Similarities between ADHD and Aspergers

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BlueElephantKing
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06 Dec 2012, 3:55 pm

My mom once told me that ADHD and Aspergers have similar traits, is that true? If so, then how so? I've been diagnosed with them since I was 7-years-old, so I'm interested to know.



Steven_Tyler77
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06 Dec 2012, 4:05 pm

Well, for starters, executive function is disturbed both in AS and in ADHD (but in ADHD it is more perturbed than in AS).

Aspies engage in stimming and ADHD people stim too. I think that some stims might be different, but some are common (e.g. pacing). Rocking or hand flapping are, however, done mostly by autistic people.

Also, aspies have special interests. And many ADHD people have topics of interest that they hyperfocus on. They don't get as obsessive as special interests are for us, but I think they're related.

When being too impulsive, ADHD people can get out of control, similar to having meltdowns like AS people.

Both ADHD and AS people have trouble shutting down their minds at night and have troubles with insomina.

Other than, it's hard to tell for me. I also have both ADHD and AS and sometimes it's hard for me to tell whether this or that is due to AS or to ADHD. And sometimes the symptoms mix up so strongly, that they turn into a Molotov Cocktail that just ravages everything around (my life included). Just imagine ADHD impulsiveness combined with aspie sensitivity and tendency to have meltdowns...


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BlueElephantKing
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06 Dec 2012, 4:14 pm

Thanks for the explanation, you cleared some things up for me. My mom also told me that people with ADHD sometimes get sensory overloads and have some social anxiety, is that also true?



btbnnyr
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06 Dec 2012, 4:16 pm

Based on the ADHD people I have met, they have typical social cognition, but can have social problems caused by ADHD. One person eggsplained it as lack of inhibition between brain and mouth causing her to say things that she knows that she shouldn't say only after she has said them. Autistic people tend to have many more social problems due to not having typical social cognition. So if I said something that eberryone knows that I shouldn't have said, I have no idear that I shouldn't have said it.

All the people with ADHD I know also have eggsecutive dysfunction as a huge issue number one problem affecting their eberryday lives. I don't have these problems, but some autistic people do, but I am not sure that the autistic EF issues are the same as the EF issues that ADHD people have. In studies, autistic people usually don't have the lack of inhibition problems that ADHD people have. I am not sure about broader EF issues. I don't have problems with internal motivation beyond the norm, and I can decide to do an activity and focus on it to its completion. The problem that I do have is with planning in general. I don't tend to plan ahead well. I can't write out a plan, because I get bogged down in details. I can't figure out where I'm going with my plan. I just have to start doing things, then it will become clear what I am doing. Some people with ADHD seem to be able to plan bester than I can, but find it harder to start doing or keep doing.



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06 Dec 2012, 5:07 pm

Hyperactivity
Sensitivity to sound
Impulsiveness
Poor social skills and socializing issues
Not reading non verbal cues, etc.
Problems remembering steps
Executive dysfunction issues
Over stimulation
Distraction by sounds and movements
Saying inappropriate things
Problems fitting in and problems with keeping friends and making them
Hyperfocus
Poor organization
Stimming (for ADHD, it's fidgeting)
Pacing
Getting an idea in their head and having to do it now. They have a hard time waiting for it.


These are the similarities I have noticed and how the symptoms can over lap. They can also have OCD too and sensory processing disorder and dyspraxia so it may make them look like they have an ASD.


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Verdandi
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06 Dec 2012, 8:09 pm

Also, many people with ADHD have BAP traits, although they are not strictly autistic. Also, the percentage of actually autistic people is higher in the ADHD population than the general population and the percentage of actually ADHD people is higher in the autistic population than the general population.

I spend a lot of time on an ADHD-related forum and many people who are probably not autistic report at least some autistic-like traits.



littlelily613
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07 Dec 2012, 1:55 pm

I guess a few traits might be similar, but overall they are quite different. I have autism without adhd, my niece has adhd without autism, and our symptoms are very different.


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Surfman
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08 Dec 2012, 2:50 am

BlueElephantKing wrote:
Thanks for the explanation, you cleared some things up for me. My mom also told me that people with ADHD sometimes get sensory overloads and have some social anxiety, is that also true?


I never used to have sensory issues, but sometimes nowadays.
Social anxiety is still there, but as you get older and sex hormones decrease, you generally become less anxious