Both Autism and ADHD? How?

[Granta_Omega]

I am working with a kid at a middle school who has both Autism and ADHD. I've seen some of the signs of ADHD, but the only sign I've really seen of autism is that he likes to argue a lot and gets angry when others don't agree with him. The resource teacher says he doesn't really see signs of autism in him and thinks it might have been misdiagnosed. I never met anyone who had both before. Is that really even possible or likely?

 

[King_Oni]

Well... I'm diagnosed with both... (though there's a bit of debate whether I'm that hyperactive; but I can be... and it's not a pretty sight, lol). So, it's a big of an ADD or ADHD thing.. take your pick

In fact, my therapist told me that because of my AD(H)D traits, I might've mitigated a few AS traits in the process. I'm fairly outgoing and at times extroverted, which most likely finds its roots in my ADHD-ish traits and not in my AS traits.

 

[May Black]

I am working with a kid at a middle school who has both Autism and ADHD. I've seen some of the signs of ADHD, but the only sign I've really seen of autism is that he likes to argue a lot and gets angry when others don't agree with him. The resource teacher says he doesn't really see signs of autism in him and thinks it might have been misdiagnosed. I never met anyone who had both before. Is that really even possible or likely?

We had a pupil like that. If he's not medicating for ADHD, you'll see it much more because it's kind of outgoing as opposed to his autism, which is withdrawn, if that makes any sense to you. It's really problematic for the kid in question, it's like having two sides that need completely opposite things and are constantly fighting each other. The louder side generally wins, making the kid feel even more down.

On a bad day the pupil in question could get quite violent, beat us, and bite. We had real troubles getting them to start medicating, but once that was done, the pupil turned into a much calmer and sweeter person and progressed significantly.

 

[icesyckel]

I think the ICD-10 rules out aspergers if you have ADHD, but I don't remember. Many mental health professionals, however, feel it is possible to have ADHD as a co-morbidity.

However, this:

the only sign I've really seen of autism is that he likes to argue a lot and gets angry when others don't agree with him

...is not necessarily a sign of autism in and of itself. It could merely be a behavioral issue. Not every kid who becomes angry over disagreements is autistic.

 

[King_Oni]

I think the ICD-10 rules out aspergers if you have ADHD, but I don't remember. Many mental health professionals, however, feel it is possible to have ADHD as a co-morbidity.

But that would at least raise the question on whether ADHD is neurological and why ADHD can be counter-acted with medication for a big part and ASD can't be treated as a whole (though just some symptoms like anxiety can)

 

[Kari Suttle]

I remember growing up there was a guy i went to school with who was diagnosed as having Aspergers Syndrome that acted like you described - argumentative and angry when people didn't agree with him. He had an obsession with war history, at least when i went to school with him in highschool. I had history class with him. He got bullied and got into fights a lot cause of it. I don't know anything about how he was diagnosed or anything else about him though.

 

[AsheSkyler]

The top three comorbids I see are AD(H)D, dyspraxia, and dyslexia. It seems normal to me if he's got ADHD too. If he's really smart and enjoys being active, maybe he's just not being challenged enough intellectually so he defaults to hopping around and entertaining himself in another way?

 

[Laughingowl1975]

I have both ADHD and Aspergers, what that means is (to my mind) the ADHD stops the aspie side from fully showing, thus you clearly meet the criteria for Aspergers but you seem less hyperfocused and more extrovert when young. The two often seem to go hand in hand and I would not be surprised if many aspies had a degree of ADHD.

 

[indigogrl1979]

Im both ADD & Aspergers. Plus the OCD.... GAD... DEPRESSION.

 

[Zjezdzaj]

I have both Asperger's and ADD plus some other stuff.
According to my doctor they kind of go hand in hand there's no clear cut line between them, it's not black and white, only a grey spectrum. My doctor said sometimes it's not possible to see what's ADD and what's Aspergers, similar symptoms occur in both conditions, they melt into each other.

A few months back I conducted a social experiment of sorts where I posted a list of female asperger traits to a facebook group for women with ADHD/ADD to see how many recognized themselves. Almost 100% of women with ADD responded that they saw themselves in the list ("This is me.", "Perfect fit" and answers like that) . Now this was "social experiment" conducted on facebook, it holds no scientific merit what-so-ever but it was interesting to see the turn out...

I also know quite a few people with the diagnosis Asperger's and ADHD/ADD.

 

[Ste11aeres]

...is not necessarily a sign of autism in and of itself. It could merely be a behavioral issue. Not every kid who becomes angry over disagreements is autistic.

And not everyone who is autistic becomes angry over disagreements.