How teachers can better understand and support girls with AuDHD

Transcript

 Being an AuDHD girl in school felt like being a walking paradox, and a hidden one at that. It felt impossible for me to fit in socially and to be able to get good grades. When I was trying to get things done and focus, my ADHD would make that hard. And then when I was trying to be fun and spontaneous with my friends, the rigidity from my autism would make that hard too.

And if you add being a young woman in society and the pressures associated with that to all of it, you end up feeling like a failure on all fronts all the time.

So the best thing that teachers can do to better understand girls with autism and ADHD is to learn about how things manifest differently in girls. So for example, we might not be bouncing off the walls, but we could be daydreaming or distracted even if we look like we're calm and focused.

The other thing that's really important is we're super hard on ourselves. So if you can celebrate the small wins with us, encourage us to ask for help, and if you can really change phrases like, "You have so much potential," into, "Hey, look how far you've come," that is gonna mean the world.

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