ADHD and autism have many overlapping traits, around executive functioning, social challenges and sensory processing.
ADHD and autism face shared psycho-social risks, including co-occurring mental health conditions, addiction, self-harm and victimisation. They also often share diverse social identities, experiencing higher rates of genderqueerness and non-heterosexual orientations compared to neurotypicals. Despite their similarities, ADHD and autism are two separate conditions and can occur together. It can often be hard to tell the two conditions apart, but correct diagnosis early on ensures that children get the right treatment and supports, and don’t miss out on important development and learning.
So, what are the similarities between ADHD and autism and how do we tell them apart?
Similarities between ADHD and autism:
- Executive dysfunction: both commonly experience difficulties with executive functions, including organising tasks, object permanence, focus, memory, decision-making, shifting attention, and regulating attention. Executive functioning challenges is a core feature of ADHD. They also both often have altered perception of time, or ‘time blindness’.
- Sensory difficulties: both ADHD and autism can involve sensory processing difficulties, but the nature and severity can vary. Sensitivity to sensory input is common and may lead to sensory avoidance or overload. Hyposensitivity and issues with interoception are also common, with individuals being less responsive to certain inputs and are often less aware of their body’s signals, such as hunger or pain. ADHD and autistic individuals can also exhibit sensory seeking or stimulatory behaviours.
- Social challenges: may both struggle to fit in socially with neurotypical peers, but can be for different reasons.
- Emotional regulation and rejective sensitive dysphoria: both ADHD and autistic individuals can have difficulty managing their emotions, due to several factors. They also both commonly experience rejective sensitive dysphoria (RSD) and experience extreme emotions surrounding perceived rejective, criticism or failure.
Differences between ADHD and autism:
- Routines: people with autism typically seek familiarity and prefer routines, while those with ADHD seek novelty and get bored from routines.
- Communication: both can have differences in communication, but these look different to each other. ADHDers typically talk non-stop, interrupt frequently, and often may not consider how words affect others. Autistic individuals on the other hand often have difficulty expressing emotions and don’t use common cues like eye contact or gestures.
- Attention: those with ADHD have a short attention span, even for things they love. They may get distracted easily, and do not want to do tasks that require concentration. Autistic people may have trouble focussing on tasks they don’t enjoy but often get absorbed for long periods of time in something that interests them.
- Repetitive behaviours: autistic individuals often exhibit self-soothing repetitive behaviours, such as hand flapping or rocking, which help provide comfort and a self of control. These behaviours can often be mistaken for hyperactivity, which is commonly seen in ADHDers, who are unable to stay still and may fidget, run around or interrupt conversations.
When differences clash:
For those who have both ADHD and autism, traits can often present as its own condition altogether. It’s commonly referred to as ‘AuDHD’, and understanding of this co-occurrence is relatively new.
For people with AuDHD, the overlapping between ADHD and autism are typically heightened. However, the differences between the two conditions often become very contradictory, making the condition difficult to identify and navigate. This may look like:
- Craves order and routine (autism) but struggles to stick to it (ADHD).
- Craves social stimulation (ADHD) but has difficulties navigating social situations (autism).
- Easily overwhelmed (autism) but unable to rest and recharge due to hyperactivity (ADHD).
Diagnosis and Support
At Patches, our team of skilled clinicians are experts at diagnosis in both autism and ADHD. Our aim is to complete your assessment on one day, by one team, in a seamless and cost-effective process. We also provide ongoing support options via our multi-disciplinary team.
To learn more about assessment services at Patches, click here.
To make a referral, click here.