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AS and ADHD

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daydreamer84
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02 Sep 2012, 2:09 pm

Raziel wrote:
InThisTogether wrote:
I don't have an explanation, but I can tell you that among my parent friends, there have been more than one who reported that their kid's presentation changed drastically when puberty started. Some get more or less social, some get more violent, but you are not alone in that you changed.


Oh, that's interessting, I didn't know that. 8O
In my case this makes it very difficult for psychiatrists who are not autism experts to recognice my autism correctly, eventhough that I was VERY typical as a child. My mom even thought that I could have some intellectual problem, until I was 12, because I was so autistic and had no social understanding what so ever. So you can diagnose it for 100% sure that I have autism, but today it's more tendencies I think and I'm in my social understanding even nearly "normal". But because I was so typical as a child and still have a lot of routines and overload and stuff and my AQ is 32, I got diagnosed with HFA.


You sound really similar to me. Around puberty (or just afterwards) I got WAY better. I still have a lot of autistic traits though but they mostly do have to do with my need for sameness/trouble with change and sensory overload/issues. In social situations I do get in trouble and accidentally offend a lot of people but I come off really normal at first (friendly and polite even)which is why sometimes they get really offended (they don't see me as a disabled person- just blunt/mean etc.).The thing is as a kid my presentation was also severe like you described except that I spoke early and my diagnosis was AS not HFA.....but I was described by all teachers since preschool as "in my own little world ", constantly stimmed, was just very very socially unaware in a very obvious way etc.



AlreadyAgain
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02 Sep 2012, 3:38 pm

outofplace wrote:
I too fall in this odd sort of middle ground between AS and ADHD. I have an official ADHD diagnosis from a neurologist in the mid 1980's, but to me it doesn't explain all of my issues. I do have the communication issues of AS, but do not go into the sensory overload meltdowns that many seem to experience. I do, however, chose my clothing carefully for comfort (cotton only) and practicality and care less than average about style and other social reasons for dressing a particular way. I can focus very intently on things I am interested in, but it is difficult to focus on things that do not catch my fancy. I am logical and practical and don't always get social communications but can get it some of the times. To some people I may seem normal, but that facade quickly falls when asked to interact in a new situation with people I am not used to. It takes me a fairly long time to learn new people and I can be quite withdrawn around them until I do so. I also have had lifelong executive functioning issues with keeping my house clean and motivating myself to start and finish tasks because I feel tired all the time.


This sounds a lot like me. Many people who meet me for a short time think I'm pretty normal. I always ace job interviews, for example. I've taught myself to make eye contact through many drama classes and with friends and I have the appearance of ease at the beginning. Anyone who gets to know me for any longer will find that I'm a lot more "odd" then I originally appear to be and I've been known to freeze up in situations. I do have meltdowns and shutdowns and some sensory overload issues, though not extreme.