Why is ADHD here?I have it: Whats the connection with Aspies

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IsotropicManifold
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29 Jan 2008, 11:37 pm

My question is outlined in the title. i have add and I was wondering why its listed here as an issue for discussion, has it got some connection with autism?

I have always thought of myself as semi-autistic, but i have only ever been diagnosed with a motor planning disorder and ADD non specific. If i am autistic it has never been enough to get in my way in a major way.

I am pretty social, for instance, I ran for president at my university and almost won, but that was a fairly abstract political exercise for me. but on the other hand, i think I have some symptoms of autism, stimming for instance: the fact I habitually beat box, all day, everyday, and have done for at least 5 years. Is that stimming?

Once in class in high school (that was a fair time ago now) there was an exercise where people were asked to describe each other and i received the following anonymous comments mostly can attribute to ADD "You seem to be quite, well, vague but at the same time interested in many different things at once. A "sanguine intellect" It might be hard to follow for some or sometimes. A quite interesting personality and huge range for potential." AND "I think you are going to do something to change peoples thinking. I think you are genius. I think you have an amazing mind. But At times you have a hard time communicating ideas, though people are just not educated in what you are talking about in the first place. I think you are a very sensitive person. Sometimes I feel you live very 'ideally" and you often dismiss what others day and what you think is petty without thought."

Both of these, by 2 different anonymous people, really hit the nail on the head. And its funny how these which were written 4 years ago, have never changed much, I am still that same person. It also got me thinking to the fact that I never really can pay attention to people like that and give them that sort of feed back, although I have no problems socially, except a feeling of never really understanding others to the same degree they seem to understand me.

The people that I am closest too have accepted the fact that I am "vague" and talk about lots of stuff with seeming irrelevance. I know that the last part is ADD, but whats the vagueness and the inability to figure people out like they know me? Also, Why is ADD on an aspergers forum, whats the connection?



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30 Jan 2008, 12:05 am

It seems to me it's just a part of a number of traits that find their cause in a range of neurological diversity that hasn't been studied enough.
I'm not sure why are a number of these traits grouped under the Asperger label, what's the theory behind this and what statistics can back this up in light of such theory. I think that if it were an actual answer to this I'd have heard of it by now.

I began lurking this forum mostly after noticing my strong ADD traits and having taken interest in a broader range of traits which may or may not apply to myself.
What I found is that there are a lot of people with all sorts of traits' combinations for which I don't think the Asperger label accounts efficently or effectively anymore.



Shelby
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30 Jan 2008, 12:28 am

I'm no expert, but I've worked with special needs kids and it seems ADD and autism are not so far from each other. Frankly, I think ADD does not exist and is one of those made up initial disorders that were popular in the 90's (OCD, ODD etc). I think ADD is just a form of Aspergers which presents itself as hyperactivity. Apparently depending on the specialist, some kids are diagnosed ADD and others Aspergers with the exact same symptoms. I have a friend who was diagnosed ADD in her 20s, where I would say she acts Aspergers. Constant obsessive, repetive conversation. Very social but in an often inappropriate way.

I think one day with more study they may include ADD in the autism spectrum. They certainly seem to be closely related, if not the same thing.



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30 Jan 2008, 1:08 am

i thought like aspies it was in the higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum?

its defiantly related id say.



IsotropicManifold
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30 Jan 2008, 1:12 am

thanks for replies.

i just took a couple of those online aspergers tests, and apparently I am likely autistic. I think I might go see a shrink (i was already going to go about adult ADD to help with university when i go back, now I will bring up this)

Hell, what does this mean? Does this mean I can learn stuff like Kim Peek? (hehe, that would be SW33T)

Image

I got a 34 on the Baron-Cohen test aswell.



IsotropicManifold
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30 Jan 2008, 1:13 am

ive never been "hyperactive" the official diagnoses i got was "ADD Non Spercific"



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30 Jan 2008, 1:16 am

I was just reading an article in which autistic traits were being evaluated in diagnosed ADHD children, and they mentioned that ADHD was supposed to be at the extreme mild end of the "proposed spectrum". (The results did indicate that mild autistic traits occurred fairly often in ADHD children). Oddly, I just haven't been able to find any real summary of this idea yet. I think a genetic correlate would be a good start too.


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IsotropicManifold
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30 Jan 2008, 2:59 am

thats interesting, is the article online? if its in a subscribed journal i could probably get it through my university account.



TLPG
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30 Jan 2008, 4:31 am

My understanding is that the link between ADHD and Aspergers is the hyperactivity. Of course this isn't a compulsory factor - but it is quite common in Aspies.



2ukenkerl
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30 Jan 2008, 6:28 am

about 30% of AD?D are thought to be autistic! Nearly all of the 30% would likely be HFA or AS because LFA would likely be diagnosed as autism.



IsotropicManifold
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30 Jan 2008, 9:29 am

2ukenkerl wrote:
about 30% of AD?D are thought to be autistic! Nearly all of the 30% would likely be HFA or AS because LFA would likely be diagnosed as autism.


really? is there any research to back this up? articles journals etc?



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30 Jan 2008, 10:31 am

ADD and Asperger's share a lot of traits. My parents as well as my doctor originaly suspected that i had ADD, but I don't think anyone of them knew what Asperger's was.


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30 Jan 2008, 1:58 pm

IsotropicManifold wrote:
thats interesting, is the article online? if its in a subscribed journal i could probably get it through my university account.

Found thru google scholar:
Clark et al., "Autistic Symptoms in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". European Child and Adolescent Psychology (1999)

If anyone knows of any articles dealing with this subject I would be interested.


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30 Jan 2008, 2:09 pm

I always think of the autism spectrum as a continuum with mild ADD on one end and severely LFA on the other. In between are all the other things: ADD-NOS, ADHD, Tourette's, Asperger's, OCD, etc. I think that this idea explains why so many with Asperger's get mis dx'd or even never dx'd. Usually it seems that they have symptoms that lean pretty heavily toward one of these other things and possibly symptoms from 2 or 3 other things, but not enough to actually be just one thing. So, the dx goes into a mis dx or not at all.

This helps me to explain to parents sometimes, why their kid who seems pretty functioning still has all these other inappropriate things but the doctor isn't looking for an ASD necessarily.

Does that make sense?


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30 Jan 2008, 3:15 pm

Shelby wrote:
I'm no expert, but I've worked with special needs kids and it seems ADD and autism are not so far from each other. Frankly, I think ADD does not exist and is one of those made up initial disorders that were popular in the 90's (OCD, ODD etc). I think ADD is just a form of Aspergers which presents itself as hyperactivity. Apparently depending on the specialist, some kids are diagnosed ADD and others Aspergers with the exact same symptoms. I have a friend who was diagnosed ADD in her 20s, where I would say she acts Aspergers. Constant obsessive, repetive conversation. Very social but in an often inappropriate way.

I think one day with more study they may include ADD in the autism spectrum. They certainly seem to be closely related, if not the same thing.


I was originally Dx-ed with ADD when I was 6, and wasn't Dx-ed with AS until I was 16.


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emoboxergeek
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30 Jan 2008, 5:03 pm

Sometimes the two conditions are similar. My best mate was tested for AS but it turned out that he was ADHD. The two do have something in common. In Luke Jacksons family (writer of freaks geeks and asperger syndrome) there are 5 boys and 3 girls. All the girls are NT, there are 4 AS boys and the only boy that isn't AS is ADHD. The 2 conditions might be genetically similar.