Aspergers and ADHD?

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Our son was diagnosed on the spectrum at 20mos of age, Aspergers at age 4 and today (age 6) we went to a new doctor who feels that ADHD in addition to the Asperger's diagnosis is the right fit for him. She said it is becomming increasingly common for the two to overlap. Anyone else have this double diagnosis?

Yes my son D was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 4yrs then when he reached 7yrs he was diagnosed with having ADHD also.
A double whammy

ADHD, remember, fall under the AS category for symptoms--this is nebulous.

One behaviorist wants to call it "cluster symptoms" rather than an ASD --adhd, ocd, anxiety GAD--you name it. Anything to skirt around that autism label.

I would be careful with tacking on additional labels. Why not just AS? If you review the symptoms, you're sure to find impulsivity and attention issues.

ADHD will the be the first thing to catch educator's eye because, honestly, it's been around longer and is easier to understand. Aspergers/pdd-nos etc are more complex and more difficult to pin down but very important to be understood properly. Many educators/professionals, I'm finding are not educated enough with ASD's or Aspergers and they either disregard the diagnosis or misinterpret it to their liking. I find myself educating/advocating to the point of tedium.

The more parents insist upon the true diagnosis of AS/PDD-NOS, the sooner educators will be forced to educate themselves through a mandated training or more than likely parent training.

My ds has major attention issues but they are mostly internal distractions rather than external. This is important to note. On the other hand, he does note many details around him that other kids can ignore especially if it's too quiet and there is a slight noise.

equinn

Our son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at age five, but he's been on ADHD medication for the last two or three years. It's not so much that he is hyperactive, as he has trouble paying attention. Ritalin worked for a few years, then Metadate, and now Strattera. He's still not really paying attention in class, but other things have improved (social skills, organizational skills).

Kris

The doctor appointment we had yesterday was actually to test him for auditory processing disorder. He often has no repsonse when being talked to or will have a delay in answering (hearing test was great). An OT that had been working with him thought he may have it. In the mountain of paperwork we had to fill out for the appointment, there are a series of questions that are supposed to target ADHD (it's staged for the doctors to know this, not the person filling out the forms). He is also on the go constantly, even when he's tired it seems, very impulsive, figits, ect... I can see the overlap of symptoms, but I just don't know.

adhd symptoms are very similiar to aspergers.....often, people are dxed with ADHD before they ever get an Aspergers dx. my daughter is currently dxed with ADHD, son has Aspergers, and hubby appears to have both

ADHD might seem similar to AS except for the fixation on objects/things/ideas from a young age. The internal distractions and imagery recall in Aspergers is unique too. ADHD kids are distracted by external stimuli and can't hone in on one thing. My son hones in and preseverates on one thing and keeps returning to it. He zones out and is inattentive, not because of the external stimuli, but due to his own ruminating. He recalls imagery/movies in his head and it holds his attention. Unfortunately, he misses important instructions/information and requires many verbal prompts. Still, he has been keeping up academically in grade 3.

equinn

J was originally diagnosed with adhd I didnt believe it only because he is so compliant he isnt terribly hyper in my view and it still didnt answer all the questions. He is now being assesed for an asd the new team of docs have told me that they dont believe he has adhd.
We recently started OT for fine and gross motor issues. He took one look at all the equipment and was bouncing off walls. The OT picked up on all J's sensory issues, and I believe she explained his behaviour (adhd type of stuff) as almost sensory overload the brain is going crazy by the new settings etc.

Our son is 6 yrs old, and has been diagnosed with Aspergers. His school are suggesting we have him assessed for ADHD as well. I have read about ADHD and do not think that he has got ADHD. All of his problems are related to Aspergers. I just don't think that the school understand Aspergers. All of his behaviour problems are due to anxiety, because of the environment he is in - lots of kids, small classroom, noise, etc. It doesn't take too much to take him over the edge. I can't see the point in giving him another label anyway.

He is active, but I wouldn't say hyper. He spent 3 hours playing Lego at the weekend and hardly moved, and he is capable of watching a whole film on TV for an hour or so.

His school have not been very good at handling him. I just can't help thinking that they think they are not the problem, he must have something else wrong with him as well.

Remember that it does not have to have the Hyperactive component, I believe the nomenclature has even changed to AD(H)D to reflect this.

On the interlinking of neurological conditions, they are all interlinked, a severely dyslexic and dyspraxic person can share many similarities with a child on the spectrum.

At a guess, I'd say all neurological conditions are heavily intertwined, and either mask or accentuate each other depending on where they lay.

I believe AS to be a proper diagnosis but PDD-NOS is too vague and meaningless to be much good.

Our son Z , now 11, was described as a "very complex child" and we were told that a lot is going on with him. His first dx was ADHD and there is no doubt about that. Current dx is ADHD/Asperger's, again we are sure this is accurate. as far as it goes. We apparently are not finished as two doctors have both mentioned the possibility of Tourette's Syndrome as well. As the doctor said , A "very complex child."

My son has both (and epilepsy) On ritalin, the ADHD disappears, and we're left with the autism.

hi my son has just been diagnosd with aspergers, but im sure he has adhd also as he is hyper beyond hyper and his behaviour is so bad. I dont know whether I want him to be labelled adhd aswel as alread his future seems so uncertain for him.

My son is 6 years old and has Asperger's with ADHD as well. I do note that his ADHD is definitely brought on by sensory overload. So in that respect, I think the ADHD alone is somewhat different than the combination. He also can sit still for a movie or something he is interested in (video games) but given the moment that we are in a social situation where he doesn't know how to handle the sensory overload and social cues...hyperactivity sets in and he loses it. To the uneducated...it looks like a behaviour problem. His school didn't see the Asperger's either. We switched schools and found a Special Ed teacher with experience with Aspergers. Boy are we lucky. I understand it is very hard to find someone in the education system with experience. With my son, sensory tools will bring his engine down and the ADHD will be under control.

my son was first dx wth ADHD and this past year with AS. Our dr said for a lot of kids it's a hand in hand dx, pretty common. We just started Strattera a couple of weeks ago to help him focus and so far we're not happy with the results (dr told us we have to wait a minimum of a month for results ). With the dual dx we have had issues with the school. Since he was dx with ADHD first they want to focus on that instead of his AS, when in fact we need to address both (schools will always try to take the easy way out!! !). Good luck to you!