Adapting the GROW Model with AI for Neurodivergent Clients
Integrating AI with the GROW model enhances adaptability, inclusivity, and personalization for neurodivergent individuals, empowering them with greater self-agency. By leveraging AI for insights, flexible goal-setting, and accountability, ND clients can overcome executive dysfunction, improve brainstorming, and develop action plans that align with their unique thinking styles, while human coaches provide essential emotional depth and ethical guidance for sustainable growth.
About the GROW Model
The GROW model was developed in the 1980s by Sir John Whitmore, a British racing driver turned business coach, along with Graham Alexander and Alan Fine. It became one of the most widely used coaching frameworks, particularly in executive coaching, leadership development, and personal growth. The model was built on the foundation of Socratic questioning, helping clients self-discover their own solutions through structured guidance rather than direct advice. It was influenced by Timothy Gallwey’s “Inner Game” coaching philosophy, which emphasized that obstacles to success are often internal rather than external.
The GROW model provided a clear, repeatable structure for coaching conversations:
G (Goal): What do you want to achieve?
R (Reality): Where are you now? What are the obstacles?
O (Options): What different ways can you move forward?
W (Will or Way Forward): What action will you take? How committed are you?
Using AI with the GROW Model for Neurodivergent Clients: Enhancing Self-Agency
By integrating AI, the GROW model can become more inclusive, efficient, and personalized, allowing coaching to evolve for a digital-first world while still centering human experience and self-discovery. However, human intuition, deep emotional intelligence, and ethical considerations remain essential. The role of AI should not be to dictate decisions, but to empower clients with self-agency—helping them better understand themselves, make informed choices, and navigate challenges in a way that aligns with their unique strengths and needs.
For neurodivergent clients, self-agency is particularly important. Many have spent years being told to fit into neurotypical systems, often leading to internalized self-doubt, learned helplessness, or reliance on rigid external structures. AI-assisted coaching can restore autonomy by offering adaptive, individualized support while keeping control in the hands of the client. Instead of reinforcing one-size-fits-all solutions, AI should serve as an interactive thought partner, providing tools, insights, and alternative approaches that allow neurodivergent individuals to take charge of their own development on their own terms.
The best AI-enhanced GROW model will be:
AI-assisted but human-led—AI provides insights, but human coaches guide emotional depth, ensuring the client remains in control of their own journey.
Personalized, not prescriptive—AI adapts to individual needs rather than enforcing rigid structures, giving clients the freedom to explore solutions that truly fit them.
Ethically designed—AI respects privacy, avoids bias, and does not push clients into toxic productivity traps that disregard their natural rhythms and processing styles.
By leveraging AI as a supportive tool rather than an authoritative system, the GROW model can become a powerful framework for enhancing self-awareness, decision-making, and long-term self-agency, particularly for neurodivergent clients who thrive when given the tools to create their own definition of success.
We break it down here:
1. G – Goal: Flexible, Adaptive Goal-Setting with AI Support
Traditional Challenge for ND Clients:
❌ Struggles with rigid goal structures and the pressure of long-term planning.
❌ Difficulty breaking down vague aspirations into clear, actionable objectives.
❌ Interest-based motivation may lead to changing focus over time.
AI-Enhanced Solutions:
✅ ChatGPT for Interactive Goal Exploration: Clients can conversationally refine goals by asking AI, “Help me break this into smaller steps.”
✅ Notion AI for Goal Mapping: AI can help create goal hierarchies, task dependencies, and visual roadmaps tailored to energy levels.
✅ MindMeister for Visual Goal Structuring: Helps visually map goals in a nonlinear way, perfect for dyslexic and visually-oriented thinkers.
Example: Instead of setting a rigid “I will write 1,000 words a day” goal, an ND client could use ChatGPT to explore alternative structures:
• “What are different ways I can set writing goals based on my natural workflow?”
• “How can I create a goal structure that accounts for variable focus levels?”
2. R – Reality: AI-Assisted Self-Assessment and Awareness
Traditional Challenge for ND Clients:
❌ Difficulty assessing current reality accurately, often due to time blindness or perfectionism.
❌ Struggles with recognizing patterns in productivity, focus, and energy cycles.
❌ Internalized shame from masking or past failures may distort self-perception.
AI-Enhanced Solutions:
✅ RescueTime or Motion for Self-Awareness: Tracks time spent on tasks to reveal actual focus trends vs. perceived productivity.
✅ ChatGPT for Cognitive Reframing: AI can help reframe negative self-perceptions (e.g., “Why do I always fail?” → “Let’s look at what’s actually happening and what’s working”).
✅ Reclaim.ai for Calendar-Based Executive Function Support: AI adjusts task schedules based on real work habits, preventing overwhelm.
Example: An autistic client struggling with burnout may use RescueTime to analyze how much energy is spent masking at work. Then, by feeding data into ChatGPT, they can get:
“What patterns do you notice in my work habits?”
“How can I adjust my schedule based on my best focus hours?”
3. O – Options: Expanding Creative, Nonlinear Solutions with AI
Traditional Challenge for ND Clients:
❌ Struggles with linear brainstorming; some ND individuals think in associative, web-like patterns.
❌ Decision paralysis when faced with too many possibilities or unclear steps.
❌ Task chunking is difficult, making it hard to know where to start.
AI-Enhanced Solutions:
✅ Whimsical or Coggle for Visual Brainstorming: AI-powered mind maps help turn scattered thoughts into structured ideas.
✅ ChatGPT for Decision Support: Clients can ask AI to break down tasks:
✅ Trello AI for Task Breakdown: AI can auto-prioritize tasks and suggest adaptive workflows.
Example: A dyslexic entrepreneur who struggles with long-form writing can use Whimsical to brainstorm ideas visually and then feed those into ChatGPT to generate structured outlines.
“Give me three ways I can approach this problem.”
“What’s a low-energy version of this task I can do first?”
4. W – Will (or Way Forward): AI-Assisted Accountability & Action Plans
Traditional Challenge for ND Clients:
• Inconsistent motivation and executive dysfunction can lead to missed deadlines or forgotten action steps.
• Rigid accountability systems do not accommodate energy fluctuations.
• ND individuals may struggle with perceived failure and task inertia.
AI-Enhanced Solutions:
✅ Reclaim.ai or Sunsama for Adaptive Scheduling: AI dynamically reschedules tasks based on real work habits and energy levels.
✅ ChatGPT for Gentle Accountability: ND clients can ask AI to check in:
• “Help me reflect on what worked this week.”
• “What’s a small win I can focus on today?”
✅ Brite or Habitica for Gamified Task Completion: Turns progress into a game, helping ADHD brains engage through dopamine-driven motivation.
Example: Instead of rigid daily to-do lists, an ADHD client could use Reclaim.ai to create an energy-based work schedule where tasks auto-adjust based on real productivity trends.
Final Thoughts: A Neurodivergent-Friendly, AI-Supported GROW Model
By integrating AI tools into the GROW model, neurodivergent clients gain adaptive, personalized, and visually accessible coaching support that works with their brains, not against them.
1. G (Goal): AI helps set flexible, evolving goals based on interest and natural workflow.
2. R (Reality): AI supports data-driven self-awareness to help clients track habits, emotions, and energy.
3. O (Options): AI expands brainstorming beyond linear thinking, offering alternative strategies.
4. W (Will): AI-assisted accountability tools ensure progress without rigidity or burnout.
This approach ensures that ND clients are not forced into neurotypical productivity models but instead get tools that adapt to their strengths, needs, and lived experiences.
About the Author
Minal Kamlani is a trauma-informed ADHD recovery coach based in NYC. She works with neurodivergent adults in recovery from trauma, burnout, and survival-based coping. Her coaching blends structure and nervous system awareness to help clients reclaim function—without shame or perfectionism. Learn more at Higher Vibes Coaching.