Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

What's the difference between high functioning autism and adhd? Just social skills?

I read that both have attention difficulties.

But I also think my bro might have high functioning aspergers. He's really smart, but socially awkward.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Gosh. How much time you got? I'm not sure if I have the usual brain capacity to explain it like I usually do. There's an Asperger/autism section where the answer might be.

I'll at least give it a try.

Autism/AS

Repetitive behaviour: needing routines, eating same meals, wearing same clothes, fixating on same interest (in intensity).

Fear of change.

Not just social issues but a lack of understanding about social rules, inability to read body language, make eye contact, have affective empathy, and have a normal conversation about a wide range of subjects; they are focused on very few things which have such an intensity of focus they are known as special interests - they are pretty much the autistic person's world.

Attention to detail.

Rigid thought patterns. Seeing thing black and white etc. Unable to put themselves in another's person shoes. Interpreting words at face value.

Poor short term memory but excellent long term memory, unless they have ADHD as well.

ADHD

Don't like routine. Or struggle to make when when they need one to stay more organised.

They have interests but are short lived. They can jump from one interest to the next many times in the same day or over a couple of weeks.

See more of the big picture than the details.

Social skills may be better than those with autism.

Autistic's live in an inward world. Some people with ADHD think they are capable of having some connection with another person.


Both have motor skills issues and sensory processing issues, though in autism sensory issues are usually moderate to severe.

Also, Asperger's is high functioning autism. You can have mild AS, but it depends on the impairment to get diagnosed. Social issues can get you a dx but if you can get by then it will be hard to get diagnosed.
I think at this far in my treatment my level of social skills are more advanced than many with Aspergers. My real issue is sensory processing and fear of change. And intense interests and maybe not showing that I care enough about people.


Note: most of what I said gives you a general idea. It's not been completely fact tested, and some people with autism/AS/ADHD may not relate to it. I'm sorry, but contrary to what people might think here I'm not Superman (that's just a little quote - I don't actually think that).

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Hmm... That interesting. He doesn't really fit ADHD, but I'm not so sure he fits AS either.

Here's what he does:
* He doesn't like hugging or initiating affectionate contact. He'll awkwardly hug, if you initiate it, but he won't do it of his own accord.
* He'll ramble about one thing for FOREVER, even if I am clearly ignoring him or doing something else. I'll try to change the subject and he'll stick with it with stubborn persistence. He does this with other people too.
* He's shy, but not shy... He'll talk about something with anyone if it interests him, but other times if he's not interested he won't talk about anything.
* He has persistent interests, but I wouldn't call them obsessions.
* He does awkward joke or sarcasm delivery.
* He has bad organizational skills.
* He will say he'll do something or start something, and then not.
* He has all the adhd problems, but no problems with inattention or impulsiveness. Like poor organization, messy rooms, procrastination.
* He can never keep up with me and my husband's teasing banter with him. He doesn't take it to heart, but he has a hard time figuring out how to give it back.
* He had a bunch of emotional problems from grade school to middle school. Temper, then in middle school he'd come home with melt downs.

My mom thought maybe he had adhd, but he just doesn't have the inattention problems. He can focus on tasks he finds boring if he sees a purpose to it.

He also said that caffeine kills his attention span so he can't drink it.

Also, he has very few friends but that could be because he's introverted.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Anyway, I'm asking because he was one of the top kids in his class, but he lacks the networking skills to get connections. He also doesn't do well in job interviews.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

You don't need every symptom of AS to have AS. He sounds like a dead ringer (I said that right, right?) for AS to me.

People with autism do need to see purpose with something to do them. And they need to want to break away from their interest.

The intensity of the focus differs. I can turn mine on and off. I do better if I know a lot about the subject being talked about, and I'll just jump right in if it's about my special interests.

Here, I'll list them:

Science fiction: Staragate SG1, Star Trek, Star Wars, Ender's Game, books by Isaac Asimov.

The Air Force.

Physics, astronomy; heliophysics (physics of the sun - I have about five solar apps, some every expensive professional ones).

Drawing/painting, reading and writing. Drawing feels like such a natural talent I hardly put it down as an interest. I do quite a lot of reading and writing which relates to most of my interests.

There's also neuroscience and psychology, video game development, studies on digital technology and critics on it, and future technology.

I think my ADHD influences my many varied interests. Trying to get back into politics too.

I can learn a lot about my special interests quickly and retain a lot of that information. I focus on very specific parts in those interests though. In astronomy I focus mainy on one constellation or planet. In the air force I focus on one model of plane, or just the RAAF (Australian Air Force). In science fiction I focus on one show/movie/book at a time. I'm into comic books too but haven't read a wide range of titles. Same with literature. I haven't read the classics, or every classic sci-fi book, and it's hard to catch up to people. I'd rather not. I still haven't through my first Dickens book or Sherlock Holmes. I haven't seen all the popular classic sci-fi movies too.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Thanks! :)

His interests are engineering and math based things (which make it really hard for gift shopping). I don't think he focuses on specific parts of it though.

I don't think he'd be open to the idea, last time he brought up AS a while ago, he was talking about how all the kids at his college were claiming to have it even though they were never diagnosed. I teased him and asked him if he had it, and he more or less told me you didn't need a disorder to have bad social skills.

I guess the real question is, can you do anything about it? I'm not going to try and suggest a label for him if he can't do anything about it anyway.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Yeah, most people who deny the disorder or think it's overdiagnosed are underdiagnosed.

At the latest book sale on my street I got addicted to the maths section. I bought a book called Geek Logik which is about making equations to solve every day problems. I haven't read it yet. I need to be on meds to understand it.

If he hasn't got many impairments then I'd just leave it.

Yeah. You can have bad social skills and then you can have such bad social skills it causes isolation, teasing/bullying and relationship issues. Thing is people can be successful in business and still have horrible social skills. I mean look at Steve Jobs. I suppose I work so damn hard getting some average social skills and it annoys me how people don't want to change, even if they appear rude or tactless to other people.

But I suppose my brother and sister are kind of the same. And my mother. Ok, a lot of people are like that.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Thank you FS! :)


Can someone make this post/topic a sticky. I think this concise info will be beneficial for a lot people.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

From my experience there is just not that much difference.

Almost all of the things you've listed have been brought up on this forum from those with adhd on a routine basis.

Many with adhd lack insight into social rules, inability to read body language, and even making eye contact is difficult. Rigid thought patterns, back and white thinking, interpreting words at face value and poor short term memory are all very much part of adhd if reading these forums is anything to go by.


Just as not all those with aspergers have a narrowly focused interest, not all those with adhd have multiple interests. I have interests that I hyperfocus on for years, some over twenty years and like those with aspergers I have become something of an expert in my interest which is obscure and no one else seems to find it quite as fascinating as me.

My nephew is diagnosed with aspergers, I'm diagnosed adhd and while there are a few differences between us, (my hyperactivity) the differences just aren't that great.

Some people with autism live in an inward world, most with aspergers don't. Just ask anyone with severe day dreaming how much they live in their own world and you can note similarities. The fog seems to be just as much a coping mechanism as hand flapping.

I think a lot of people with adhd have sensory issues that are moderate to severe as well. Shutdown and overload are a common theme here as well.

I've met a lot of people with autism, those with so called low functionality and those with milder forms. All of them were able to make a connection with others. Few with Aspergers would say they can't make social connection, and that may be due more to temperament than autism proper.

I do see some differences between an autism diagnosis of aspergers and ADHD, but not the exaggerated degree that popular mythologies would suggest. It would not surprise me if adhd is on the spectrum and not just as a milder form because adhd can be severely debilitating just as aspergers can be only mildly debilitating.


Justbsome observations from both my private and professional life. Others mileage may vary.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

I have trouble figuring out whether ADHD or Autism describes me best.

My youngest granddaughter was clearly Autistic when she was younger,

but we are seeing more and more behavior that looks very ADHD.

I have suspected that they are both part of the same spectrum but

at this point scientists and researchers see them as different disorders.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Fracturedstory, this may be the quote of the year:

Yeah, most people who deny the disorder or think it's overdiagnosed are underdiagnosed. ...

I'm gonna use that ... and claim it as my own!

Tone

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

Yeah, I have my own obscure interests. I'm something of an expert on rabbits (but that's because I own a couple), and I hyper focused on that until I knew everything about them. I also narrow in on photography and design, reading tutorials and learning new things about them.

I could probably talk all day about design, rabbits, batman, and art in general. But I think the difference is, I would probably go off on tangents instead of sticking straight to the subject, and if someone changed the subject I would probably flow with them instead of going back to what I was originally talking about.

From what I understand it's the reasoning behind why people do certain symptoms. I get upset when people disrupt my schedule, but that's because I have such a hard time keeping track of everything, when they do it, it throws off all my time management and planning. I think with autistic people they get upset about a disruption in schedule because of different reasons.

Really, if you take out the reasoning behind it, they're both very similar.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

The thing is I don't know that much about other people's interests here. When I started I couldn't stop banging on about mine. And that's common in the autism forums. We just can't help but talk about our interests and think of them as the only important things on this Earth, which is one reason I predict my nephew may have AS.

The lack of connection is common too. Maybe not to all, which I did mention.

I'm good at noticing details and and separating each symptom to go with their corresponding disorders. While the symptoms are the same they manifest differently. You may as well tell me a migraine and seizure are hard to separate. They are not.

You say you work with autistics, so they are receiving treatment, yes? The people I know hardly receive any treatment and have to work it all out for themselves.

I'm sceptical that people can have autism and no intense interests and repetitive behaviour, and poor social issues. In that case it's mild or PDD.

And lastly, hyperfocus is not the same as special interests. Hyperfocus is an ADHD word, much like spectrum is an autism word.

You must not understand what I mean by 'connection.' It's not about being able to have a conversation but 'feel' anything from that person, like the love you feel for a cat or dog. Yes, there's loyalty but it's just missing something. What makes people want to be around each other? I need pills to have that urge.

Eh. I be done here if people try and convince me otherwise. I have autism, I have friends with autism. I know how it is. How many of you feel your skin crawling when there's a slight change to your routine? How many of you want to run and hide when people mention something that can change your whole routine? How many of you actually flap your ends when you get stressed out and excited?

I know ADHD can be severe but autism can be severe in another way. Just a few symptoms that may be repeated in ADHD can be more pronounced in a certain way. Focus issues aren't that bad in autism but are in ADHD.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

I have done some research on Autism and ADHD but would not call myself an expert, as it is only recently i have really had interest in the area. I came to the conclusion that they seem to be 2 ends of a spectrum:

- routine obsession vs inability to stick to a routine
- small number of intense interests vs wide range of interests
- focus on details vs disregard for details

i could elaborate more but i think those make enough of the point.

Obviously both of these lead to similar social difficulties etc. but i do not see how someone can be diagnosed with both as they seem to be fundamentally mutually exclusive, i would even go as far as to say they lie either side of NT making these 2 conditions more disparate than they are from the NT. Would be interested to hear other peoples take on this.

Re: Autism vs ADHD? What's the difference?
 

*bump* so i take it my understanding is correct?