ADHD on the spectrum.

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Is there any serious of talk of placing ADHD on the ASD anytime soon? I know that they're probably replacing AS with HFA and I thought that maybe because they don't make changes to the DSM too often they would make these changes at the same time. Is it going to be another 20 years?

I don't see ADHD being placed on the spectrum anytime soon because it's a different disorder- it doesn't have the hallmark triad of impairments that ASDs do. It's a different set of issues, though sometimes can present similarly or have similar results, such as social problems.

Could you describe Asperger's as like ADHD with social deficits or is that incomplete?

IMO they are very similar but that's also because a lot of people with AS have ADHD. It's not just that AS is a more severe form of ADHD because other Aspies don't have many ADHD symptoms at all and are not diagnosed with it.

That would concur with my personal experience with ADHD...similar end results in some ways, and it seems to me that I end up with a lot of Aspies in my circle of friends thanks to that, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily the same thing. I mean, social understanding comes very easily to me, but impulse control is another matter. Compound that with giftedness (and being interested in things that apparently bore the general public, and disinterested in or forgetful about things that most people care about), and that similar end result comes about. I would say that for me I have a disconnect between theory and practice...I get the theory very nicely and I'm told I write characters in a very convincing manner, but IRL I'm not the best at actually DOING it.

When I was assessed as having Asperger's, the AS specialist who assessed me said that my having AS ruled out ADD..and all my ADD symptoms were actually a result of the AS. Prior to my "discovery" of the autistic spectrum which is common among many adults who were around before Aspergers was really heard of or before there was any popular notion of autism beyond Kanner's, I identified heavily with the ADDers...and I had never even heard of ADD until I was a senior in High School, and I was class of 1994...All through school, it was acknowledged that I had developmental difficulties, but there were no labels placed on me. I was placed in "gifted"classes...and was part of a small group of students who was sorta diverted from the "main stream" of the school population via academic tournaments...and I was also given special leeway. Regular special ed mostly consisted of kids with Downs Syndrome...I sorta had special ed..but it was more like "special treatment"....since I had difficulties but was obviously not mentally ret*d. Anyway..i have frequently suspected that a lot of the folks on my ADD boards are actually more likely to be on the spectrum...and that ummmm...gah.....a lot of ADDers don't really have ADD...and that maybe the whole continuum between AS and ADD should be examined more closely.

I had never even heard of Asperger's until I was in my late 20's/early 30's..There was some talk of autism when I was little, but I was too young at the time and don't remember the exact context...My grandfather had many AS symptoms and was very OCD, and his younger brother was more severe to the point where he was a complete recluse for most of his life. He was the main "red flag waver" in terms of acknowledging that I had developmental difficulties and he was also an avid reader and very prone to giving my parents stacks of highlighted reading material, often pertaining to subjects such as child development etc....and he was a little obsessed with monitoring me when I was young...I do remember my mom saying that I was "Not Autistic...I was Artistic"...but I dont' remember where the term Autistic might have come up as it pertained to me, but it might have been through my grandfather...

ADHD is a disorder marked by difficulty with concentration/organization and impulse control (in other words, weak executive function or tiredness, the former being the obvious explanation and the latter being the most profitable for big pharma).

Executive dysfunction is a symptom of ASDs, and so common that it wouldn't mean anything to have a separate diagnosis of ADHD. It would be like having Down's Syndrome and also being dx'd as "Slanty Eyes Syndrome." No. Doesn't work. But it's still a valid diagnosis in and of itself, so long as it's not a comorbid.

That's why schizophrenia rules out a diagnosis of Asperger's-- because almost every symptom of Asperger's would be present anyway. (Incidentally, that goes both ways. An Aspie who otherwise fits the diagnostic criteria could probably benefit from mutual exchange with people with both diagnoses, but would either have to say Asperger's was a misdiagnosis or settle for always being The Aspie Over There Who's Psychotic *Everyone Edges Away*.)

I support the DSM ruling out ADHD in cases of Asperger's because, essentially, a huge number of Aspies have ADHD-like symptoms to some degree as part (but not all) of their Asperger's.