| Clear cut boundaries exist between attention deficit | | | | without meaning, and they don't understand rules. ADD |
| disorder and Asperger's syndrome though the two are | | | | people understand them, they just have no mechanism |
| sometimes linked. Some members of the medical | | | | for following them to the letter. |
| establishment see them as existing simultaneously in | | | | Asperger's can take different forms, as well. Some live |
| one person, whereas others say that is an impossibility. | | | | in a fantasy world of their own making. In that world, |
| The truth is that there is no agreement on the two | | | | everything goes just the way they want it to all the |
| issues. | | | | time. There's nothing wrong with being a character in a |
| It's true that Asperger's and ADD share certain | | | | book, for instance, and dressing in costume all the time. |
| commonalities, but the causal factors are far different. | | | | Obsessive-compulsive Asperger's people make a |
| For example, people with each may talk too loudly or | | | | world of rules and rituals for themselves, and follow |
| too much, neither can regulate behavior, and both can | | | | each of those to the letter. They may appear to be |
| be social misfits. But the why behind those issues is | | | | distracted like people with ADD, but they're actually |
| where the dissimilarities come in. People with ADD | | | | obsessing on how many times they turned the faucet |
| know what they need to do and just forget to do it, | | | | on and off or how many minutes they brushed their |
| but people with Asperger's don't know what to do. | | | | teeth. |
| They have no idea that personal relationships are | | | | These similarities make it hard for doctors to properly |
| two-sided because they see the world as existing for | | | | diagnose Asperger's early in a child's life and they may |
| and about them. | | | | be diagnosed ADD. It's not until the child reaches |
| But there are other issues aside from the social where | | | | school age that they show the symptoms of social |
| the two disorders seemingly coincide but are driven by | | | | inadequacy. Asperger's sufferers have no idea that |
| dissimilar mental processes. Though people with | | | | other people have thoughts, feelings, and motivations |
| Asperger's can appear to be disorganized and | | | | unlike their own. This isn't true of people with ADD, |
| forgetful, it's because they concentrate on everything | | | | who know they shouldn't speak out of turn, but just |
| around them. No aspect of their environment is more | | | | can't help it. |
| important than another. So, whereas people with ADD | | | | Finding proper help for an Asperger's child is very |
| may be distracted by a fly on the wall in the | | | | important. Diagnosis, though, may take years of trial |
| classroom, someone with Asperger's may feel that | | | | and error, which makes starting treatment early very |
| the fly is as important to study as what the teacher is | | | | important. With the proper help, children with |
| saying. They tend to focus on insignificant issues, | | | | Asperger's can live a much fuller life than without it. |