Different behavior characteristics?

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Hello everyone

I have a question for you guys. Is there any difference in behavior/personality of teens with both ADHD and AS and teens with just ADHD or just AS?

A teen with just ADD or ADHD or whatever you want to call it will still be able to handle/pick-up on/"do" the normal social things. Their hang-ups will come out at specified times when they interact with whatever is that they obsess over. But generally speaking, there won't be any major social impediment unless they encounter their hang-up.

With AS, it doesn't matter if ADHD is present or not, the end result is mostly the same: social failure. If ADHD is present in someone with AS, then it's seen as just another notch on their belt of being a "weirdo" by their peers.

ADHD without AS:

They will have trouble paying attention, and get distracted easily. Depending on the subtype of ADHD, they may or may not have trouble sitting still and inhibiting impulses. They won't have difficulty interpreting nonverbal cues, when they notice them. They also won't insist on routine, in fact most ADHD-only kids hate too much routine. They're unlikely to have intense interests, though it does happen. Stimming, in my experience, is not uncommon in ADHD-only kids, especially hyperactive kids, but it tends to be less frequent and intense than in AS kids. Most ADHD kids have sensory processing issues as well, most often sensation seeking or underresponsiveness.

Academically, they will most likely have trouble completing and handing assignments, and difficulty paying attention in class. Their test scores, within the same subject and kind of test, will probably vary widely depending on how well they were paying attention. Many ADHD kids also do better on tests than assignments because they require less organizational skills.

If they're inattentive only, they will probably be relatively well-behaved. But if they have impulsivity and hyperactivity, this may result in misbehavior that gets them in trouble with authority figures.

Socially, many ADHD-only kids get along with other kids. When they do have social issues, it tends to be either because they missed important cues due to inattentiveness, or they reacted impulsively despite knowing they shouldn't do that. They'll usually look fairly normal in interaction, apart from occasionally being more active or not seeming to listen. It's only over time that their social issues, if present, become evident.

AS without ADHD:
They won't be hyperactive or impulsive. They either won't have any attention problems, or more often they will have trouble shifting attention, and a tendency to pay attention to one thing for too long a time. They will have trouble understanding social situations, though the severity of this varies. They will also have insistance on routine, intense interests, and/or stimming, and most likely more than one of these traits. Most AS kids have sensory issues, most often hyperresponsiveness, especially to touch or sound.

Academically, many of these kids do quite well. Some will have skill scatter affecting their academic abilities, with some being better at verbal things and some better at nonverbal things. They can also have issues relating to misunderstanding instructions, when things are phrased non-literally. Since not all executive dysfunction results in ADHD-style behavior, some AS-only kids may show similar issues with completing and handing in assignments. Most do a lot better with tasks that involve their intense interest.

Some are too well-behaved, rigidly following the rules and possibly even trying to enforce them on others. When they do misbehave, it is sometimes because they misunderstand the rules because of literalism. Other times, it's because they got overloaded, or became anxious due to a change in routine. In some cases, they'll be tricked into misbehavior by other kids.

Socially, they have a lot of difficulties. With the right support and understanding, AS kids can be accepted by their peers, but most are not. There's a tendency for social rejection to be worse for the more mildly-affected AS kids, because others are more likely to mistake their behavior for intentional. If they're more severely affected, they will come across as obviously eccentric even in brief interactions, due to characteristics such as avoiding eye contact, monotone voice and lack of facial expression. More mildly affected kids will only be noticed as having social issues over time.

AS plus ADHD kids will have both sets of issues described here.

I grew up with a boy with ADHD throughout school, and he definately didn't have AS with it but he did have some social issues. He did make friends better than I ever did, but he had trouble keeping them. He was better at keeping friends when he was younger (at primary school), but sometimes he was not on the same wavelength on other kids and would end up disagreeing with them and causing agrovation among the crowd, then end up being excluded from the group. He had quite a high self-esteem and so didn't let himself get too upset by it, he found it quite easy to get himself involved with a different group of kids and play in their games.
I remember when he was about 5 he walked around covering his ears a lot, but grew out of that by about age 6 or 7.

He does a little better socially than I do now as an adult, but although he is not that shy, he still doesn't always want to go out and socialise; he'd rather stay at home on his computer or watch TV.