellbeing in autistic adults. Autism Research 11(5):766–775, 2018. VU Amsterdam record. https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/special-interests-and-subjective-wellbeing-in-autistic-adults/ (checked 2026-09-28)
9. Higgins JM, Arnold SRC, Weise J, Pellicano E, Trollor JN. Defining autistic burnout through experts by lived experience (Grounded Delphi). Autism CRC summary, 2021. https://www.autismcrc.com.au/knowledge-centre/publications/defining-autistic-burnout-using-grounded-delphi-method-autistic (checked 2026-09-28)
10. Arnold SRC, Higgins JM, Weise J, et al. Confirming the nature of autistic burnout. Autism, 2023. Accepted manuscript, UCL Discovery. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10163509/2/Pellicano_Accepted%20Version%20-%20Confirming%20the%20Nature%20of%20Autistic%20Burnout.pdf (checked 2026-09-28)
11. Clarey MM, Ireland MJ, Abel S, Brownlow C. Beyond exhaustion: Shame, identity disruption, and functional collapse in autistic burnout. Autism 30(6), 2026. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13187221/ (checked 2026-09-28)
12. National Autistic Society. Understanding autistic burnout (2022). https://www.autism.org.uk/learn/knowledge-hub/professional-practice/autistic-burnout (checked 2026-09-28)
13. Doherty M, McCowan S, Shaw SCK. Autistic SPACE: a novel framework for meeting the needs of autistic people in healthcare settings. British Journal of Hospital Medicine 84(4), 2023. https://www.imrpress.com/journal/BJHM/84/4/10.12968/hmed.2023.0006 (checked 2026-09-28)
14. Toudal M, Attwood T. Energy Accounting: Stress Management and Mental Health Monitoring for Autism and Related Conditions. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2024. https://us.jkp.com/products/energy-accounting (checked 2026-09-28)
15. Mahler K. What is interoception? https://www.kelly-mahler.com/what-is-interoception/ (checked 2026-09-28)
16. Adams KL, Catmur C, Bird G. Associations between autism and self-reported dimensions of interoception. Autism 30(6), 2026. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13187214/ (checked 2026-09-28)
17. Pellicano E, den Houting J. Annual Research Review: Shifting from "normal science" to neurodiversity in autism science. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 2022. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9298391/ (checked 2026-09-28)
18. Reframing Autism. All About Autistic Shutdowns: A Guide for Allies (Feb 2024). https://reframingautism.org.au/all-about-autistic-shutdown-guide-for-allies/ (checked 2026-09-28)
19. Autism Society of America. Autistic Meltdowns and Shutdowns: An Inclusive Guide for Healthcare Professionals (2025). https://autismsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AutismSociety_Autistic-Meltdowns-Shutdowns_2025-06V2F_Digital.pdf (checked 2026-09-28)
20. Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Identity-first language. https://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/identity-first-language/ (checked 2026-09-28)

Tried but blocked (not relied on): Higgins et al. 2021 on SAGE (403; definition taken from Arnold et al. 2023), Europe PMC article pages (403 to automated fetch).