Jump to content

Menu

Executive Functioning issues due to ASD vs. ADD


Recommended Posts

Texas, Zengar nf is passive and you can bring in your favorite videos or music.  :D

 

Hmm, for some reason I thought people had told me the stimulant meds ONLY affected the brain.  Well interesting.  The reason it matters to me is because I had adrenal problems for a number of years and the resulting hypoglycemia, etc.  Dd trends that way, and I wouldn't want her to do something that over time would drain her body and leave her worse than she started.  :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting......when I was hospitalized with severe depression, I was put on Ritalin.  Not for ADD, but because it is used sometimes in treatment resistant depression.  They did not do an EKG, nor did they do one when Catherine was prescribed it.  I didn't know to ask for an EKG, but I'm not dead yet, so I guess it's okay.....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I live with three people who have some form of ADHD, and one of them is on the spectrum as well. It's my understanding that all ASD folks and all ADHD folks will have EF impairment. Some ASD folks will have ADHD. Some people have EF without ADHD of one flavor or another, but as I understand it, that's pretty unusual. I think Russell Barkley has some articles that pretty much state that EF is ADHD, but I could be wrong on that.

 

Since it's all somewhat subjective, keep in mind that you also have people scoring their kids on a curve--my kids are completely different in how their issues present that it would be easy to compare them and score one of them as not being very ADHD-like. Over time, we've realized that's just not true. They both have ADHD (though we may find that CAPD is behind many of the symptoms for one child), but when we fill out Vanderbilt surveys, it's clear they both qualify for an ADHD diagnosis without any leap of faith. It's indisputable. (And if you fill out one of these forms, realize you are not supposed to agonize over it, and realize that they want more than one adult who knows the child to fill it out.)

 

I think my older son's ADHD meds improve his EF. They also improve his self-awareness. But, he is motivated, and he's at an age where he's sensitive to this--he has enough training and motivation to have good EF that maybe that's why we see it is a direct result of meds, whereas others might see those things developing separately. We saw a child, pre-meds, who wanted to do well but couldn't.  He's a Competent Carl type, so he wants to be good at things, and meds gave him the ability to be. I am fairly certain that things like inhibiting impulsive behavior are considered EF, so if meds make my son less impulsive, that is an EF gain. My other son is more wishy-washy (he's not on meds yet, but it's in discussion). He's slowly becoming more clued into why it would be nice to be responsible. I imagine if we'd given him meds before he became aware of that, we would not see a big bump in EF on meds. One of the only things my older son doesn't like about meds is that he is more inhibited and feels more self-conscious as a result. It comes up from time to time, but we frame it as a positive aspect even though it's annoying. We remind him that he's supposed to feel that way, and ADHD takes that away. His OT was very, very good about backing us up on that without lecturing at all. She really framed it positively. And my son knows he has much more control of himself (and therefore more choices in life) when he's taking his meds. He can see that direct connection most of the time.

 

Anxiety is a very big concern, but I will say that my son's anxiety dried up substantially when he started meds. The meds gave him more control, and more control gave him less to be anxious about. That is not everyone's experience, but it's so night and day different for us that I always mention it to people. I was sure it would ramp up anxiety, and I was wrong.

I think you are right about the bolded, and I recommend Barkley as a resource for what ADHD is, what it looks like, what it isn't, and some things you can do (and some things you are just going to have to deal with).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that there is a lot of overlap in the diagnosis of ADHD and ASD mainly because of EF deficiencies.  I haven't read anywhere that ADHD is a "fringe" of the Autistic Spectrum, but there certainly is some overlapping of the the two circles in the ADHD and ASD Venn diagram.  Since both conditions are diagnosed on symptom and not on any sort of objective or physical medicine it seems natural that the EF issues would blur the lines between the two.  I completely agree with the comment to treat the kid you have.  I have three with ADHD diagnosis and they are all very different, with regards to their ADHD, and need help in different ways.  They are 2e, which muddies the water a lot, and one has an undefined language-based LD.  Different, different, different.

 

As for EKGs, my children didn't have them prior to starting meds.  My DS had, at age 3, had an echocardiogram because doc heard a murmur.  The echo, done by a pediatric cardiologist, was clean.  We were asked about the murmur, but then our DXing doc looked into the results of the echo.  The others were listened to and had history screening, but no actual EKG.  

 

As to the comment about stimulants only affecting the brain, that is simply not true.  Any substance you take in to your body and enters your blood stream has the potential to effect any part of your body - primarily if there are compatible receptors at the cell level, secondly via byproducts of metabolisms/catabolism of that substance, and thirdly via feedback loops (neurological or hormonal) initiated at the active site.  There is a potential for stimulants to affect your heart 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...