What different symptoms and problems between Austim and ADHD?
Before reading this, check out Malia's links first. they should be more accurate symptom-wise. I haven't read them myself. What I will mention are observations between my two sons, one PDD-NOS (Autie) and the other, ADHD.
My Autie moves slowly. my ADHD moves fast. my Autie takes a long time in doing anything. my ADHD overtakes him in anything he does. my Autie takes 30 minutes to finish a meal. my ADHD takes six spoonfulls swallowing only twice.
Even if my Autie is slow, he does things correctly. my ADHD is reckless. my Autie writes smoothly and cleanly. my ADHD's writing is the proverbial chicken-scratchings.
My Autie speaks clearly. my ADHD does not enunciate. they both started to talk at 3.5yo. my Autie elaborates to a fault. my ADHD misses and mispronouces words.
My Autie likes schedules and routines. my ADHD doesn't mind them. my Autie likes collecting toys. my ADHD disassembles them. my Autie is clean, neat and organized. my ADHD is a tornado.
My Autie religiously performs his chores. my ADHD has to be kickstarted, literally. my Autie feeds the fish, the turtles and the chickens like clockwork. my ADHD has to be told thrice to change the dog's water everyday.
My Autie likes rules and regulations. He follows them even if no one is watching. my ADHD has trouble following them specially when no one is watching him.
I wrote and posted How-To lists in various places in the house like "How to wash dishes" near the kitchen sink and "How to take a bath" in the bathroom. my Autie reads them because it is his routine. my ADHD reads them because he truly forgets. my niece (non-special, highly intellectual), read it the first time out of amazement.
My Autie is unmindful of his surroundings. my ADHD usually detects hidden roadsigns where cops lurk.
My Autie looks handsome most of the time. He also smells good from the 1-hour showers he takes every night. my ADHD doesn't mind how he looks and smells sour 1 hour after a 2-minute shower. He has dark lines on his neck and armpits at the end of the day even without going out of the house the whole day! You could still see short lengths of hair on his shirt three days after a haircut even if he changes his clothes everyday.
My Autie doesn't like being scolded, reminded or even corrected because he is already a teenager. my ADHD doesn't understand why he is scolded, reminded or corrected, ever.
The two get together very well even with their differences. they should. I'm only behind the wall at the next door.
Crafting a nice post on this issue is hard as diagnosing Autism and ADHD requires that some conditions be met. these requirements are set by the DSM-IV document.
This site explains what the conditions for autism are according to DSM-IV
speechtherapyfortoddlers.com/speech-therapy-for-autism-diagnosis/
and this one for ADHD
web4health.info/en/answers/adhd-diagn-dsm.htm