what is differences of aspergers & adhd
Asperger's diagnostic criteria:
http://www.aspergers.com/aspcrit.htm
ADHD diagnostic criteria:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/symptom.htm
At five years old, my son met almost all of the criteria for Aspergers, but
he was tested and the doctor said no. He said at that age there was an
80% overlap of symptoms, and often they can't say for sure which they
have, or it could be both. He said that when he pushed my son very hard
to interact, he would show normal reactions and emotions. A psychologist
planning on treating him would never have done that (shaking him gently
and shouting at close range to get his attention) and would have assumed
that he was autistic. (This had happened; hence the testing.) The tester
saw me do this and was amazed when my son responded calmly, so he
tried it himself and they established a pretty good rapport. He said that
his ADHD is "very extreme". He needs the same social skills training, and
many ASD interventions have been beneficial for him, so I guess the
diagnosis didn't really make that much difference. It would have, though,
if I was to try and get services from the school system or the state.
Sorry, I didn't exactly answer your question, but I must go kill him as he
has been playing the same three notes on his keyboard for ten minutes.
Repetitive behavior, another Aspergers thing.
Be careful with the Aspergers diagnosis. As a friend of mine said who happens to be a social worker, it is the diagnosis of the day.
The main symptom of Aspergers is lack of social skills. These people can not read social cues.
When I started my journey to find out what was wrong with my son, the first therapist suggested Aspergers. Well, after much research, my son did have many of the secondary symptoms, anxiety, executive functioning dissorders, ODD BUT - my son functions fine socially. In fact, I think he is a little too social
He has lots of friends. Anyway - she told us to get a second opinion and after many opinions, no one thinks Aspergers but they do feel he has some form of ADD.
And to make things even more confusing, a person can have Aspergers and ADD. I almost became an expert from all the reading and research I did. However, the main thing is the social aspect. If your gut tells you that your child doesn't have Aspergers but maybe something else, go with that feeling.
I am confident my son has some form of ADD but I know it's not Aspergers. However, if you read Tony Atwoods book, Aspegers can go from mild to severe.
A friend of mine told me that her 20 year old cousin was just diagnosed with Aspergers. She told me he never could function in social situations and to this day just doesn't know how to act socially.
Be careful and the best thing to do is get many opinions and get a neuropsych test.
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