Separating ASD from ADD/ADHD

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Simple question. How is it possible to separate issues with ADHD from ones with ASD, when it comes to attention etc?

I think you'd need to be able to identify the brain mechanisms/processes behind the overlapping symptoms in each group, and the etiology of those mechanisms/processes.....which I don't think anyone has done yet.

The studies I have come across focus on qualitative differences and classification -- basically they measure behaviors and performance on measures of attention, or scores on psychometric tests, rather than trying to look for and compare whatever physical things are responsible for those behaviors/performance levels/test scores.

It would not surprise me if some of the shared executive dysfunction problems are not just similar but identical -- caused by identical genetics/brain structures/aspects of brain functioning in people with ADHD and people with ASD. (It would also not surprise me if they are different, though, because the human brain is so complicated.)

Thank you I have many traits similar to ADD but wondered how could I separate what is HFA and ADD, could it be that the issues I have are just issues HFA but as you say there identical/ similar to ADD?

I'm struggling with this as well. I've been trying to read about it, but a lot of the supposed differences seem forced or inconsequential.

The more I read about disabilities, the more I become convinced that people know very little about them.

There is a lot that could be studied, but isn't, because it is a lot of hard work that nobody wants to do unless they get paid for it--and nobody wants to pay for it.

I don't know how to answer your question other than the way I already did.....mostly because I am not sure if you are asking about the brain-things/causes-of-issues or about diagnostic concepts but also because I am not an expert (and, if I was an expert: because I don't know what issues you have).

For me to think about whether or not executive dysfunction problems are the same/different in ADHD compared to Autism, I have to separate the actual neurobiological stuff from the diagnostic constructs.

Would the hyperfocus that is the hallmark of autistic special interests be a differentiating trait instead of poor attention across the board?

No, people with ADHD experience hyperfocus. (I don't know if it's exactly the same thing, though, or if people are using a single word describe 2 similar but slightly different things.)

Is hyperfocus really the hallmark of autistic special interests?

My understanding of "hyperfocus" is that it's an attentional state where you're so focused on a particular activity or task that you are aware of little/nothing else and unable to shift your attention..... a special interest involves more than just that attentional state, doesn't it?

I was diagnosed with severe ADHD before I was diagnosed with Autism (now I'm diagnosed with both), and my experience of hyperfocus suggests that it's a manifestation of my poor attention regulation across the board. I don't hyperfocus by choice, I don't have control over it. Also, I can hyperfocus on something that is not a special interest.

No, people with ADHD experience hyperfocus. (I don't know if it's exactly the same thing, though, or if people are using a single word describe 2 similar but slightly different things.)

Yes. This is a conundrum. I still haven't found any explanation about how ADHD hyperfocus is different from autistic hyperfocus. The length of time involved, perhaps? But I've seen it mentioned a lot of places that there are a lot of ADHD people in music and the performing arts, and to be successful at those things one has to be extremely persistent.

I don’t think you can separate them nor do I think you should at this point. Some of my symptoms are best explained by ADHD where others are best explained by ASD. This does not mean I have both or ether.

ASD and ADHD are both categories of similar behavioural characteristics. Neither one is based on scientific evidence, they are both based on behavioural observation which is very subjective. Until psychology and psychiatry move beyond such subjective criteria and start using diagnostic imaging or other physical evidence to determine actual structural differences in the brain, we won’t be able to make such distinctions. Over a hundred years ago Freud said something to the effect of biological scientific evidence one day laying waste all psychiatry’s theories. I’m still waiting.

i have only ADHD (NT/ADHD) and i have experienced hyperfocus. In my case i have to be extremely interested in that topic, and when that happens, i loose interest in everything else. Usually it last the ammount of time i need to read that book/article or watch that movie or finish the task im doing.

My hyperfocus goes way beyond that. I have that too, but I stick with a topic longer.

Does anyone else see this pattern as fairly obvious? I think there are far more similarities than differences when considering how these conditions manifest in a person's ability to regulate attention and sensory inputs.

ADD/ADHD & AS/ASD diagnoses should be replaced with a single diagnostic tool that measures the different elements of these so-called separate conditions. The diagnosis might be more properly be called Attention Sensory Control Spectrum. Also, "Disorder" doesn't belong in any of these descriptions as it fails to communicate that an individual with a 'disorder' is just cognitively different rather than defective.

Same with me: ADHD and then autism spectrum disorder. Either a topic completely absorbs me or it's boring.

At work, I have real problems with project management or managing multiple tasks - "executive function".

I agree with others in this thread. While I may be able to catagorise symptoms as either ADHD or ASD, I don't think it's helpful and see them as separate and unrelated.

My focus and attention is not very good. I have to force myself to hyperfocus if I'm doing something I enjoy, but otherwise I cannot hyperfocus, even if I am very interested. But usually anxiety makes my attention span even shorter, so if I am doing something that I enjoy, I feel less anxious, therefore can focus better, although my focus is not as intense as what some Aspies say here. I don't get so focused on something that I forget to go to the toilet or eat.

But on WP, I have often read Aspies having all or nearly all the traits from other conditions too, like Dyspraxia, ADHD, anxiety disorder, Bipolar, Schizophrenia and Epilepsy, but not actually being diagnosed with any of those disorders, or even recognised at having any of those. But, then again, traits and symptoms can overlap.

I am undiagnosed with ADHD but I know I have it. My shyness and anxiety have made people overlook it and just slap a diagnosis of AS on me instead. Apparently ADHD gets very overlooked by most people. People just see ADHD as a very hyperactive child, also socially outgoing. Then it turns into ''all kids have short attention span and are hyper, therefore ADHD does not exist''. Then it becomes ''ADHD traits are personality traits everyone can have, it's not a disorder''. But ADHD is more complex than that. ADHD is a disorder. Not all children with ADHD are bouncing off the walls or always upbeat and happy, or are naughty and troublesome, or are class clown. Some children with ADHD can be shy, and can have co-morbids like anxiety and depression. I know I have ADHD, but I also have social and general anxiety.

I probably have both, but I don't see the point in differentiating. Ideally, we could just treat the person without having to dissect comorbids.