If you’re asking “do I have autism or ADHD?”, only a diagnostic assessment can tell you for certain, but the two conditions show up differently. Autism mainly affects social communication, coping with change and sensory processing, while ADHD mainly affects attention, activity levels and impulse control. Many adults have both.
If you are an adult who suspects that you may be neurodivergent, you may wonder whether your differences are related to autism or ADHD.
This article focuses on adults. For children aged 6 and over, we also offer combined autism and ADHD assessments.
Autism and ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) are distinct conditions with separate diagnostic criteria, although the impact of both conditions can cause difficulties in the same areas of day-to-day life.
Studies estimate that between 50% and 70% of autistic people also meet the criteria for ADHD, so you may have both.
What do autism and ADHD have in common?
There is some commonality in the difficulties that both autistic individuals and individuals with ADHD experience in daily life, but the underlying reason for these difficulties is often different in the two conditions.
In both autism and ADHD, issues with emotional regulation are common and emotional dysregulation, or the inability to control emotional responses, is a feature associated with both conditions.
Autism and ADHD impact an individual’s social interaction skills and ability to form and maintain social relationships, although the underlying reasons for this tend to be different.
Both autistic adults and adults with ADHD can experience difficulties during the school years and in relation to employment.
Undiagnosed autistic adults and undiagnosed adults with ADHD commonly have experienced feelings of not fitting in, being different or being misunderstood and as a result have learned to hide their difficulties from others.
How do autism and ADHD differ?
Autism and ADHD are both neurodevelopmental or neurobiological conditions but have discrete features and diagnostic criteria.
Autism primarily affects a person’s ability to understand and manage social interactions and adapt to changes and is often associated with sensory differences.
ADHD primarily affects a person’s ability to maintain attention and/or control activity levels and behaviours (experiencing hyperactivity and impulsiveness).
Whilst all neurodivergent people are individuals and the way in which autism or ADHD impacts them in daily life can vary, the typical behaviours observed in an individual with ADHD are different to the typical behaviours of an autistic individual.
Autistic individuals tend to find comfort in routine and predictability, whereas those with ADHD become easily bored with sameness and seek variety and new experiences.
Individuals with ADHD often seek out social interactions but can become bored with the same people and prefer new interactions, whereas an autistic person tends to avoid new social interactions or prefers to interact with people who are very familiar to them.
Autistic individuals are often able to maintain high levels of focus and attention on familiar tasks and interests whereas those with ADHD struggle to maintain focus and attention.
Those with ADHD struggle with organisation and planning and often misplace their personal items, whereas an autistic person tends to need to plan their daily lives and organise their belongings.
What are the signs of autism in adults?
Autism is experienced as difficulties with social interaction and communication alongside restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour or interests (including sensory differences).
Social interaction and communication
- Struggling with the back-and-forth nature of conversation
- Not enjoying social chat or small talk
- Struggling to interpret others’ thoughts or feelings through their facial expressions or body language
- Copying others in order to manage social interaction
- Feeling exhausted after social interaction
- Decreased interest in friendships or finding it difficult to understand, initiate or maintain friendships
Repetitive patterns of behaviour or interests
- Needing to say the same things in the same way
- Struggling when things don’t go to plan or when plans change
- Finding it difficult to adapt to new people, places or processes
- Liking to do things in the same way or follow the same routine
- Pursuing hobbies or interests intensely at the cost of other activities or needs
- Enjoying collecting things or enjoying placing things in a certain way or order
- Being overly sensitive to sound, smell, taste or the way things feel
- Needing to touch or smell things to feel balanced
What are the signs of ADHD in adults?
ADHD can be experienced as difficulties with attention and focus (inattention), or difficulties with motor and behaviour control (hyperactivity and impulsivity) or difficulties across both areas. There are, therefore, three sub-categories of ADHD:
- ADHD: Combined presentation
- ADHD: Predominantly inattentive presentation
- ADHD: Predominantly hyperactive/impulsive presentation
Inattention
- Often overlooking or missing details
- Struggling to sustain attention on tasks
- Being easily sidetracked
- Losing focus quickly
- Often late or struggling with time management
- Being disorganised
- Frequently losing or misplacing items
- Easily distracted by thoughts or things in your environment
- Forgetful, struggling to keep on top of daily tasks
Hyperactivity and impulsivity
- Fidgeting
- Struggling to sit still
- Feeling restless when not moving
- Struggling to manage situations where being quiet is expected
- Always busy, others struggle to keep up with you
- Tendency to interrupt others, or finish other people’s sentences
- Irritated or restless when queuing or waiting your turn
- Being overtalkative
- Inadvertently blurting out things that are on your mind
Can you have both autism and ADHD?
Often referred to as AuDHD, individuals who have both autism and ADHD experience the characteristics of both conditions and the characteristics often vary depending on the situation and context. AuDHDers experience conflicting needs due to conflicting characteristics, for example, needing to plan the day ahead due to struggling with unpredictability and then becoming bored with following a plan.
You can read more in our article: Can you have autism and ADHD? Understanding AuDHD in adults.
How can I find out if I have autism or ADHD?
The only way to find out if you have autism or ADHD is through a comprehensive diagnostic assessment. If you are unsure if you require an autism assessment, an ADHD assessment or both, our clinical team can help. They can provide you with evidence-based screening tools for autism and ADHD and on completion a member of our clinical team can discuss the outcomes of these, along with the difficulties you are experiencing to help you to decide whether you would benefit from an assessment and if so, which assessment is needed.
If it looks as though you may have both, a combined autism and ADHD assessment looks at both in a single process. Adult assessments can be carried out fully online, or with an in-person observation at one of our clinics.
An adult autism assessment costs £1,995 online or £2,095 in clinic. A combined autism and ADHD assessment costs £2,995 online or £3,095 in clinic. You do not need a GP referral.
If you would like a starting point before speaking to us, you can take our free online AQ-10 autism screening test.
