Arriving at the right ADHD diagnosis can be tricky because there are a number of conditions that share the same symptoms. Take for Asperger's syndrome, for instance. Asperger's syndrome is part of the autistic spectrum disorders and is often one of the milder versions of autism. Like ADHD, Asperger's syndrome occurs four more times in boys than in girls. Children suffering from ADHD or Asperger's also experience academic difficulties, an inability to communicate with others, and behavioral problems.
How can you tell if a child has ADHD or Asperger's? First of all, it's important to note that ADHD is also a spectrum disorder. Even if children with ADHD are given the same diagnosis, each individual child experiences a unique constellation of symptoms, problems, strengths, and weaknesses. The same goes for children with Asperger's syndrome. This disorder is typically characterized by socially inappropriate behavior and developmental delays, but not all children experience the same problems.
Secondly, ADHD and Asperger's share many symptoms. Around 60-70% of children with Asperger's have symptoms that match the DSM-IV's diagnostic criteria for ADHD. In fact, ADHD diagnoses are so common that the DSM-IV requires ADHD to be a separate disorder from autism.
A third similarity between the two disorders is that children with ADHD have similar executive functioning skills as those with Asperger's. For instance, children with ADHD were found to have a better verbal IQ than a performance IQ, just like children with Asperger's. Performance tests are important in understanding a child's learning style, which is essential in differentiating the two disorders.
One striking difference between the two disorders is that children who have ADHD have better academic performance and social skills than children with Asperger's. That is not to say that children with ADHD don't suffer from developmental delays. Some children do, but these developmental problems are not as severe as children with Asperger's. The latter consistently has problems understanding visual cues, recognizing faces, misinterpreting social context, etc.
Another difference is that both children with ADHD and Asperger's want to make friends, but they constantly experience social failures. However, there are differences for these difficulties. Children with ADHD break rules they understand but dislike or defy. Children with Asperger's like rules but break those that they do not understand. Additionally, children with ADHD have poor organizational skills and have difficulty prioritizing tasks. Children with Asperger's, on the other hand, like order and withdraw when they encounter discrepancies.
These descriptions are all just generalizations, and there's always a child who is an exception to the rule. But whatever the diagnosis is, both the ADHD child and the Asperger's child require a unique intervention that will address the individual problems they experience.
Dr. Yannick Pauli is an expert on natural approaches to ADHD and the author of the popular self-help home-program The Unritalin Solution. He is Director of the Centre Neurofit in Lausanne, Switzerland and has a passion taking care of children with ADHD. Click on the link for more great information about what is adhd.
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