Diane Kennedy, author of the The ADHD Autism Connection, makes a strong case for the distinct similarities between the symptoms of ADHD and autism. While her journey began as an effort to help her sons, it became a mission to increase awareness about the commonalities between these two disorders. Having the uncommon experience of having three textbook cases of ADHD in her home, she found that her third son had been misdiagnosed as having ADHD with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) at three years old. Doctors consider ODD as intentional and willful. However, the only solution offered for ADHD was medication that proved ineffective.
She soon observed his delayed social and motor skills, plus extreme sensitivity to sensory stimuli, the same deficiences that autism has. He finally received a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome despite a very high IQ. After experiencing the turmoil in his misdiagnosis, she began a serious investigation over several years that entailed exploring ADHD research and talking to experts. While searching for a commonality of symptoms, she discovered a medical dichotomy exists in how the two condtions are diagnosed. She notes a recent study of thirty-nine children from six to eleven with Asperger's. By the time that diagnosis was made, 92% had carried other diagnoses or educational labels, the most frequent was ADHD.
She quickly found that while ADHD research focused on the features of the disorder, autism research examined the disorder for root causes so that more effective treatments could be developed. While both were developmental disorders, they both share similar features and affect children in the same three central areas: communication, social interaction and behavior. Yet each group of research approached its disorder differently. Kennedy maintains that this is where the confusion arises as the medical and educational professionals are not trained to recognize the similarities between the disorders. Researchers and clinicians look for the differences between the two.
Kennedy notes that most parents have a gut reaction that their child's development is not progressing as it should, but, because strong guidelines are used to diagnose autism, children with a milder form on the autism spectrum often fall through the cracks and fail to qualify for help. Ironically, autism often manifests itself as the child matures, when it presents extreme social and functional difficulties. She strongly urges parents to become more aware of what they should know -- ADHD and Asperger's are closely related disorders.
