Attention problems (not ADHD)

Could you give a bit more detail about what your attention difficulties are and any other difficulties that made you think ADHD? And also about your ADHD assessment and why they ruled it definitely not?

I ask because I am now diagnosed with autism and ADHD but when I originally went for my autism assessment, I queried ADHD and he fully ruled it out. After much research, I discovered that his reasoning was very outdated and so persued a specifically ADHD assessment and this time got a resounding yes. I think there was only criteria I didn't score for. 

Attention problems are only one aspect of ADHD so it may have been that you didn't meet any other criteria. Hyperfocus is certainly an aspect of autism and ADHD but you wouldn't need to have both to hyperfocus so it could be that you don't have interest based focus. I'm not sure hyperfocus is a necessity with ADHD though, just common. It could be that your ADHD assessment was outdated.

Switching routines, obsessions and interests. Does fit in with ADHD more so than autism though.

Hi Expecto_Patronum , thanks for that. In all fairness, I am still waiting for the full report (I was told it’s a non-diagnosis though), reading this might help with understanding their reasoning better and if it’s worth it going for another assessment, although they seem to have understanding of AuDHD so not sure if another one might result in a different result. Also, I don't identify with the hyperactive element of ADHD, only the attentive one, so I am actually not too surprised but was thinking it could be AuDHD (also because I struggle to find resources that deal with autism and attention that isn’t ADHD/ AuDHD)

In terms of the actual problems, it’s a mix of not focusing very well if it’s something I find boring, thoughts that creep up about other things I want to do or are going on (like I had a lot of troubles with my landlord lately which threw my work focus off completely), and also being pulled away by thoughts or stuff I’d rather do (the wash!) when I am facing something hard or challenging (like a complex analysis at work or I am learning about something I like but it turns out to be much more/ complex than I thought). At the moment, I have 2 audiobooks open, a game not finished, videos I wanna watch, or - at work- reading emails, doing the wash (WFH) rather than reading up on something or doing analysis (it’s worse at work because even though I know in theory it’s meaningful or important, it’s not self-relevant for me, so I automatically care less). The assessor during the ADHD assessment actually pointed out that I seem to be better if I am intrinsically motivated (which was found to be an autism thing instead).

Intrinsic motivation is certainly a part of autism and it may be that your symptoms somewhat mirror ADHD because of this.

But ADHDers definitely struggle with tasks they find boring. 

Do you also find yourself struggling with other aspects such as losing things?

The things you describe would definitely ring true with a lot of people with ADHD so I'm intrigued. If it is purely attention then I can perhaps see why he would conclude that it is autism rather than ADHD.

I question it as the answer he has given you is very similar to the one given in my original assessment. But I do fit the criteria of both hyperactive and inattentive ADHD, just not in the classic "young boy" way.

Your report may be useful in seeing how they came to their decision and whether it is worth a second opinion.

That may well be why then. Even on the inattentive symptoms list, there are criteria that are not specifically attention. Losing things etc can be linked to attention but if you are just having interest based attention issues in a specific area e.g. getting tasks done, the assessor may have decided that isn't enough to warrant an ADHD diagnosis. There is so much overlap between conditions, I think it can be very hard for assessors to distinguish between symptoms at times even if they are experts.

That may well be why then. Even on the inattentive symptoms list, there are criteria that are not specifically attention. Losing things etc can be linked to attention but if you are just having interest based attention issues in a specific area e.g. getting tasks done, the assessor may have decided that isn't enough to warrant an ADHD diagnosis. There is so much overlap between conditions, I think it can be very hard for assessors to distinguish between symptoms at times even if they are experts.