Autism and ADHD: More Connected Than You Might Think
If you've recently received a diagnosis — or are in the process of exploring one — and find yourself wondering whether what you're experiencing is autism, ADHD, or both, you're asking exactly the right question. And the honest answer is: it's often both, and that's not a coincidence. A brief overview Autism is characterized by differences in social interaction and communication, and a tendency to self-regulate through repetition, routine, and predictability. ADHD is characterized by differences in attention regulation and impulse control. For a long time, these two were treated as mutually exclusive: if you had one, you couldn't be diagnosed with the other. Thankfully, that changed with the DSM-5, which now allows both diagnoses to co-exist. But the reality is that the overlap between them is so significant that many researchers believe they share a common genetic origin. The numbers are striking: between 22% and 83% of autistic children meet the criteria for AD...