Can you be diagnosed ADHD and Asperger's at the same time?

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My son has some features of AS but also a lot of focus/hyperactivity issues. We are getting a second opinion to narrow his diagnosis down. The first doc wanted to treat him for ADHD first before considering AS, but I'd kinda like to do it the other way 'round. So we have an appt with a neuropsychologist to see what she thinks... but I was curious, can you have AS with a touch of ADHD, or ADHD with a side of AS? I'm such a dork. Without a doctor's diagnosis, this is exactly what he is like.

Yes. I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD when I was a child. While I haven't had an official diagnoses, after researching AS for over a year now, and becoming part of this community, I am 99% sure I have AS too.

There are many 'symptoms' which may be evident in varying strengths under the umbrellas of these 2 conditions.

The rarity is to find a pure aspie. Most everyone has other bits of the spectrum.

I frankly don't know whether I am an ADDer with Aspie traits, or an Aspie with ADD traits..I identified with ADDers for years, but I hadn't even heard of Aspergers....Aspergers symptoms explain ALOT about the way I was during childhood...But I am a very disorganised and jumbled up 31 year old now...

yes, you can have both of them at the same time,
i have both AD/HD and AS.

Yes, you can be diagnosed ADHD and Asperger's at the same time that's what happened to my brother

I'm diagnosed with ADD when I was in a preteen. Then AS came along.

I have both, was diagnosed with ADD long before I was diagnosed with Asperger's. I was diagnosed with the former in Kindergarten and with the later in 9th Grade.

As for being dxed with both, it depends on where you live and which diagnostician you happen to see. If you live in the US, the DSM specifically states that an ASD and an ADHD cannot be diagnosed together. However, as that stipulation will likely change with future editions of the DSM and seeing as how many auties prove the accuracy of that criterion false, they can certainly occur together. "Occurrence" and "diagnosis" are often two different things.

In the UK, Australia, and elsewhere in Europe, there is less strict adherence to that ICD stipulation and will more often see comorbid dxes of an ASD and an ADHD. Although there will still be diagnosticians who refused to dx both.

However, in real life, you will rarely find an autistic person who doesn't show at least some of the behavioral signs of ADHD-- some even fulfulling the full additional criteria for an ADHD.

If you are living in the US, you may find it difficult, if your son does actually fit BOTH an ASD and ADHD, to get him both diagnoses. However, if it comes to a matter of one or the other, getting your son the ASD diagnosis will likely be more beneficial for him as far as providing for accomodations in his school.

I myself as an adult have both an AS and ADHD dx. I'm in Canada.

Yes. I'm ADD and Asperger's Syndrome. I don't have ADHD, but I DO have ADD.

Okay. So if he were to be diagnosed, he might get extra services (already has IEP). But will that hold him back as an adult?