Amy Galpin, LPC-S

01/20/2026

**ADHD vs Autism vs AuDHD: Why the Overlap Changes Everything**

This image explains something many people spend years trying to understand about themselves. ADHD and autism are often talked about as separate conditions, with clear traits and clear boundaries. But real life is rarely that clean. Many people live in the overlap, where ADHD and autism exist together. That experience is commonly called AuDHD, and it comes with a set of challenges and contradictions that are often misunderstood, even by professionals.

This is not about choosing one label over another. It is about understanding how different brain patterns interact and why some people feel like no single explanation ever fully fit them.

**What ADHD Looks Like on Its Own**

ADHD is primarily about regulation. Attention, motivation, time, and executive function do not behave in predictable ways. People with ADHD are often impulsive, easily distracted, restless, and constantly juggling ideas. Time slips away. Organization feels unnatural. Starting tasks can be hard, even when the desire to do them is strong.

Many people with ADHD are talkative and socially engaging. They may think out loud, jump between topics, and feel energized by interaction. But this energy is not endless. Burnout often follows periods of high stimulation or pressure.

The key thing to understand is that ADHD is not a lack of effort. It is a difference in how the brain decides what gets attention and when.

**What Autism Looks Like on Its Own**

Autism is often about predictability, sensory processing, and social communication differences. Many autistic people need routine to feel safe and regulated. Sudden changes can feel overwhelming. Sensory input, such as noise, light, textures, or crowds, can be intense and exhausting.

Autistic people often have deep interests and strong emotional connections to specific topics. These interests bring comfort, focus, and meaning. At the same time, social interaction can be draining, especially when it involves unspoken rules, small talk, or constant interpretation of tone and body language.

Autism is not a lack of empathy or connection. It is a different way of experiencing and expressing both.

**Where ADHD and Autism Overlap**

The middle of this image is where many people finally recognize themselves. Strong emotions. Intense passions. Sensory overwhelm. Hyperfocus paired with forgetfulness. These traits do not belong exclusively to ADHD or autism. They live in the overlap.

This overlap is where life can feel especially confusing. You may hyperfocus deeply on something you love and forget basic needs at the same time. You may feel emotionally intense but struggle to explain those emotions clearly. You may crave connection but feel overwhelmed by it.

This is not inconsistency. It is the interaction of two neurodevelopmental patterns working at once.

**What Makes AuDHD Different**

AuDHD is not just having ADHD and autism at the same time. It is how they interact. ADHD may crave novelty while autism needs routine. ADHD may push toward impulsivity while autism seeks control and predictability. One part of the brain wants stimulation. Another part wants quiet.

This creates an internal push and pull. You may need structure to feel safe, then feel trapped by it. You may want people, then need long periods alone to recover. You may be highly capable in some areas and completely overwhelmed in others.

Living with AuDHD often means constantly adjusting, negotiating, and self-monitoring.

**Why AuDHD Is So Often Missed**

Many people with AuDHD are missed because one set of traits masks the other. Autism can hide ADHD chaos. ADHD can hide autistic rigidity. Anxiety is often blamed instead.

People may be told they are too social to be autistic, or too structured to have ADHD. They may receive partial explanations that never fully capture their experience. Over time, this leads to self-blame and confusion.

Understanding AuDHD often brings both relief and grief. Relief because things finally make sense. Grief because of the years spent believing the struggle was a personal failure.

**The Emotional Cost of Living in the Overlap**

Living in this overlap is exhausting. Not because you are weak, but because your nervous system is doing more work than most. Sensory regulation, emotional regulation, attention regulation, and social processing are all happening at once.

This often leads to burnout, shutdown, or withdrawal. Many people feel like they are constantly too much or not enough, depending on the situation. That feeling does not come from who you are. It comes from trying to exist in systems that were not designed for how your brain works.

**Why Understanding Matters More Than Labels**

Labels are not meant to limit people. They are meant to explain patterns. When people understand whether ADHD, autism, or AuDHD is at play, they can stop forcing themselves into strategies that never worked.

Support becomes more accurate. Expectations become kinder. Self-talk becomes less cruel.

Understanding does not remove challenges, but it removes shame.

**A Truth Worth Holding Onto**

If you see yourself in this overlap, know this. You are not broken. You are not inconsistent. You are not failing at life.

You are navigating a brain that needs both rest and activity, both connection and solitude, both structure and flexibility. That complexity is real.

And learning to understand it is not weakness. It is the beginning of living with yourself instead of fighting yourself.

01/19/2026

I’m autistic, and being asked to have a shower
can feel like you’ve just asked me to find world peace.
Because it’s not just a shower.
It’s the temperature change.
The noise.
The transition from dry to wet to dry again.
The interruption to whatever little stability
I was holding onto.

I’m autistic,
and going to the supermarket
is not “just popping out.”
It means preparing myself
mentally and emotionally.
I need to know the time.
I need to know how busy it will be.
I need to know where I’m going,
what I’m buying,
how long it will take.
And if it’s too busy, too loud, too bright,
I might have to leave halfway through
or come back another day
not because I don’t want food,
but because my body is in survival mode.

I’m autistic,
and I eat safe foods.
The same foods.
Over and over.
Because unfamiliar textures, smells, or tastes
can make my nervous system revolt.
It’s not stubbornness.
It’s self-preservation.

I’m autistic,
and phone calls feel overwhelming.
I rehearse what I’m going to say.
I panic about being misunderstood.
I put them off until they become heavier
than the call itself.

I’m autistic,
and plans changing at the last minute
can knock the wind out of me.
Even if the new plan is “better.”
My brain had already built a map,
and now I’m lost.

I’m autistic,
and small tasks can feel impossibly big.
Starting is the hardest part.
Finishing can take everything I have.
Not because I can’t do it, because the steps don’t line up neatly in my head.

I’m autistic,
and I have ADHD.
My brain lives in constant push–pull.
My ADHD wants novelty, stimulation, movement.
My autism needs routine, predictability, calm.
One part of me is shouting “GO,”
the other is begging for stillness.
And some days, I can’t tell which way is left
and which way is up.

I have time blindness.
I underestimate how long things take.
I forget things I care deeply about.
I lose track of my body’s needs until hunger or exhaustion hits like a wall.

I struggle with transitions,
from rest to action,
from home to outside,
from one thought to another.
I struggle with being perceived.
With eye contact.
With small talk that feels anything but small.

I mask.
I script.
I perform “fine”
when inside I’m managing noise, light, emotion, expectation all at once.

I’m autistic.
I have ADHD.
This is not a phase.
It’s not something I’ll grow out of.
It’s not something love or discipline will erase.

It’s not laziness.
It’s not defiance.
It’s not me being difficult on purpose.

It’s not personal.

It’s just me.
I may not Look anything, but I’m autistic and have ADHD.

Michaela

01/18/2026

When screen battles feel never-ending
You’re not imagining it — transitions are harder for a child’s brain than we often realise. Especially for neurodivergent young people, coming away from a screen isn’t a behaviour choice. It’s a nervous system shift.

When the dopamine drop hits
Screens create focus, comfort and predictable reward — so stopping suddenly can feel like falling off a cliff. Understanding the brain chemistry behind the struggle helps us respond with support, not frustration.

When it’s not defiance at all
So many meltdowns are simply a child overwhelmed by the jump from one state to another. Their brain isn’t misbehaving — it’s protecting them from overload.

When we can make transitions kinder
A few small changes — connection first, visual cues, sensory bridges, predictable rituals — can transform the experience for everyone at home or in the classroom.

When calm replaces conflict
The goal isn’t to remove screens. It’s to remove the stress around the transition. When we honour the brain, the battles ease.

When you want deeper support
If screens, meltdowns or dysregulation are daily challenges, my behaviour and emotional regulation toolkits walk you through scripts, routines and practical brain-based strategies. Link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

01/18/2026

So many parents are telling us they’re seeing more irritability, more dysregulation, and more aggressive outbursts in children right now. Screens often get the blame — but the research is far more nuanced.

Today’s visual breaks down what we actually know about screens, cortisol, and stress in children, and what healthy screen habits can look like in real life.

What’s one screen habit that helps your child feel more regulated?

01/18/2026

For many neurodivergent people, love isn’t performative. It’s steady. It’s quiet. It’s shown through consistency, shared space, repetition, and care that’s practical rather than dramatic. This isn’t a lesser version of affection. It’s what love looks like when it’s shaped by a different nervous system.

Love doesn’t need to look familiar to be real. It just needs to be recognized. 🌶️♥️

**Edit: For #5 “Spoon Sharing”, the “How To Love Back” column is supposed to say: “Accept help without guilt. Offer support when you can. Name the teamwork out loud.” The entry there now is a misprint. Thank you to those who noticed 🙏 **

01/18/2026

Autism and ADHD can look like total opposites…
but for many children, both are happening at the same time.

One part of the brain is craving predictability, sameness, and clear expectations.
Another part is seeking novelty, movement, stimulation, and quick rewards.

So the child can want routine… and resist it.
Need quiet… but also feel restless.
Crave control… and act impulsively.

That push-pull can feel confusing (and exhausting) for everyone.
But when you understand the “why”, behaviour starts making sense — and support becomes kinder, clearer, and so much more effective.

To SAVE, click on the image, tap the three dots, and choose Save.

01/17/2026

Interoception is your child’s “inside body radar” — the signals that tell them they’re getting hungry, tense, overwhelmed, panicky, or close to exploding.
When that radar is fuzzy, dysregulation can look like it comes out of nowhere… but their nervous system has often been climbing quietly for a while.

This visual shares practical ways to catch the tiny early signs (the self-soothing “hooks”) and support regulation before it hits 0–100.

I have linked my favourite Body Scan Youtube videos in the comments - which can also be used for the CALMING phase in Sensory Circuits sessions.

If you’d like extra support, my Managing Big Feelings Toolkit includes a sensory processing checklist and strategy guides to help you understand what your child’s behaviour is communicating.
Link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

FB SAVE (Facebook only): To SAVE, click on the image, tap the three dots, and choose Save.

01/14/2026

01/14/2026

The hippocampus isn’t just the brain’s memory and navigation center, it’s also central to emotional resilience and adaptability. When it shrinks, memory lapses aren’t the only consequence; our ability to handle stress, learn from experiences, and regulate emotions can also decline.

Recent research highlights a simple yet powerful intervention: walking. In one study, participants who engaged in regular walking over the course of a year showed a 2% increase in hippocampal volume, while those who only performed stretching exercises experienced continued shrinkage. Although 2% may sound modest, in the context of brain structure it’s significant, a measurable reversal of age-related atrophy.

This demonstrates that small, consistent lifestyle choices can physically reshape the brain. Regular walking doesn’t just improve cardiovascular health, it actively supports memory, emotional regulation, and cognitive flexibility. It’s a reminder that protecting and enhancing the brain doesn’t require high-tech interventions or complicated routines; sometimes, the most profound changes come from simple, repeatable actions.

In short, daily movement is more than exercise, it’s a tool to reconnect with your brain’s vitality, strengthen resilience, and safeguard long-term mental health.

01/11/2026

20 APPS PARENTS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT 📱

Parents, Constable Mark Herman’s Office encourages you to learn about the apps on your child’s phone. Parental involvement and education are key to keeping children safe online.

Ask questions. Set boundaries. Stay involved.
🕵️‍♀️ When was the last time you checked your child’s electronic activity?
Protect them—check today!

Follow us at Facebook.com/Precinct4, Instagram and download our mobile app “C4 NOW” to receive live feeds on crime, arrests, safety tips & traffic accidents in your area.

01/08/2026

**How ADHD Quietly Shapes the Way We Parent**

This image looks warm, gentle, and simple. A parent sitting on the floor, fully present, hands raised in play, eyes locked with their child’s excitement. At first glance, it feels like an ideal parenting moment. But for many parents with ADHD, this picture tells a much deeper story. It reflects not just love, but effort, adaptation, exhaustion, creativity, and constant self-awareness. ADHD does not disappear when someone becomes a parent. Instead, it shows up in subtle, complex, and often misunderstood ways.

This is not a story about being a “perfect” parent.
It is a story about being a real one.

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# # # Presence That Comes in Waves

One of the most misunderstood things about ADHD parenting is attention. Many parents with ADHD are incredibly present with their children, sometimes in ways that feel intense and deeply connected. When attention is locked in, it is powerful. Play becomes immersive. Conversations become animated. Moments feel rich and meaningful.

But that presence does not always arrive on command.

There are moments when the mind drifts, when background noise becomes overwhelming, or when internal thoughts pull attention away without warning. This can create guilt. Parents may worry that they are not consistently present, even though their love never wavers.

ADHD parenting is not about lack of care.
It is about fluctuating focus.

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# # # Big Energy, Big Emotions

Many parents with ADHD bring energy into the room. They play hard, laugh loudly, and engage creatively. They turn ordinary moments into games. They understand boredom deeply and try to protect their children from it.

At the same time, emotional regulation can be challenging. Overstimulation builds quickly. Noise, repetition, and constant demands can push the nervous system into overload.

This creates a confusing internal experience. Deep love and deep exhaustion can exist at the same time. Joy and frustration can sit side by side without canceling each other out.

That does not mean the parent is unstable.
It means they are human.

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# # # Structure Feels Necessary, but Hard to Maintain

Parents with ADHD often understand the importance of routines. They know structure helps children feel safe. They try to create systems for mornings, meals, and bedtime.

But consistency takes mental energy.

When days blur together, when sleep is interrupted, when unexpected changes happen, routines can slip. This can lead to harsh self-judgment. Parents may compare themselves to others and feel like they are failing at something that looks easy from the outside.

The truth is, structure is harder when your brain resists repetition.

Needing reminders does not mean you do not care.
It means your brain works differently.

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# # # Deep Empathy, Especially for Struggle

Many parents with ADHD have lived their own childhood feeling misunderstood, corrected, or labeled as “too much” or “not enough.” That history shapes how they parent.

They are often deeply empathetic. They notice emotional shifts. They listen closely. They validate feelings instead of dismissing them. They remember what it felt like to struggle silently.

This empathy becomes a strength. Children raised by ADHD parents often feel seen and understood emotionally, even when the household feels imperfect.

Love does not require perfection.
It requires attunement.

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# # # Forgetfulness and the Weight of Guilt

Forgetfulness is one of the hardest parts of ADHD parenting. Forgotten school forms. Missed appointments. Late replies. These moments can feel devastating, not because they define parenting ability, but because of how much parents care.

Each forgotten task can feel like proof of failure, even when it is not.

What many people do not see is the mental load ADHD parents carry just to keep track of daily responsibilities. The effort is there, even when the outcome is not.

Mistakes do not cancel love.
They coexist with it.

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# # # Creativity as a Parenting Tool

ADHD parents are often natural problem solvers. When traditional methods do not work, they improvise. They adjust. They turn chores into games. They find unconventional solutions.

This flexibility can be a gift. It teaches children that there is more than one way to do things. That curiosity matters. That creativity is valuable.

Parenting does not need to be rigid to be effective.
Sometimes, adaptability is the lesson.

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# # # Burnout Comes Faster, and Quieter

One of the less visible aspects of ADHD parenting is burnout. Constant stimulation, responsibility, and emotional labor can drain energy quickly. Parents may feel overwhelmed but struggle to articulate why.

They may push through exhaustion because they feel they should be able to handle it. Asking for help can feel like admitting failure.

But burnout is not weakness.
It is a signal.

Recognizing limits is part of responsible parenting, not a contradiction to it.

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# # # Letting Go of the Myth of “Normal”

ADHD parenting often looks different from the idealized versions shown online or in books. Homes may be messier. Schedules may be flexible. Parenting styles may be unconventional.

That does not mean children are lacking.

Children raised in these environments often learn resilience, empathy, creativity, and emotional honesty. They learn that adults are human too.

Healthy parenting is not about looking perfect.
It is about being responsive and caring.

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# # # Rewriting the Narrative

This image matters because it reframes ADHD in parenting. It shows connection, not failure. It highlights engagement, not deficit.

ADHD parents do not need to be fixed. They need to be supported, understood, and allowed to parent in ways that work for their brains.

When parents stop measuring themselves against unrealistic standards, they create space for compassion, both for themselves and their children.

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# # # A Final Reflection

If you are a parent with ADHD and this image resonates with you, know this. Your love is not diminished by your challenges. Your effort counts, even when it feels invisible. Your parenting does not need to look like anyone else’s to be valid.

You are not behind.
You are adapting.

And in that adaptation, your child is learning something powerful. That care can exist alongside imperfection, and that connection matters more than control.

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01/07/2026

when someone is drowning, that is not the time to teach them how to swim

this is not the time to yell at them for stepping in the water

because in that moment they don’t need lessons, they need help.

they need you to reach out your hand and help them
they need to know someone sees them
that someone cares enough to pull them out first

you can talk about how to stay afloat and swim another time

but in the middle of the storm? what they need most is compassion, not correction.

all they need is someone who refuses to let them sink. be that someone.