How SensoryShore works
Three steps you can take today: create a free account, answer the NeuroProfile questionnaire, and read your results. A fourth part, CalmCompanion, is in development and not yet available.
Step 1
Create a free account
You need a free account to take the questionnaire. The account asks for your first name, your email address, and a password. It does not ask for payment details.
Before you start
What you'll need
- Your first name
- An email address
- A password of at least 8 characters
- You must be 18 or older
What happens next
- Your account page has a button to start the questionnaire
- You can pause and come back at any time
Step 2
Complete the NeuroProfile questionnaire
The NeuroProfile questionnaire has up to 129 questions, plus 3 short questions about you at the start, such as whether you already have an autism diagnosis. The questions are grouped into up to 9 sections. If you already have a formal autism diagnosis, you see 122 questions in 8 sections. A section is a set of questions about one area, such as the senses, masking, or burnout. The whole questionnaire takes around 20–35 minutes.
The 9 sections
Social communication and interaction
How you navigate conversation, connection, and social expectations.
Routine, flexibility and special interests
How routine, change, and deep interests shape your day-to-day life.
Sensory processing
How you respond to what your senses pick up: sound, sight, touch, smell and taste together, balance and movement, and body awareness.
Masking and camouflaging
Masking (also called camouflaging) means hiding or changing how you naturally act, so that you fit in. This section asks how much effort that takes, and what it costs you.
Executive function
Executive function means the mental skills you use to plan, start, and organise tasks. This section asks how these work for you.
Emotional regulation
How you experience strong feelings, and how you manage them.
Communication preferences
How you prefer to communicate, and at what pace. This section is not scored.
Burnout and wellbeing indicators
Signs of long-lasting strain and exhaustion, and of being able to do less than usual.
Identity and late-diagnosis context
Questions about realising as an adult that you may be autistic. This section is not scored. You only see it if you say at the start that you do not have a formal autism diagnosis.
Key features
Go at your own pace
The NeuroProfile questionnaire was made with autistic adults in mind. You can stop at any time, take breaks, and come back when you have the energy. There is no timer, and you do not need to finish in one go.
Step 3
Receive your detailed report
When you finish the questionnaire, your results page shows your sensory profile, your masking in three parts, and any signs of burnout. You can download a report as a PDF (a type of file you can save and print). You can also prepare a letter for your GP (general practitioner, your family doctor).
What's in your report
Your sensory areas
Your sensory profile shows how you respond to what your senses pick up. It covers six areas:
Sound (auditory)
How sound and noise levels affect comfort and focus.
Sight (visual)
How light, colour, and visual busyness affect comfort and focus.
Touch (tactile)
How touch, texture, and physical contact feel to you.
Smell and taste
How smells and tastes are experienced, including sensitivity and avoidance.
Balance and movement (vestibular)
Your sense of balance and motion, such as knowing which way up you are.
Body awareness (proprioceptive)
Sensing where your body and limbs are without looking.
Your masking score breakdown
Masking means hiding or changing how you naturally act, so that you fit in with other people. Many questionnaires give masking a single score. Your results show it in three parts:
- Compensation: Actively working out social rules
- Masking: Hiding your autistic responses
- Assimilation: Forcing yourself through situations that do not fit you
One of the three parts is also called masking. That part means only the hiding. Masking a lot is often linked with a higher risk of burnout. Your results show your own pattern across the three parts.
Signs of burnout
Autistic burnout is deep, long-lasting exhaustion. It can build up after a long time of masking or coping with too much. Your answers in section 8, about burnout and wellbeing, are placed in one of four bands: low, moderate, high, or severe. Your masking answers can also add a separate note that burnout may be worth reading about. The band is not a diagnosis. A higher band can be a sign that it may help to:
- Rest more
- Reduce masking where safe
- Reduce noise, bright light, or other sensory strain where you can
- Seek professional support if needed
How your scores are worked out
Each score is calculated from your answers by fixed rules. No AI (artificial intelligence) is involved in scoring. The results page shows how each score was worked out.
Each score falls into a band, such as low, moderate, or high. A band is a fixed range of scores. It shows how much of that pattern you reported. It does not compare you with other people.
The bands are provisional, which means they may change. Clinicians (health professionals such as doctors and psychologists) have not yet checked them. No formal study of their accuracy has been run yet.
A letter for your GP
You can prepare a letter for your GP from your results page. It describes your results in words, in your own voice. You check the personal details, then download it. You can share it with your GP or an assessment team as a starting point for a conversation. It does not replace a formal assessment.
What your report is not
- Not a diagnosis of autism or any other condition
- Not a replacement for formal clinical assessment
- Not a guarantee that you will be offered an assessment
- Not a tool to "prove" you're autistic to others
In development
CalmCompanion
CalmCompanion is in development and not yet available. It is an AI companion: a computer program you write messages to, and it writes back. It uses a summary of your NeuroProfile results to adapt to your communication style, pace, and sensory needs. See the CalmCompanion page for details.
What CalmCompanion does
- ✓ Starts from your results: Knows your sensory triggers (things around you that overwhelm your senses), communication preferences, and masking patterns
- ✓ Adapts to you: Adjusts tone, pace, and language based on your profile
- ✓ No pressure: No streaks, no daily reminders to use it, no guilt for not using it
- ✓ Safety outside the AI: In a crisis, the AI stops and you see a message that a person wrote in advance
- ✓ Go at your own pace: Lets you pause or stop at any time without consequence
How CalmCompanion adapts
- → If you are very sensitive to sound, it keeps its language calm and avoids sudden changes of topic
- → If compensation (working out social rules) is the most prominent part of your masking, it suggests a rest when what you write suggests you are pushing yourself too hard
- → If you prefer a slower pace in conversation, it gives you time and does not rush you
- → If your results show signs of burnout, it suggests rest and shorter conversations
What CalmCompanion does not do
- ✗ Diagnose or provide clinical advice
- ✗ Replace therapy or professional support
- ✗ Make decisions for you
- ✗ Use guilt or fear of missing out to pressure you into using it
Safety first
CalmCompanion has safety rules that sit outside the AI. They use three levels of concern: yellow, amber, and red. At red, the AI stops. You see a message that a person wrote in advance. It lists crisis services you can contact straight away. These services are not run by SensoryShore. CalmCompanion will not be made available until its safety rules have been tested.
In summary
The steps in short
- Account: Free, and asks only for your first name, email address, and a password
- Questionnaire: up to 129 questions in up to 9 sections, pause and resume, no time pressure
- Results: Your sensory profile, your masking in three parts, signs of burnout, a PDF report to download, and a letter for your GP
- Not available yet: CalmCompanion, an AI companion that is in development
Important
SensoryShore is not a diagnostic tool and does not diagnose autism or any other condition. It can help you see your own patterns more clearly while you wait for an assessment.
SensoryShore has no helpline, no support service, and no one to talk to. If you or someone else is in danger now, call 999. For urgent help that is not an emergency, call NHS 111 (NHS is the National Health Service). To talk to someone at any time, call Samaritans free on 116 123. If you would rather text than call, text SHOUT to 85258 (Shout is a free text service). These services are not run by SensoryShore.
Cost
SensoryShore is free
If we can keep it that way, we will. We are a family, not a company, and we run SensoryShore ourselves.
You need a free account to take the questionnaire. The account asks for your first name, your email address, and a password. It does not ask for payment details.
If the cost of SensoryShore ever changes, we will say so on this website first. Results you already have will stay available to you.
Have questions?
Visit our frequently asked questions (FAQ) page for answers about SensoryShore, NeuroProfile, CalmCompanion, privacy, how your data is stored, and more.
What you can use today
The NeuroProfile questionnaire is free to use, and you can pause and come back to it at any time.
Start your NeuroProfile