Is Asperger's and ADHD more alike than we think?

Post Reply New Topic

I was talking with my mom about a week ago who has ADHD. She says she sometimes has sensory problems, like she's not comfortable with certain things kind of like I am, like about specific textures and sounds. She even does something SIMILAR to stimming but much less noticable. She doesn't have any type of autism at all, just ADHD. Even before, I was suspicious that's why people with ADHD are actually hyper. Maybe it's like when I have sensory overloads and get this huge amount of energy that I usually get rid of by pacing around for a long time in a place far away from everyone. I'm not really sure because I haven't researched this, but I'm pretty sure that ADHD is caused by sensory problems (or is associated with them) but the people with it deal with them differently than people with Autism/Asperger's. Is this actually proven?

Look at the board description for a moment.

Sensory sensitivities are fairly common with ADHD, although hyperactivity itself is likely due to deficits in self-regulation.

My hyperactivity isn't due to sensory overload at all. I can go a bit hyper but it's way different than a regular day of hyper activeness. I either am too hyperactive or feel like I have barely any energy to focus. It's not like feeling tired, it's like feeling like you haven't got the energy to do something.

The best way to describe is a lack of self-regulation. When I'm hyper it's more than running about but having many thoughts, wanting to do many things at once but not having the focus or losing focus very early because of a need to be constantly stimulated. And then does turn into running about.

There are similarities in ADHD and autism like there are in most frontal lobe disorders. Bipolar is also common in both ADHD and autism too.

I'm not sure how you see the world, as in visually see things. When I go outside I see everything at once and turn my head this way and that and never look at anything for longer than a few seconds. On medication I've noticed I can look at each object individually and don't get distracted as much, and can actually keep my head looking forward. I do get sensory overload too which eases when on medication.

Similar symptoms but for different reasons. It's hard to break them all up and put one symptom with ADHD one with autism and when you're combined, gosh that gets even harder. I have combined ADHD.

I have been wondering too how much Asperger's and ADHD have in common. I keep seeing these statements in articles that something like 60-70% of people with Asperger's are also diagnosed with ADHD.

This article suggests that hyperactivity may be a coping mechanism for "sleepy" brain waves:

http://www.qeeg.com/adhd.html

In my experience this is true. I get hyper as a way of waking myself up. Physical movement helps me to be more alert and focused. When I am busy doing an activity I know how to do, where I don't have to think about every little thing I'm doing, I get faster and faster at it until I look like I'm in a movie playing on fast forward. The more active I am, the easier it is to concentrate. But if I stop moving around, the mental fog immediately comes back.

Sensory overload doesn't make me hyper. It can make me very agitated or even put me into a rage, but it's just a quick burst of energy, and once that's over I crash hard.

I have had sensory overload make me hyper. It also made me forget how to do English.

Neither my daughter nor I have diagnoses (although my daughter is waiting to be assessed for ASD). Even now, when I've read so much about both conditions, I'm still really confused. She ticks all the boxes for ADHD, but her symptoms are mild, so I doubt she'll get a diagnosis of this. Just over a year ago, I started to notice Aspergers-like traits, which I don't see mentioned on the ADHD checklist. That's when she started on the assessment process. I also tick all the boxes for ADHD (the inattentive type, although I was hyperactive when I was young), with Aspergers traits. But, my issues as a child were much more concealed than hers. We both have sensory issues, which may account for the inattentiveness (or maybe not). I definitely have more questions than answers.

I have as and my bandmate has ADHD. He is very similar to me.

One person I seem to have many things in common with (cognitively speaking) has severe ADHD, but is not autistic.

I mean certain kinds of thinking styles, communication styles. We're not anywhere near identical, and I have never been as hyperactive as she is, but I think there's a certain similarity from things she's said.

Do people with ADHD...

1. Act hyper out of a search for sensory stimulation because they are hyposensetive?
OR
2. Act hyper out of difficulties in regulating their behavior? It's just "how they are"?

That's what I'm wondering.

Plus they might come across as soically clumsy due to being so impulsive and head strong, something not everyone with AS does, there's an overlap though.

People with ADHD act hyper because of impaired psychomotor control. It's not strictly a behavioral thing, even though it impacts behavior. It's a lack of self-regulation in governing one's movements.

Are you sure? because option 1 feels right, but I'll take your word for it.

I've been studying the basis of ADHD for a year and a half now, and everything I've read about it and sensory processing disorder makes the two concepts rather distinct. ADHD by itself is a disorder that affects executive functions. Sensory processing disorder is common with ADHD, but the kind of hyperactivity it causes tends to fluctuate based on sensory overload.

Having dealt with sensory seeking behaviors due to hyposensitivity (this happened to me after I had a mild concussion - I do not recommend this) and due to hypersensitivity, the two are very different, and the latter caused me a lot more restlessness and general "hyperness." I ended up engaged in mild SIBs to work off the excess energy. Hyposensitivity mostly made me stim a lot.

At the center or heart of ADHD, is executive functioning issues. There is nothing more to this than that. The cognition of this is pretty screwed up, and this causes a delay in developing an NT theory of mind, but this property of ToM is in tact, and is developed. The behavior, though, causes misses in real time theory of mind processing through out time.

The essence of Aspergers is not here in executive dysfunctioning, but executive functioning issues are near the top shelf in most cases-- a safe bet here from what is published out there and posted here at WP.

Looking at this from similar executive functioning states would be a common property between the two in many respects. It can give the appearance of similar behaviors.

Note what our daughter wrote me a few years ago:

Last edited by Mdyar on 04 Jan 2012, 12:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm sure she's sure. 'Cause I sure am sure.