Anyone with autism NOT have ADHD?
I meet traits of ADD and my psychologist said, that it occurs autism, but it would not get diagnosed separately.
But when I am into an SI I can absolutely hyperfocus. In fact I think I always hyperfocus, even if it is only in my thoughts or on my thoughts, which makes me unable to concentrate on other things. Or I hyperfocus on the pattern at the wall. This makes me unattentive for other things.
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I wish. Can't ever finish anything or barely get started. I need to drag myself away from this forum and write.
I once forgot to lock the front door then we went out for two hours. Everyone knows it was me.
I wish I had the long term memory like many with autism have. But I have to settle for constant re-vision. If I don't write down or plan a task I forget. I spiral through my interests quickly unless I make sure I stick with them.
I've got both forms of ADHD and ODD co-morbid. Sometimes my mouth just runs and I can be insulting without realising it.
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I'm pretty sure I've been diagnosed with AS and I haven't been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but as I compare the characteristics of the two I feel a lot more like ADHD than AS.
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MakaylaTheAspie
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I don't meet criteria for ADHD. In fact some of my traits are the opposite of ADHD, such as long attention span (which is a common autistic trait).
However, when I hear ADHD people describe how they think, especially Inattentive ADHD, I often identify with them a lot. In fact many ADHD people think more like me than many autistics do.
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Verdandi
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I solidly meet the criteria for inattentive type ADHD, and I just barely miss meeting the criteria for combined type. If I were diagnosed under the DSM-5, I would easily meet the criteria for combined type.
I notice people say "I can't have ADHD, I don't have an attention deficit." ADHD is called "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" but the name is a misnomer - it isn't actually an attention deficit. You could call it an intention deficit disorder or a motivation deficit disorder, or an executive dysfunction disorder, or even a self-regulation deficit disorder, but it's not characterized by a short attention span or a true attention deficit. Calling ADHD "attention deficit" is like saying autism is all about flapping hands.
For me, ADHD isn't about how long I can pay attention to something at all. I can pay attention to things for hours. It is about - to some extent - controlling how I direct my attention, intentions, motivations, etc. The problems it causes for me are related to impulsiveness (I often do and say things without thinking, purchase things I don't need without really thinking about whether I can afford it, etc.), organization, doing anything I find to be boring, shifting my attention from things I like. I can't plan very well - when I clean a room, my plan is fairly haphazard and tends to involve shifting from one task to the next without making a lot of headway, and without really knowing which part I should do first, or next. Usually, what motivates me is that I need to find something I lost, or I need to have a room clean by a certain day for various reasons, but even then I don't manage it very well. I lose things all the time. I don't do it as much, but I used to set things down and then spend hours trying to find them again. Nowadays, it's more like I don't have as much stuff to keep track of and therefore lose.
I remember occasions when I set out to clean up a room to find a specific thing - a pair of shoes for example. Once I found the shoes, the motivation to continue cleaning simply evaporated. I couldn't prioritize it above other things I wanted to do, which made it difficult to push forward with the cleaning task, even though I actually did want to finish.
It impacts my sense of time, as in I barely have one. I am really good at guessing what time it is, but I am terrible at knowing how much time has passed. To me, I may feel like only a few minutes have passed, but in reality hours have. Further, I don't really have a strong sense of "the future." I mostly have a sense of "now," with a somewhat faint sense of "tomorrow" followed by "next week to next month." Anything past that might as well be never as far as how I think about it.
I think some of this is autism and some of this is ADHD. And some is both. But mostly, ADHD is a lot of things that aren't best described as "attention deficit."
Verdandi
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i have AS but not ADD or ADHD. it does seem to be prevalent in the spectrum and some symptoms seem similar. when i got tested for AS i also got my attention span tested for some reason i couldn't understand. i have consentration issues but 7 years ago when i was tested i was told it didnt need medicating yet. the shrinks place tested people for 2 things(i dont know if they did them at the same time) aspergers and either ADD or ADHD. i just thought it rather queer at the time.
I notice people say "I can't have ADHD, I don't have an attention deficit." ADHD is called "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" but the name is a misnomer - it isn't actually an attention deficit. You could call it an intention deficit disorder or a motivation deficit disorder, or an executive dysfunction disorder, or even a self-regulation deficit disorder, but it's not characterized by a short attention span or a true attention deficit. Calling ADHD "attention deficit" is like saying autism is all about flapping hands.
For me, ADHD isn't about how long I can pay attention to something at all. I can pay attention to things for hours. It is about - to some extent - controlling how I direct my attention, intentions, motivations, etc. The problems it causes for me are related to impulsiveness (I often do and say things without thinking, purchase things I don't need without really thinking about whether I can afford it, etc.), organization, doing anything I find to be boring, shifting my attention from things I like. I can't plan very well - when I clean a room, my plan is fairly haphazard and tends to involve shifting from one task to the next without making a lot of headway, and without really knowing which part I should do first, or next. Usually, what motivates me is that I need to find something I lost, or I need to have a room clean by a certain day for various reasons, but even then I don't manage it very well. I lose things all the time. I don't do it as much, but I used to set things down and then spend hours trying to find them again. Nowadays, it's more like I don't have as much stuff to keep track of and therefore lose.
I remember occasions when I set out to clean up a room to find a specific thing - a pair of shoes for example. Once I found the shoes, the motivation to continue cleaning simply evaporated. I couldn't prioritize it above other things I wanted to do, which made it difficult to push forward with the cleaning task, even though I actually did want to finish.
It impacts my sense of time, as in I barely have one. I am really good at guessing what time it is, but I am terrible at knowing how much time has passed. To me, I may feel like only a few minutes have passed, but in reality hours have. Further, I don't really have a strong sense of "the future." I mostly have a sense of "now," with a somewhat faint sense of "tomorrow" followed by "next week to next month." Anything past that might as well be never as far as how I think about it.
I think some of this is autism and some of this is ADHD. And some is both. But mostly, ADHD is a lot of things that aren't best described as "attention deficit."
Thank you! I was going to try to clear up some misconceptions people seem to have about ADHD but It seem you have already done most of the work. So thanks again.
One thing to add just because it bugs me ADD ceased to exist in 1994! Now it's ADHD with 4 subtypes:
ADHD -- Inattentive type
Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes
Has difficulty sustaining attention
Does not appear to listen
Struggles to follow through on instructions
Has difficulty with organization
Avoids or dislikes requiring sustained mental effort
Often loses things necessary for tasks
Is easily distracted
Is forgetful in daily activities
ADHD -- Hyperactive/Impulsive type
Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
Has difficulty remaining seated
Runs about or climbs excessively (in adults may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness)
Has difficulty engaging in activities quietly
Talks excessively
Blurts out answers before question have been completed
Has difficulty waiting in turn taking situations
Interrupts or intrudes upon others
ADHD -- Combined type
defined by an individual meeting both sets of attention and hyperactive/impulsive criteria.
ADHD -- Not otherwise specified
defined by an individual who demonstrates some characteristics but an insufficient number of symptoms to reach a full diagnosis. These symptoms, however, disrupt everyday life.
Also the DSM 4 dose not include the ability for someone with ADHD to hyper-focus on there interest. but it is a common trait.
Blindspot149
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I have Asperger's and ADHD - I'm starting on Strattera this week, the first time I have been prescribed ADHD meds.
According to Dr. Russell Barkley 20% of those with ADHD are on the Autism spectrum and at least 20% of those on the Autism Spectrum have ADHD.
It's only in the last 6 months that I have really seen and understood how impairing ADHD has been to my life, FAR more than Aspegers!
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Verdandi
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According to Dr. Russell Barkley 20% of those with ADHD are on the Autism spectrum and at least 20% of those on the Autism Spectrum have ADHD.
It's only in the last 6 months that I have really seen and understood how impairing ADHD has been to my life, FAR more than Aspegers!
Barkley's numbers are a bit off, I think. Other research has found that 60-75% of people diagnosed on the autistic spectrum meet the criteria for ADHD.
I hadn't seen him say about how many people diagnosed with ADHD are autistic, though. That's interesting.
I've been over this particular ground so many times here. It's so weird to see people insisting on ADD instead of ADHD or saying they have both ADD and ADHD or some other variation. There's only ADHD, and ADD is a more vernacular usage referring to the same collection of disorders. Some people use ADD to mean ADHD-PI, which is fine, but it's not completely distinct/separate from the other diagnoses.
On another forum I've read, it's amazing how many people insist that since they're PI they have zero hyperactive/impulsive symptoms, and then they try to invent special kinds of inattentive restlessness and impulsiveness because they can't possibly have the hyperactive kind.
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