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Ruling out ADHD in favor of Asperger's

© Juli B

When Andy was 5 years old a psychiatrist diagnosed him as having ADHD and after a five-minute observation, handed us a prescription for Ritalin, bill for $200, and sent us on our way.

I remember thinking, "Sure lady, we're right with you on that one! Next time you might try to put a little more effort into such a diagnosis." We walked out of the office, threw away said prescription and decided to play it by ear.

We did feel there was something amiss where our son was concerned, but we just weren't prepared to end the search after such a disheartening experience. It's no wonder there are so many children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD as most doctors seem to rely heavily on such a blanket diagnosis for many of their young patients. Well we weren't fully convinced.

Granted, he did show a number of the standard symptoms with an emphasis on inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity, but clearly there had to be something else going on. Andy did so many odd little things that just didn't seem to fit the general ADHD diagnosis, and for that reason we never gave up the hope of finding a more fitting label to bestow upon our son.

When we finally got wind about a little known disorder known as Asperger's Syndrome (an afterthought from his then weekly psychologist who was yet another one who seemed stuck on the ADHD title), it was as if a whole knew world had opened up for us. The description fit our son perfectly.

Could it be that all this time we had been walking around leaning towards ADHD when all along his difficulties mirrored those as someone with AS? And why weren't we made aware of such obvious similarities between the two at an earlier stage?

Therein lies the problem. On paper the two disorders can be so strikingly similar that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. This is why misdiagnoses are so common where Asperger's is concerned and a person can go many years without ever learning of the correct diagnosis.

We of course now had two very similar labels to contend with: ADHD, which was still thought to be very prevalent in Andy, and Asperger's Syndrome. At times it is easy to see that the AS and ADHD tend to live and act together, but I could also start to differentiate between the two. Regardless of my previous doubts, I accepted them both at that time.