Comments on: Autism, Aspergers and ADHD/ADD

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 02:12:31 +0000

Hi my son is two and has been diagnosed with P.D.D-NOS. He is having ADHD symptoms and is getting treated for that. Now with that said. He goes to school in August and the teachers at the IEP meeting was trying to say that there is no way he has P.D.D-NOS.
They was going on his social, playing with toys right, so on and so forth. But if they seen my child a year ago, they would have a different answer.
He has been in therapy (Speech,OT,and An Early Interventionist) for over a year now.
They have really done wonders with my son.
So I personally think school systems are trying to be physicians instead of teachers.

By: Dr. Kenny Handelman

Dr. Kenny Handelman — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:41:56 +0000

Danette,
The issue of the overlap between ADHD and Bipolar in kids merits more space than I have in the comments here…
One of the best resources for childhood bipolar is here: http://www.bpkids.org/

By: Danette Schott

Danette Schott — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:24:18 +0000

Dr Kenny, what percentage of children do you estimate you see with ADHD who later are actually bipolar? I know that this is a tough area to assess. Once the bipolar is treated, the child may still look like they have ADHD. Do they actually a have ADHD or is it still some part of the bipolar? In complex cases, insightful professionals often look at the symptoms and what needs to be treated, rather than get caught up with the diagnosis itself. All these conditions are very complicated, especially when they are comorbid with each other. Thanks.

By: B. Russell

B. Russell — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:48:38 +0000

My oldest son has ADHD (diagnosed in 1984!). My 2nd son was developmentally delayed, then ADHD, then at age 12 both ADHD & autism. His I.Q. is low, but I truly believe his ADHD is much more disabiling than his autism. He has temper outbursts, but that could be either diagnosis. He bonds well w/family members and caregivers. His autistic symptoms have only appeared in situations where he is more excited or stressed. Ex: At Christmas, with a crowd of family, his aunt patted him and he said, “You poked me.” My daughter WAS ADHD until puberty when something chemically changed and she became just ADD and very shy–”social anxiety: avoidance”!

By: Not Autism

Not Autism — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:02:03 +0000

My daughter Amaya has “Autism” and sensory issues. My wife and I caught it early and Amaya has come a long way in less than a year’s time. The one thing that we learned, that most of the medical field never mentions, is that most of these children are normal and just have viral and/or fungal issues going on in their brains. These can be treated and your child can live a normal life again. I encourage you to read some of the material on a new website I put together (still in the works): http://www.not-autism.org

I think this information could be very helpful for you. As parents we have to rise up above the current medical system and do what is right for our children as the current system is dismissing our precious children.

Justin Lofton

By: Beth Griffin

Beth Griffin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:37:50 +0000

Question – has anyone looked into Brain Balance Achievement Centers – I attended one of their seminars. It sounded amazing – almost too good to be true. I would love to know if anyone has had any experience with their claims of helping children with ADHD and autism.

By: kim

kim — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:01:03 +0000

My now 10 y/o son was diagnosed at the age of 4 by our school district with “Autistic Tendancies”. He received fine/gross motor skills therapy for 1 year. Then at the age of 7 he was diagnosed by a professional with ADD with inattention. I have ALWAYS felt he was mis-diagnosed with ADD and showed many signs for Asperger Syndrom. I was hoping you could tell me what the difference is between the two disorders, so I can be certain he was correctly diagnosed. And if there was an online test you could direct me to to figure this out. Thank you for your help. Sincerely Mrs K Franzese

By: Dr. Kenny Handelman

Dr. Kenny Handelman — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:43:16 +0000

Hi CJ,
You are writing a very complicated question. A very good one too.

When it comes to kids with ADD having an autistic spectrum disorder – the numbers aren’t that high. About 5-7% of school aged kids have ADD/ADHD, and I am not aware that a higher percentage of the ADD/ADHD kids have PDD/ASD compared to non ADD kids.

The main difference is that the ASD/PDD kids have significant social skills difficulties. Even though kids with ADD struggle socially, in ASD/PDD, it is different. It is a lack of desire for social interactions, or an inability. Whereas kids with ADD/ADHD often struggle socially because they want to be the ‘boss’ of the games, or create their own rules, or can’t listen to the other kids to play along appropriately.

When it comes to bipolar – this is also a very tricky one. Childhood bipolar is very complicated. It is different than PDD NOS and Asperger’s. Of course a very small percentage of kids may have both – and these children can be very hard to diagnose and treat.

I hope this helps.

Dr. Kenny

By: CJ

CJ — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:28:12 +0000

My son was diagnosed with PDDNOS and also ADD. I have often wondered if many kids who are diagnosed with ADD actually have PDDNOS. I’m also wondering if anyone has studied if early childhood bi-polar is not also closely related to PDDNOS. Just wondering