Can GAD be confused with Autism

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My daughter diagnosed with GAD recently, my daughter was always anxious even when she was a toddler, she was terrified of fire works, dog barking, hover any sudden noises. Strange environments to her always scared her and made her upset. She doesn't answer to her name you have to call her or stand in front of her to get her attention. She had grommets inserted when she was young it help a little but still have a problem getting her attention.

She has been dx with ADD, GAD but I feel she is on the autistic spectrum, her brother is dx with AS while I feel she does not meet all the criteria for this but she diffidently has a lot of autistic traits. I have posted about this before so I won't go into too much.

But just around the anxiety issues (GAD) if I am right seems to develop around environment issues but she was always so anxious as I said before even before her brother was born.

She is 15 now and still gets upset if plans change suddenly, something as simple as me changing what I will cook for dinner upsets her. She doesn't go out with her friends or socialize as often as you would expect for her age. If I am late to collect her she will text me and be very upset 1 minute pass the time and I get a text. Her organisation skills are poor and when I suggest to use a reminder or planner she refuses as she said it will upset her if it changes.

She also gets stressed over minor things,she is clumsy, has low muscle tone, sensory issues, she is very depended on me, she has difficult following instructions, directions for example if I ask her to go to the store and get 2 or 3 different items this is very difficult for her even if I explain what I need clearly. She also has what maybe be a tic not sure its around her mouth and she seems to be conscious about it because she covers her lip when she is talking. She has depth perception difficulties also. She also suffers from lots of ailments, headaches, ear infections, stomach aches, sore throat, tonsillitis, she is asthmatic, has allergies.

She is also very good at masking her difficulties, she has an average IQ but her recent state exams would suggest differently. Whilst she studied but I wouldn't say overly she did extremely well all her teacher were surprised with her results .

She never really was interested in toys or pretend play, I used to buy her the lasted fad but she had no interest in it. She is quiet child and manages herself better than her brother whom needs and demands my attention, she all so has her demands on me maybe not as vocal as her brother.

I am not sure but I as her mother I do feel she has a lot of autistic traits that cannot be ignored. I am sure that I have probably forgot to include other things the main one which I find with both my children is that they don't actually realise how good they are and always look at others. regardless of there difficulties they are amazing in what they accomplish but they fail to see it. Why?

Short answer: HECK, YES! I myself was diagnosed back in the day with agoraphobia (which would probably now be GAD, I had an awful therapist) and I'm sure now that my anxiety was caused largely by missing so many social cues and having so many sensory issues.

For one thing, my son also tests much above his abilities: he's able to pick the right answer out no matter how big the field is, but he can't do math problems almost at all, for instance. Second, think about how anxious you would be in a world where everything's scratchy, the volum is turned waaay up, the lights are direct-sunshine bright, and you only understand about 70% of the language.

I think it's important to note that AS sometimes presents very differently in girls. See if you can find a practice that deals with girls on the spectrum.

Thank you!