The Connection Between Autism and ADHD in Girls

In this episode of The Aspie World Podcast, Dan explores the powerful connection between autism and ADHD in girls — how these two conditions overlap, why they’re often missed, and what that means for diagnosis and daily life.

He explains how girls with both autism and ADHD (often called AuDHD) experience unique challenges with focus, emotional regulation, and masking. Dan also shares how understanding this connection leads to better support, self-awareness, and confidence.

What you’ll learn:
• How autism and ADHD overlap in girls and women
• Why many girls go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years
• Common traits of AuDHD and how they affect focus and behavior
• Practical strategies for managing both autism and ADHD
• Dan’s insights on identity, burnout, and balance

This episode brings clarity to a misunderstood topic and gives practical tools for supporting autistic and ADHD girls in school, work, and everyday life.

Resources mentioned:
🎓 Free Autistic Confidence Training: www.BulletproofBrain.org
🚀 Full Bulletproof Brain Program: www.BulletproofBrain.org/get

Keywords: autism and ADHD, AuDHD, girls with autism, autistic women, ADHD in girls, autism awareness, neurodivergent females, autism diagnosis, masking in girls, The Aspie World, Bulletproof Brain

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
While connection between autism and ADHD in girls.
Let's get into it right now guys, welcome back to the ASP
World War is going on. My name is Dan.
I have autism and ADHD and I make weekly videos all about
this stuff because I believe in helping change the world for the
better to create more potential for the autism community and
drive us forward into creating an amazing future.
So if you want to be part of this movement and, and join this

(00:22):
moment, then you can click the subscribe button by clicking
that whole notification bell down below and subscribe to this
channel so you don't miss the don't miss an upload or a video.
And you can follow me on all my social media platforms because I
do 4 videos a day on those platforms.
Guys, what's going on? So autism, ADHD, it's a crazy
combination. It's probably one of the most
interesting combinations. I have autism on ADHD and it and

(00:43):
it crosses over so much. Now girls are no exception to
this. A long time ago, the autism
diagnosis criteria was only available for men, not all
males, right? Which is really stupid.
But now since people have stopped being so ridiculous,
they realize females are also onthe opposite of the spectrum and
most females with autism will also have ADHD.
Now the interesting thing about this is that most females who

(01:06):
have an autism diagnosis would have probably had an ADHD
diagnosis first because ADHD is very similar to autism.
Now the crossover and connections between autism in
girls and ADHD in girls is the fact that you will have a high
attention for hyper focus. You want a hyper focus on
something. You'll find an interest in
something and you want to do that and you'll want to do that

(01:26):
a lot, a lot a lot. Like, you know, it could be like
read about ancient in Egypt and you'll obsess over it.
That's like a hyper focus on it.Or you want to write a book and
you'll hyper focus and get the book done.
But then you'll also have a difference of a topic changing.
So you might write the book as soon as the book's written,
you'll be like, right, I'm onto swimming.
They'll be an Olympic athlete swimming.
And then you'll go off somethingelse.
So the autism helps give you thehyper focus and the ability to

(01:48):
really focus and like just Nestle down and do that one
thing and work hard and graft hard.
And then you have the ADHD, which is basically saying like,
hey, switch tasks all the time. Stop being on one task.
It's just, it's just an absolutekind of nightmare when you're
trying to focus on one task, butyour mind's kind of saying, hey,
do this, do this, do this, do this.
Now this does happen all the time.
It is manageable. There is a massive connection
with it because I honestly believe that most people who

(02:10):
have autism will also have ADHD.I don't believe that these
things come disconnected, although the diagnostic criteria
may say differently. So somebody may just be
diagnosed at ADD, somebody may just be diagnosed with autism.
I think that they are fluid and I think that they come in
together. But that's just my personal
opinion, right? And I think that the connection
is so strong there between the two because of the, that, that

(02:31):
reason that they're quite fluid.Now, if you want to download my
free Autism Life Hack PDF book, you can do autismhack.net right
now and it's completely free. So do it right now.
Share this video if you think itwas interesting.
I'll see you guys in the next wonder piece.