Supported as I Am™

Everyday support that respects how you experience the world.

Your sensory needs, communication preferences, energy, values, and boundaries deserve a place in your wellness plan.

Supported as I Am™ — The Autistic Adult Wellness Companion is an 86-page digital collection designed to help autistic adults explore their needs, communicate their preferences, and plan practical support for everyday life.

Created by Dr. Maxine Goring-Rodriguez, Ph.D. in Psychology, this SoulCentements™ companion brings together clear explanations, personal reflection pages, planning tools, and useful scripts. You can choose what feels relevant, adapt how you respond, and return to the resources as your needs change.

Practical tools for your everyday needs

Use the companion to:

• Explore your sensory preferences. Identify environments, sensations, and adjustments that may make daily activities more comfortable.

• Communicate in ways that work for you. Record your preferences for speaking, typing, writing, AAC, processing time, and support during periods of reduced speech.

• Plan around your energy. Consider the demands of everyday activities alongside your available capacity, rest, and recovery needs.

• Make tasks and transitions more workable. Explore smaller starting steps, preparation, reminders, and help from others.

• Prepare for overload and difficult days. Notice your personal early signs and create a plan for the support you want.

• Express boundaries and request adjustments. Use practical language for accommodation requests, appointments, relationships, and everyday interactions.

• Strengthen self-understanding and self-trust. Reflect on your preferences, identity, values, and choices about privacy and masking.

The companion adapts five areas of the model to everyday support:

• Healthy Sense of Self: Explore your identity, preferences, boundaries, and self-trust.

• Psychological Flexibility: Notice thoughts and feelings while considering choices that fit your values, needs, and capacity.

• Perspective: Make room for context and different possibilities while respecting your own experience.

• Daily Maintenance: Build practical support around routines, sensory needs, communication, rest, and daily care.

• Spirituality or Chosen Meaning: Explore personally meaningful sources of connection if you wish. This part is entirely optional.

Choose your pace and your way of participating

The support-needs reflection uses plain-language response choices to help you consider where support feels sufficient and where you would like something to change. There is no numerical score or severity rating.

You can write, type, use your preferred communication method, or work with a supporter you choose. Activities may be repeated, reordered, skipped, or stopped. The optional 30-day menu provides ideas you can draw from whenever they are useful.

This collection welcomes autistic adults, including people identified later in life, people who self-identify, and those exploring their support needs. It can be used independently or with chosen support, with your preferences and consent guiding participation.

Digital download details

• 86 pages across four resources

• Eight files: four printable PDFs and four editable Word documents

• US Letter format with spacious writing areas

• PDFs designed for printing; Word versions available for typing and customization

• Two written guided-practice scripts; recorded audio is not included

• Digital product; no physical item will be shipped

Begin with one page, one need, and one support that matters to you today.

Supported as I Am™ is an educational wellness and self-advocacy resource. It is not a diagnostic tool or treatment program and does not replace individualized professional care. The companion and its original support-needs reflection have not been clinically validated.