Asperger's with ADHD/ADD

Post Reply New Topic

I'm trying to get my head around what it's like for someone to have both AS and ADHD/ADD.

I've always been very extreme in either that I'll do something straight away or I'll spend hours pondering over it, there's no in between for me.

I found it hard to concentrate in class but if there is something I'm really into, I will manage to stay focussed.

I don't tend to jump over things because up until recently I was very overweight so I wouldn't have been able to (ill health stops me at the moment). Plus my co-ordination is awful.

Can anyone enlighten me what it's like to have both AS and ADHD/ADD?

I seem to have ADD with mild AS.

I don't know how to explain it because I only know what it is like to be me.
I do find I have to push myself to do things and stay focused. Also I write everything down on a piece of paper so I know where I am at.

I lot of people have both, so they seem to be related.

Not diagnosed with AD(H)D because here people use the ICD which excludes the possibility of AS and AD(H)D. They just say 'well, that AD(H)D symptoms are a normal part of autism'.

But yes, I'm very sure I have AD(H)D. Mild to moderate hyperactivity, as the autism seems to be a kind of opposite extreme in some respects and thus weakens the AD(H)D as much as the AD(H)D can neutralizes some parts of my autism.

All in all, that can make my behaviour appear very bizarre.

i've been diagnosed with adhd and am seeing someone about AS. it's kind of hard to explain but i can sort of see the two disorders separately in some weird way. i don't really know how to explain what it's like to have the two, other than that i have both of them. so look at a kid with adhd, that's me, then look at a kid with AS, that's me too. i'll have my hyperactive moments, i have difficulty paying attention in class, i fidget, but i also stim, i have some difficulties socially, etc.

From my experience, though I've never been diagnosed with either yet (but I've had different mental health pros somewhat confirm I have traits of both), I would say to have AS + ADD = much of the Aspie traits such as poor social skills, intense narrow-minded interests, sensory issues, etc. Its the intense narrow interests brought on by AS that are at odds with the aloofness of ADD. Multiple times I have been told that I couldn't have ADD because I can stay focused on a subject of interest, practice guitar for hours, etc. But in conversation people get half an ear from me at best, I can't stay organized very long at all, am frequently late, forget where I put things/lose things, and mundane tasks that I have no interests in are very painful to bring myself to do (all classic traits of ADD).

How do you feel about sitting still and not moving while doing homework or work? How do you feel about the concept of having to sit still for an hour? Or how about your ability to stay on topic?

As someone else mentioned, really once you get the AS dx, you shouldn't get the ADD dx too (unless you're like me and got it first), because it's what's considered a comorbidity. It just goes along with AS anyway. It's like having some of the traits, but not all.

Depending on where one lives, I think the AD(H)D label should be available for those with an ASD too. If it is full-blown AD(H)D or is some symptoms clearly cause a person AD(H)D-ish issues.

The autism professionals I met often underestimate the impact full-blown AD(H)D and AS can have in an adult. They do not consider looking into AD(H)D before considering the cause of an issue to be spectrum-related.

Children are, in my area, more frequently diagnosed with both ADHD and AS(D), as their hyperactivity is often the first thing even autism professional notice.

Well, what I mean is that my AD(H)D issues get discarded by the prospect of me being on the spectrum. People just do not take it seriously when I say that I have trouble to walk through traffic without running into a car.

Not all autistic people show display diagnosable AD(H)D too. So I really think it should be diagnosed if the AD(H)D criteria apply and additionally impair a person.

I dearly hope the note in the ICD about AD(H)D not occurring in any PDD will be removed. Or that more professionals just disregard it and diagnose both anyway.

I too have read that ADHD is part of an ASD, but I'm interning at a school for kids with autism, and it is clear that some kids have ADHD and some don't. Plenty of the nonverbal, low-functioning kids I work with have no problem sitting and attending to a task (doesn't mean they can do it, but they try). While it's clear that my one high-functioning kid *clearly* has ADHD, and that plus his OCD are his major obstacles when completing schoolwork/tabletop activities.

I have NT and AS traits.
Sometimes I have ADHD and sometimes not.
Sometimes I go OCD and sometimes not.

It's a rollercoaster ride.

This has just recently been brought to my attention by psychiatrist--feels that ADHD is problem with attending to tasks at school. I disagree. According to psych:

NVLD--accounts for social impairment

OCD--for particularities and perfectionist traits and some phobic behavior

anxiety--for fears

He has him all figured out--and it only took three hours. Sure.

Problem is the adhd does not account for perseverating, stereotypical behaviors and diminishes the impact that internal distractions have on my son. It is not the external distractors that cause my son's inability to focus--it is more internal which is related to the autism and his visual recall of media. If it were merely ADHD then this would not be the case. Also, he is not hyperactive without purpose in mind. He has excess energy but it's always directed at a particular thing.

"Low functioning" Aspie with pretty extreme ADD here.

aspie with add here.

i tend to get obsessed with things im doing but i also quickly get bored and want to do something else and ill keep switching round with different obsessions, needles to say i do alot of pacing up and down

i used to be really hyper when i was a kid but nowadays im quite chilled out although i still get random bursts of energy sometimes, which always manages to freak people out. like i can be really quiet and stereotypically aspie like one second then bouncing around the next. quite a weird combination when i think about it, although girls do seem to think its cute

its a really bad combi when it comes to education and work though, i find work really tiring as i have to try hard to concentrate on what im doing all the time as well as concentrating on trying to interact with people i work with and as for education, ive been on 4 curses since school, never completed one, which is a shame because i know im smart enough i found most of the work its self very easy, but college its self just turns out to be more stress than its worth.

i walked into a moving car once, it was from the side but it still hurt like hell o.O luckily it didn't run over my foot though, just hurt my knee.

ihave asperger and add traids which give me meltdowns (which often leads to restaining since i live in group home)..but ya besides that i love my life im enjoying my obessions and life goes on feel free to pm if u have guestions

I was recently diagnosed with both AS and ADHD. As others have noted, that's not technically allowed, but the guy who diagnosed me got around it by putting in the report that I have AS, but some of the supports provided to me should be equivelent to those given to persons with ADHD. And so.

Basically I go through 2-3 weeks of being very careful and obsessive-compulsive, then I get fidgety and am impulsive for another week or two, then I do something I regret and go back to being careful, etc, etc, etc.

Whee.

I am diagnosed with both AS and ADD I have great trouble staying focused on something unless it is something that interests me. I also space out a lot and forget what I am doing. I have a hyperactive mind in which there are endless thoughts bouncing around randomly and that cause my mind to go on irrelevant tangents. The AS and ADD combo makes multi-tasking absolute torture.