The Stimpunks Pattern Language is a network. Each pattern connects to other patterns, and together they describe how neurodivergent life interacts with environments.
This graph shows how the first core patterns relate to one another. Some patterns shape attention. Some describe regulation and overload. Some describe social access. Others shape the environments people live, learn, and work in.
Follow the pattern that feels most familiar, then trace the links outward.
The Core Pattern Graph
[ Pattern 12 ]
Burnout Threshold
▲
│
│
[ Pattern 11 ]│[ Pattern 08 ]
Energy │Masking Pressure
Accounting │
▲ │ ▲
│ │ │
│ │ │
[ Pattern 07 ] │
Regulation First │
▲ │
│ │
│ │
[ Pattern 01 ] ───► [ Pattern 05 ] ◄───┘
Monotropism Deep Attention
│ │
│ │
▼ ▼
[ Pattern 02 ] ───► [ Pattern 04 ] ───► [ Pattern 10 ]
Spiky Profiles Processing Time Access Modes
│ ▲
│ │
▼ │
[ Pattern 03 ] ────────────┘
Sensory Load
│
▼
[ Pattern 09 ]
Environment Fit
│
▼
[ Pattern 06 ]
Social Energy
This graph is not exhaustive. It is a wayfinding map for the early pattern language.
Read the Graph by Cluster
Attention Patterns
- Pattern 01 — Monotropism
- Pattern 02 — Spiky Profiles
- Pattern 04 — Processing Time
- Pattern 05 — Deep Attention
These patterns describe how attention narrows, deepens, and interacts with ability, time, and focus.
Regulation Patterns
- Pattern 03 — Sensory Load
- Pattern 07 — Regulation First
- Pattern 11 — Energy Accounting
- Pattern 12 — Burnout Threshold
These patterns describe overload, recovery, regulation, and the limits of sustainable participation.
Social and Access Patterns
These patterns describe participation, masking, communication, and the cost of navigating social environments.
Environment Patterns
This pattern describes the relationship between people and the conditions they inhabit. Environment fit is where patterns become design.
How to Use the Pattern Graph
- Start with a familiar pattern. If one pattern feels immediately recognizable, begin there.
- Follow the links outward. Each pattern connects to others that help explain more of the system.
- Move into recipes. Once the patterns are visible, explore Pattern Recipes to see how they shape design.
- Move into environments. Then visit Designing Neurodivergent Environments to see how patterns change real spaces.
The graph helps readers move from recognition to design.
Pattern ↓ Pattern Cluster ↓ Recipe ↓ Environment
The Core Pattern Map
These twelve patterns form the current backbone of the Stimpunks pattern language. They show how attention, sensory life, environment, social demand, burnout, and recovery connect.
Attention
- Pattern 01 — Monotropism
- Pattern 02 — Spiky Profiles
- Pattern 04 — Processing Time
- Pattern 05 — Deep Attention
These patterns describe how neurodivergent cognition organizes focus, depth, and time.
Sensory & Regulation
These patterns describe how environments affect nervous systems and regulation.
Attention + sensory realities shape whether environments fit.
Environment Bridge
Environment Fit connects cognition and regulation to the spaces people inhabit. It is the hinge pattern between internal realities and external design.
When environments do not fit, social and energy demands rise.
Social & Masking
These patterns describe the cost of participation in environments shaped by narrow social expectations.
Energy
Energy Accounting describes how social, sensory, and cognitive demands accumulate over time.
When demands accumulate faster than recovery, burnout becomes likely.
Burnout
Burnout Threshold marks the point where demands exceed sustainable capacity.
Recovery
Energy Recovery describes the conditions needed to restore capacity and support sustainable participation.
Reading the Map
- Attention patterns explain how neurodivergent minds focus and process.
- Sensory and regulation patterns explain how environments affect nervous systems.
- Environment Fit connects internal realities to external spaces.
- Social and energy patterns explain how participation becomes costly.
- Burnout and recovery patterns describe the consequences of sustained friction and the path back from it.
Explore the full system through the Pattern Library, the Pattern Atlas, and the Pattern Graph.
Explore the Pattern Language
- A Pattern Language for Neurodivergent Life
- Core Patterns of Neurodivergent Life
- Pattern Library
- Pattern Recipes
- The Stimpunks Design Method
Patterns do not stand alone. They form a living system that helps us understand experience and redesign environments.
