Brain Power with Dr. Eko

Can a Child Have Both ADHD and Autism? Signs, Treatment & Real Parent Insights

• Dr. Hokehe Eko

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Ever wondered why your child's ADHD medication seems to help focus but doesn't stop the meltdowns? The answer might lie in the surprising overlap between ADHD and autism that many families discover only after years of incomplete treatment.

Through Ethan's story, we explore how 30-80% of children with autism also meet criteria for ADHD, while 20-50% of children with ADHD simultaneously qualify for autism spectrum disorder. This significant overlap creates unique challenges that medication alone cannot address. When stimulants improve attention but sensory triggers, social struggles, and rigid routines persist, it signals the need for a more comprehensive approach.

At the neurological level, both conditions affect the frontal lobe—the command center for executive function, decision-making, and social communication. This explains why treating just one condition often leaves families frustrated by lingering symptoms. The holistic approach we advocate examines gut health (directly connected to brain function), sleep patterns, nutrition, sensory needs, and emotional regulation strategies. Rather than simply managing symptoms, this method targets root causes to improve overall wellbeing.

Parents, you know your child best. If you suspect there's more to your child's struggles than their current diagnosis suggests, trust your instincts and advocate persistently. Connect with teachers to observe behavioral patterns across environments, and don't stop seeking help until you find providers who listen. Remember that your child is valuable beyond any diagnostic label—they have unique strengths waiting to be discovered. Would you recognize the signs of dual diagnosis in your child? Subscribe to learn more about supporting children with overlapping neurodevelopmental conditions.

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If you want to schedule an ADHD/Autism appointment for your child, you may contact Glow Pediatrics:

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Speaker 1:

Parents. Did you know that 30 to 80% of children diagnosed with autism also meet criteria for ADHD? And also, did you know that 20 to 50% of children with ADHD also meet criteria for autism? And that's what we want to talk about today the overlap between diagnosing of both ADHD and autism in a child and what that looks like, and the approach for treatment for that. I think this is a really important topic because this is a question that comes up on a weekly basis in our practice and I thought it would be great to address it. Hello everyone, I'm Dr Hoke Eko and welcome to GLOW with ADHD and Autism, and so we're going to just take a deep dive into it right now. Ok, so let's talk about Ethan.

Speaker 1:

Ethan is a child who recently worked with of course, name changed for privacy sake and he was diagnosed at age five with ADHD and prescribed medication. However, his family noticed he still had major meltdowns with sensory triggers and struggled socially. Eventually, right after the parents had pleaded with the school and kept talking to this pediatrician saying something is not quite right, like isn't there more to this? Because, in spite of the medication, he still seemed to be really struggling. Eventually, parents still seemed to be really struggling. Eventually, parents were able to get another evaluation which showed he met criteria for autism. That changed everything about his treatment plan. Prescription for medications alone did not address the sensory issues he was having, the social struggles, the meltdowns when things didn't go his way or he was told no. So it's important to address the whole child, and that's what we do at Glow Pediatrics is whole child approach, whole family approach. So when your child has both ADHD and autism, it's essential to address both sets of needs right. For example, a stimulant for ADHD might help with attention but worsen anxiety, which is another comorbid diagnosis that often highly occurs with children with either autism or ADHD and sensory overload right. So the stimulant can worsen the anxiety, can worsen the sensory overload, and that will not help your child. And so that's why it's important to focus on a holistic approach to treating your child. And so at GrowPediatrics what we do is we create a personalized nutrition plan, behavior plan, and what that nutrition plan is really targeting is targeting gut health, because absolutely critical that we address gut health, because the gut is directly connected to the brain.

Speaker 1:

If your child's brain has any inflammation or dysregulation going on, things don't work well. Sleep is huge. Think about it, parents If you don't sleep and your child is not sleeping all night, or your child sleeps for a couple of hours a night, we cannot expect that child's brain to work like it should. We take deep dives into nutrition, sleep, gut health, brain health, emotional resilience, parent support. It's important to do that because that's a holistic approach, right Versus just finding your medication. Yes, medication can work, but it's not addressing the root causes, which is what we want to do, so that overall, your child's health improves and your entire family does well.

Speaker 1:

What can parents watch for? How do you know if your child has both? That's an excellent question. So here are a few signs. Right, with ADHD meds, your child may focus better but still have meltdowns. That's a clue. Something else is going on.

Speaker 1:

Your child can have both social communication struggles and executive function issues. The part of the brain that's affected in both autism and ADHD is the frontal lobe, and that's the part of the brain that deals with executive functioning, so like making decisions, not being impulsive, following through on plans, communication, executing projects those critical skills that are important to everyday function is controlled by here, and that's the parts of the brain also that's involved with both ADHD and autism. It's important to recognize your child can struggle with both things right and that sensory. And then you see your child has sensory issues, like they may not want certain materials to touch their skin, they may not want their certain foods mixing together on the plate, they may be affected by loud sounds and cover their ears or run away Sensory things, like they just have. They're very specific and like they have to have a certain routine. If anything changes then it's like they have a meltdown and they can't handle moving forward from that. These occurrences can be very frustrating for both the child and the parent. If you see that happening alongside hyperactivity, that gives you a clue that maybe there's something else going on with your child. And if that sounds like your child, you're not alone. We are here to help.

Speaker 1:

At GLOW Pediatrics, we understand that parenthood is a journey. I, a mommy of three, it's definitely a journey. As a pediatrician, I'm still learning every day because every child is different. How do we help our children, who may have both things going on? As parents, we are our children's first advocates. You know your kids more than anybody else parents, so please advocate for your children and if your doctor says no, go find another one and keep asking until you find help and somebody listens and gets you the help. Talk to your teachers, get to know your teachers so that they can give you a clue into are they seeing the same things that you're seeing at home, at school? That really helps, especially if we can see the behavior happening in both places right, especially if we can see the behavior happening in both places right.

Speaker 1:

But again, at Glow Pediatrics, we're here to work alongside your family on this journey called parenthood. And if you have any concerns, we offer telemedicine evaluation, medical evaluation of autism and ADHD in several states across the country. We offer parent coaching, parent-led ABA therapy. We offer personalized nutrition plans to address gut health, address brain health, address sleep constipation, picky eating, aggressive behavior, because we know for a fact that our children, if we don't look at them from a whole perspective, holistically, we don't make as much impact as we could. So at glow pediatrics, our process is to look at the whole child, the whole child and all the environment that the child is in, and see what changes can be made so that this child can be the best version of themselves. And guess what? We found that as we work with the children, we're impacted, it's the parents, the whole family. So when we do personalized plans for our children, we want the entire family to participate, because it makes such a difference.

Speaker 1:

Parents, if you're not sure, if you feel like there's something more going on your child, you are not crazy. Ask for help. Reach out to us. Book a consult, call on glowpediatricscom. Please subscribe to our channel, share it with those who need to hear this message and we look forward to serving you. Have a wonderful day. Remember your child is more than a diagnosis. Your child is valuable, your child. Your child wants to be seen and heard by you. You're the best parent for your child and never, ever, forget that. We want to be detectives of our children and we want to find what their strengths are and boost those right, because that's how you look beyond a diagnosis and look at the potential for your child. So have an amazing day and look forward to serving you. Take care.