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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My ds got the same dx. He has no issues with processing or working memory. And got a surprise bonus asd dx. Then no one since has been able to ‘see ‘ the asd, us included (I keep trying and figure I just don’t know what asd is) 
I think there is a type of adhd that is primarily behavioral. Russell Berkley considers it the ‘main’ type of adhd (a disorder of emotional regulation) but bc the dsm doesn’t actually consider emotional regulation to be diagnostic of adhd, if you have a kid with adhd whose primary challenge is true deficits in emotional regulation, you will often get an asd dx. With those kids it’s hard to see it because they socialize and interact in many ways typically - they just can’t really control their responses properly so it sort of looks like parts of asd in some ways. Adhd dude talks about this also - as does our psychiatrist. Is it accurate to consider it asd? Maybe - it just doesn’t fit with ‘classic’ asd and the marketing of ‘new add’ had been a bit sub par so it leaves parents super confused. More likely there is a ‘third’ thing that is a subtype of one or the other that hasn’t yet been named. [/quote]

Than you for sharing. Just to clarify, are you saying that Russell Barkley would likely define all of this under ADHD but that the DSM doesn't define the emotional part as ADHD so an ASD diagnosis is added to account for that side of things?

That could definitely explain the diagnosis. I guess I am surprised because, don't we all know that emotional regulation IS part of ADHD and executive functions?

Also, wouldn't ADHD and anxiety account for a lot of the same behaviors?[/quote]m

I’m not exactly saying the asd dx is there to explain ‘non dam’ adhd. I think what I’m saying is what Russell Berkley sees (and many of us see) as the defining characteristic of adhd is not even in the dsm. Adhd is poorly understood and poorly characterized (as is asd) so often kids will get both dx to explain the ‘slightly inexplicable’
Put it this way - if there was another separate dx - let’s call it ‘pikachu’ - where the constituent pieces were lack of emotional regulation, impulse control, inflexibility, difficulty with transitions, irritability and ability to hyperfocus (I’m just guessing, you haven’t said this but this is description of the type of adhd that usually comes without attention deficits and rides with asd) would you question that he has it? [/quote]

No, I wouldn’t. You are right.

Of course that describes one of my kids perfectly, too, yet on paper he looks more typical. I guess what it comes down to is that over the years I have come to value (over value?) neuropsych testing , having seen so many kids misdiagnosed without it (several kids with language based learning differences diagnosed with ADHD and not treated for LD or my own kid’s ADHD missed for so long because of the hyper focus ). So maybe I am assuming that certain common patterns are necessary for diagnosis and I am realizing that they are not. That sometimes observation of symptoms really is enough?[/quote]

DP.  One thing it might be helpful to recognize is that there is both art and science to making these diagnoses because the diagnostic tools we have are still a bit blunt.  An experienced practitioner may recognize patterns within tests that are significant but are obscured if you just look at the bottom line score.  To your earlier question about variability within a section, a kid who starts off performing extremely well within a section but whose performance then drips off and becomes erratic may have attention issues that would not be apparent if you just looked at their average for the entire section.  This is particular a problem for 2e kids, because their baseline ability to perform is high enough to get them to adequate overall performance, thereby concealing how much they are struggling and how much more they could do with the appropriate tools.[/quote]

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