Spikey Profiles

My good friend Andrew Whitehouse, first introduced me to the concept of spikey profiles, and ever since that conversation, I’ve wondered why we rarely hear them mentioned.

Because once you understand what a spikey profile is, suddenly so much makes sense - about yourself, about your children, about the people you work with, and about how we should be supporting neurodivergent minds in general.

We tend to talk about “functioning levels,” “age expectations,” or “ability groups,” but the truth is that none of those come close to describing how real humans actually learn, communicate, and cope. Spikey profiles, on the other hand, do.

So what exactly is a spikey profile?

A spikey profile describes someone whose abilities vary widely across different areas. Instead of a straight, even line, their developmental or cognitive profile is full of peaks and dips - spikes.

Most neurodivergent people (and honestly, plenty of neurotypical people too) show this pattern. Someone might be:

• Exceptional at problem-solving but struggle with organisation

• Brilliant with language but overwhelmed by sensory input

• Great at remembering facts but unable to start tasks

• Highly empathetic but unable to express emotions in conventional ways

• Academically strong but socially exhausted

• Very verbal one day but non-verbal the next

It’s dynamic, not fixed. It changes with stress, environment, safety, fatigue, sensory load, and emotional state.

In other words: capacity is not the same as consistency - and spikey profiles show us why.

Why are spikey profiles so important?

Because they explain a type of struggle that is often misunderstood.

When a child (or adult) has some standout strengths, people often expect those strengths to apply everywhere.

When a person can do something “sometimes,” professionals often assume they can do it all the time.

And when someone has a hidden disability - especially an internal one - those spikes and dips can go unnoticed or even punished.

Spikey profiles show us that:

• Strengths do not cancel out needs

• Competency in one area does not mean competency in all areas

• “Inconsistent ability” is a legitimate and neurological experience

• The environment can make the spikes sharper or smoother

• Support must be flexible, individual, and responsive - not one-size-fits-all

This is why many neurodivergent individuals feel misunderstood. They often hear:

“You’re very capable, so why can’t you just…?”

“You did that yesterday - why not today?”

“You’re too smart to struggle with this.”

But the brain does not work in straight lines. It works in patterns - and for neurodivergent people, those patterns are often beautifully uneven.

The danger of ignoring spikey profiles

When professionals only look at averages or test scores, they miss what actually matters:

• The gaps

• The energy cost

• The context

• The support needs

• A child might read at a high level but melt down after a noisy assembly.

• An adult might appear articulate but cannot cope with unexpected change.

• A teenager may mask socially but collapse emotionally when they get home.

If we overlook the spikes, we overlook the person.

Spikey profiles change everything: education, parenting, and self-understanding

Once you recognise spikey profiles, you start approaching people differently:

You stop asking, “Why can’t they do this?”

And start asking, “What support do they need in this area?”

You stop expecting consistency and start understanding that capacity fluctuates.

You stop viewing struggles as laziness and start seeing genuine neurological variability.

For many people - especially neurodivergent adults who grew up misunderstood - discovering spikey profiles can feel like a breath out. A permission slip. A name for the thing they always felt but could never explain.

How we can use the concept in everyday life

• Look for strengths and needs - not one or the other

• Support people based on the lowest spike, not the highest

• Understand that “can do it sometimes” does not mean “can do it always”

• Reduce pressure where the dips appear

• Create scaffolding (not shame) around the harder areas

• Celebrate the peaks - they are often incredible

Remember that safety and regulation smooth the spikes

The goal isn’t to “fix” the dips or “flatten” the profile.

It’s to respect the shape of someone’s brain and work with it - not against it.

Final thoughts...

Spikey profiles help us move away from the old questions such as :

“How clever are you?”

“How capable are you?”

“How do you compare?”

and help us move toward much better ones:

“What do you need?”

“What helps you thrive?”

“What environment lets you be your best?”

“What do your strengths tell us about how your brain works?”

If we understood spikey profiles better across schools, workplaces, and families, we’d stop labelling people as inconsistent, dramatic, difficult, or unmotivated - and start seeing their profiles for what they truly are:

A map.

A pattern.

A key to understanding how someone moves through the world.

And, most importantly, a reminder that difference is not wrong or broken - it’s human.