Cognitive Load Minimization Protocol (LCM-P) in Parenting Neurodivergent Children:  Low-Friction Coexistence Strategies from Lived Experience

Parenting children with autistic traits often involves navigating high cognitive and sensory demands that conventional advice—emphasizing emotional attunement and verbal "language showers"—can exacerbate rather than alleviate. This paper introduces the **Cognitive Load Minimization Protocol (LCM-P)**, a low-friction, predictability-maximizing framework derived from lived experience in a neurodivergent family. LCM-P prioritizes environmental stability, informational purity, clear boundaries, and interest-based single-unit prompting ("flower → flower") over emotional intensity, systematically reducing unnecessary prediction error in the child's cognitive system. Drawing on predictive processing and active inference theories, the protocol reframes apparent "coldness" in neurodivergent parenting as optimal attunement to sequential processing architectures. Case examples illustrate rapid language acquisition, secure self-other differentiation (e.g., a 5-year-old's ontological question "Are Mama and I different people?"), and profound mutual understanding despite standardized IQ scores suggesting limitation. The approach challenges unitary IQ measures as ecologically invalid for neurodivergent individuals and proposes multidimensional, context-sensitive assessment. By sharing the same cognitive architecture as the child, the neurodivergent caregiver achieves translation-free resonance, demonstrating that true warmth lies not in expressive volume but in cognitive compatibility. LCM-P offers practical hope for reducing masking fatigue, alleviating parental guilt, and fostering secure, authentic development in neurodivergent children.