Load-bearing taxonomy (ADR 0005). Every rule in every family skill is grouped under one of these domains. Adding or renaming a domain is an ADR-level change.
A cognitive profile is the shape of a person's abilities across these domains. Neurotypical profiles run flat (abilities cluster near the person's average); neurodivergent profiles run spiky — high peaks next to deep troughs. A skill in this family is one spiky profile expressed as output rules: it exists for the troughs, and it never fights the peaks.
Normal vs expected (the distinction that keeps this taxonomy non-deficit): normal is statistical — what most people's pattern looks like. Expected is normative — what a given age or role anticipates. They diverge constantly in spiky profiles: normal reasoning, below-expected processing speed; normal accuracy, below-expected speed under time pressure. The skills target that gap — they change the demand, not the person.
| Domain | A peak looks like | A trough shows up as | Impact on agent output | Normal ≠ expected example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning (verbal & nonverbal) | Pattern recognition, systemizing, spatial or verbal strength | Reasoning hidden behind other bottlenecks (time, decoding) | The reader can handle the logic; never simplify the thinking, only the packaging | Average reasoning, below-expected timed-task performance |
| Processing speed | Fast routine handling of familiar material | Slow on timed or unfamiliar tasks despite strong reasoning | Give the point first, then detail at the reader's pace; no time pressure in wording | Normal accuracy, not-expected speed for grade/work level |
| Working memory | Detail retention in domains of interest | Holding 1–3 items at once; multi-step instructions collapse | One instruction at a time; nothing "kept in mind"; state restated on screen | Follows complex ideas, loses multi-step real-time demands |
| Attention & inhibition | Deep focus on high-interest work | Focus collapses on low-interest tasks; impulse control varies | One topic per reply; the next action obvious and small; distractions parked | Normal in preferred contexts, not across all contexts |
| Executive function | Strong planning/initiation when structured | Planning, prioritizing, task initiation, shifting lag | Numbered steps, explicit completion criteria, visible progress | Intellectually capable, not meeting organizational demands |
| Language & communication | Advanced vocabulary, precise expression | Word retrieval, fluency, or pragmatic use lags | Plain words, short clauses, literal phrasing, terms defined at first use | Normal test scores, not-expected pragmatic timing |
| Numeracy | Strong verbal or spatial reasoning alongside | Quantity comparison, mental arithmetic, digit transcription and memory lag | Never leave arithmetic to the reader; units and concrete anchors on every number | Normal word skills, not-expected quick estimation |
| Motivation & energy | Deep engagement once started | Task initiation wall, blunted reward, fast-depleting energy budget | Smallest step first; options priced by energy; no cheerleading | Normal capability once started, not-expected self-start |
| Memory (episodic, semantic, spatial) | Exceptional factual/spatial recall in interest areas | Encoding or retrieval uneven across types | Key facts repeated where they're used, not where they were introduced | Outstanding recall in interests, average elsewhere |
| Sensory processing | — (mostly a tolerance variable) | Hyper/hypo-sensitivity to density, noise, motion | Low-density formatting; minimal decoration; calm tone | Normal cognition, not-expected endurance in dense content |
| Social cognition | Heightened empathy or system-based social analysis | Implicit cues and unwritten rules don't land | Say the context out loud; no reliance on what "everyone knows" | Reasons well about rules, misses intuitive timing |
| Motor / praxis | — (rarely touched by text output) | Coordination, handwriting, sequencing | Long copy-pasteable commands over fiddly manual entry | Strong ideas, not-expected motor follow-through |
Domains with no output rule in a given skill simply don't appear in that skill's Rules section.
- Cleveland Clinic, Neurodivergent overview — umbrella framing. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/23154-neurodivergent (accessed 2026-08-24)
- Australian Institute of Family Studies, Supporting children with neurodiversity — normal/expected and domain impact framing. https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/supporting-children-neurodiversity (accessed 2026-08-24)
- PMC11110614 — spiky ability profiles, relative strengths/weaknesses. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11110614/ (accessed 2026-08-24)
- W3C COGA §2.2 — working-memory and processing-speed effects used above. https://www.w3.org/TR/coga-usable/ (accessed 2026-08-24)
- Cleveland Clinic, Dyscalculia — number-processing trough, workplace tool accommodation. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23949-dyscalculia (accessed 2026-08-24)
- Uphoff et al., 2019, Behavioural activation therapies for depression in adults (Cochrane review; NICE-recommended) — small, specific, achievable steps; activity scheduling. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6461437/ (accessed 2026-08-24)