High Functioning Autism (Aspergers) with ADHD diagnosis

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Has anyone any experience with an ASD child/adult who was diagnosed with both High Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome and also ADHD?

Well, I myself am diagnosed with both Asperger's and ADD. I suppose that's the most direct experience one can get. Why do you ask?

I'm wondering if you were ever given any type of behavioral therapy or medications for either Asperger Syndrome or ADHD and how they worked out.

Yes, my son takes a stimulant medication for his ADHD. He reports he can focus much better on it. We can see it take effect and wear off by the change in his hyperactivity and emotional reactivity.

Does your son also have Autism Spectrum Disorder?

I have never done any behavioral therapy, but I have been on some medications to help with my anxiety and inattention. One notable one is Ritalin which helped with inattention but it also made me less interested in my obsessions and special interests which caused me to get rather depressed, so I stopped using it. I would have to ask about the names of the other stuff I have tried, I know there is one that helped a lot with anxiety and I don't remember any ill effects. Right now I'm not on any medication, although my mom has become very interested in vegetarianism and stuff of that sort so she has me on some vitamins and herbs that are supposed to help with anxiety (and it's nothing pseudo-scientific). It could just be the placebo effect or random chance but yesterday I managed to not have a sensory overload in an environment that caused a very bad one last Wednesday (I only started on that yesterday, and that sensory overload was why I started).

mikeman7918: My relative had a very intensive behavioral program when he was younger than four. He had low to moderate functioning autism with no ability to converse, just random utterances of Disney characters, his special interest. He was oppositional and had constant meltdowns.

He had a lot of perseverations - flicking on and off the lights, opening and shutting his eyes, opening and closing the door, opening and shutting drawers, taking games and scattering the pieces all over his house, destroying things, etc.

The weird thing was that he could read when he was 2 and could operate VCRs and computers.

The behavioral program was intense - about 50 hours per week. But he learned to talk and even respond to people. It took a long time though to calm down those behaviors.

He had a horrible experience in school, especially with social situations. He breezed through his classes and had the highest SAT scores in the high school. But he had a really tough time with college, because it required skills that were hard for him.

He still has problems with planning, organizing, scheduling, etc. He can focus on his special interests, but has a hard time with other things. He has good STEM skills, but can't get a minimum wage job. When he was put on stimulants, he reacted so badly that he had to be hospitalized. That was also true about anti-anxiety drugs. He's totally off meds now.

I feel bad for him but until he can accept his disability and learn how to accommodate his difficulties, he won't get anywhere.

That's probably more than you wanted to know.

He is clearly more severely autistic then I am, but I do share some of his struggles. In school I have no trouble learning everything, in fact my long term memory is better then average. I have trouble with focus though, it's all I can do to focus on occasional tests let alone all those other things. I am hoping that college will be better because it's more about learning and less about little assignments, but I am a bit worried about keeping organized. I am also of course terrible at being social.

It was actually only a few months ago that I fully accepted my disabilities and sort of came out of denial. It has been a good experience for me even though it has been hard at times, and it has definitely helped that autism has been my obsession for about two months. I hope your relative can accept it himself soon.

Yes, he was diagnosed with Aspergers at age 5. Before he was dx, it was really confusing because he didn't quite fit the descriptions of either disorder. Turns out he qualifies for both, plus dyslexia.

We tried a therapist who specializes in autism for about 3 months, but she wasn't doing anything helpful so we cancelled it. My son was in a special school for kids with Aspergers for 2.5 years, so the behavioral interventions were built into the program. Now he's in 4th grade in a similar special day class at a public school, being maintstreamed 50%. Next year he may transition to fully mainstreamed. At home he's always been mostly fine as long as he wasn't too stressed at school.

Last edited by zette on 11 May 2016, 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thank you. It is hard for someone to resolve issues when they are in denial about their disability. He so wants to be normal, have a job, live independently and have a relationship. He becomes depressed and suicidal when things don't go his way. Yet he is unable to take the steps to make things happen for himself. I try to help him. I guess I need to work with him to create a strategy for acheiving his goals because none of them come automatically, especially to people on the spectrum.

I was reading Attention magazine which is for people with ADHD. People with ADHD have so many similarities with people on the Autism Spectrum, yet they are also different.

zette: It is good that your son responds well to stimulants. My relative was hospitalized for both stimulants and anti-anxiety drugs. They made him much worse.

Tony Attwood (a top expert on Aspergers) estimates that 75% of people with AS also have ADHD.

I know a tiny bit about Executive Function problems. However, where does line cross when one becomes ADHD and Autistic? When I was reading Attention magazine, I saw that many issues are the same between ADHD and High Functioning autism. But I guess the preoccupation with a special interest, stimming, language delay, etc. might mean more intensive brain involvement in autism.

There are still enough differences for it to make sense to seperate them. Executive functioning problems are mostly about having a bad working memory, having trouble switching tasks, emotional regulation, and having a harder time planning ahead properly. Inattention and hyperactivity are not a part of autism, and are quite different from the executive functioning problems of autism. There are also of course a lot of impairments and problems present in autism but not ADD/ADHD that you mentioned as well as problems socializing (my 17 year old brother with ADHD has a ton of friends), getting upset when routines are broken, sensory processing problems, language processing problems, and stuff like that.

Also serious problems with organization and losing things. Hanging clothes on the floor and tossing important papers every which way, then not finding them when they are needed.

Little focus when it is not a preferred activity, but intense hyper activity on special interest.

Also the stimming. And blowing up - going from zero to sixty within 30 seconds. Easily irritated.

Good sense of humor though. Very advanced. And able to comprehend and display sarcasm.

My son is 9. Dx with ASD at 2 1/2, just last month Dx with ADHD combined presentation. Its very interesting, the pyschologist who has know him for years completely disagrees with the ADHD. In fact she said when she was in school you werent allowed to diagnose both together but in the lastest DSM you can. Its something I am keen to learn more about. Our pyschiatrist also disagreed with the ADHD so refused to put him on stimulants. Instead we are trying Zoloft as it seems a universal feeling that it is his anxiety thats causing most of his current challenges.