Identifying Autistic-Like Symptoms in Children with ADHD: A Comparative Study Using ADOS-2

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Child psychology
• Clinical diagnostics

Background:

• Children with ADHD often display social difficulties, complicating diagnosis and differentiation from Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
• Understanding overlapping symptoms is crucial for accurate diagnosis and effective intervention strategies.
• Recent literature highlights the need to investigate autistic-like symptoms in ADHD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify specific patterns of autistic symptoms in children with ADHD and ASD.
• To examine similarities and differences in autistic symptoms at both domain and individual item levels between ADHD and ASD groups.
• To compare IQ, age, ADOS-2 domains, and behavioral problems between the groups.

Main Methods:

• Study included 43 school-age children: 25 with ADHD and 18 with ASD.
• Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition (ADOS-2) was used to assess symptoms.
• Group comparisons were made for IQ, age, ADOS-2 domains, and externalizing/internalizing problems.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were found in ADOS-2 summary scores (Social Affect, Restricted and Repetitive Behavior, Total Score) between ADHD and ASD groups.
• At the item level, the ADHD group showed similar atypical social-communication behaviors ('Pointing', 'Gestures') as the ASD group.
• Similarities were also observed in 'Stereotyped/idiosyncratic words or phrases', 'Mannerisms', and 'Repetitive interests and behaviors' between the groups.

Conclusions:

• Findings underscore the importance of exploring transdiagnostic domains for children with ADHD.
• These transdiagnostic areas could inform the development of targeted treatments for ADHD.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the shared and distinct features of ADHD and ASD.