Customer Reviews

The ADHD-Autism Connection: A Step Toward More Accurate Diagnoses and Effective Treatment

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This book is a must read for anyone (Parents, Educators, Professionals, Individuals) seeking to better understand themselves or those around them who suffer from charactistics associated with ADHD/Autism. The ADHD Autism Connection gives ground-breaking insight into the most significant disorders of our time. Diane Kennedy steps back to look at two different labels that fail to encompass the whole. Like ships passing in the night, the medical communities of ADHD and Autism have failed to see themselves in one another. Finally individuals, parents and educators can see the whole picture. The Author's personal experience as a mother of three children with ADHD/Autistic tendancies provides encouragement and hope as well as the insight only a mother possesses. Chapter 3 focuses on the similarities between autism and ADHD highlighting the obvious connection which serves as the breeding ground for ineffective treatment and misdiagnosis in many children. Chapter 8 has some thoughtful information contributed by Travis Nay about the individual uniqueness of our brains. I have personally attended his seminar and highly recommend it. The experience transformed my parenting! His web sight is listed in the resource section of the book. I would encourage everyone seeking understanding on this topic to read The ADHD Autism Connection. Diane Kennedy's book will surely prove to be a pivotal turning point in the way we view ADHD.

I was so amazed at how accurate this book is on describing my 12 yr old son. When a book is written from a parent of a special needs child, it means more for they know what it is like to cope and deal with a special needs child. My son was first dz with ADHD, then it was just Aspergers. I tried telling doctors that he has both for I read so much info on both ADHD and Aspergers. It was either one or the other to them. This book was amazing for I know I'm not alone. It's not easy to raise my son, but he's my world. So easy to read and understand. I felt as though this book was written for and about my son. Must have for every parent, family member, and friends of ADHD/Asperger child. This book will give you more insight and coping skills to deal with doctors, schools, and everyone who doesn't understand what it is like to live with an Aspie child. I recommended it to his teacher and counselor. Thanks so much for this book, wish it was published years ago.

What a disappointment. After reading the great reviews on Amazon, I was very much looking forward to this book.

After reading one chapter though, I went to the Internet to do a little research -- I was sure this book must be self-published, as it reads more like a term paper than like a professionally edited book about autism and ADHD. In fact, what I found is that publisher WaterBrook Press is "an autonomous evangelical religious publishing division of Random House." OK, that would explain the bible quotes. I would've preferred to know that before I bought this book. But to be fair, the religious overtones are fairly innocuous. No, my real problem is that I don't believe the publisher/editor has any deep understanding of the subject, and therefore didn't hold this book to the same standards that Future Horizons or JKP would have.

I DO believe that the connection between ADD/ADHD and Autism/Asperger needs to be delved into. Unfortunately, this book doesn't do a very good job of it. While the author points out the many things that ADHD and autism/Asperger Syndrome have in common, she virtually ignores their differences (e.g. an aspie's intense resistence to change, or their preoccupation with specific subjects -- very defining elements of the disorder). If this was the only book you read about autism and asperger, you'd come out with a very poor understanding of those diagnoses.

As a parent whose 8yrs child was diagnosed with alphabet soup ADHD, TS, OCD, ODD, BP, Anxiety, Dyslexia, seizures, ataxia, left hemiparesis, developmental delay, Post tramatic stress disorder from the birth of his sisters or a rough in pre-or inutero environment etc by doctors, neurologists, ot, pt from the time he was 18 months - 8yrs etc
His final dx of PDD-NOS at 8yrs 9 monthsw believe it or not made the most sense out of them all. It explains all of his behaviors at different times of his life. It explains how he is one way one day and another way another day and the range and variety of odd behaviors. Before getting the PDD-NOS dx I started looking towards the possible autistic treatments always reminding myself and others "not that he is autistic" and always found how amazing it was that he seemed to respond to the biomedical treatments of autism. Many parents could not understand why I would be interested in autism treatments when my son was dx with all the other stuff. I just told them that autism community is on to something right now in genetic research in looking at diet, biochemical treatments. It is a neurological disease and it has NOTHING to do with the way parents raise their kids.

This book automatically confirms my beliefs that 1) there is a connection between adhd, bp, autism-not just behavioral but medically and genetically 2)that children are often misdiagnosed as only adhd, or bp and not even look at the autism part(thinking) as what is causing some of the adhd, bp symptoms 3)that a child may look adhd as a preschool, change to ODD, and then when he is older and frustrated and full of anger-become dx with bp when originally he has autism.4)there are a lot variabilities in autism -autistics are not all quiet withdrawn kids who stim all day long with poor speech-many don;t have any speech problem at all and in fact has a high vocab., they can be very social but can be somewhat social awkward or not understand some social situations, some can be very active and not stim at all 5)behavior modifications may not alway work and when it doesn't it means there is something else going on rather than just adhd and odd. Sometimes behavior mod can be more harmful to the self esteem when the child has something more going on than just adhd and odd.
Basically this book provides evidence and concrete visuals and confirms many of my thoughts and theories regarding this subject.
Thank YOu Diane Kennedy!

This book is a MUST BUY for mothers with children diagnosed with ADHD. Diane Kennedy's story of her journey in search of REAL ANSWERS to help her sons is moving and inspirational. It leaves one to wonder why parents of children with ADHD must seek the answers on their own rather than being able to rely upon the professionals for assistance. Ms Kennedy does an excellent job of presenting current research from the fields ADHD and autism as she explores the similarities between Asperger's syndrome and extreme ADHD. In doing so, she offers parents hope that there are, indeed, answers to their children's behaviors--but many of the answers are to be found in autism rather than ADHD. She also offers an several treatment options in addition to a comprehensive overview of the various drugs used to treat ADHD patients. This book is clear and concise, personal and factual. But most importantly, it offers real answers and real hope for parents of children with ADHD.

I am so happy to have found Diane Kennedy's book. It is a terrific resource for those of us who have been "getting" the relationship between ADHD and autism and wondering who else does! Reading between the lines, one realizes that her own journey toward understanding must have been a rather gritty and arduous one. I am grateful for her persistance. The "ADHD Autism Connection" has brought together science, statistics and the human experience.

One of the questions Ms. Kennedy raises in this book refers to Dr. Barkley's statement that impulsivity is evidence of a deficit in the behavioral inhibition system. She points out that those with ADHD and those with autism are similarly challenged regarding impulsivity and goes on to ask, "As a mother, my question becomes, `How can researchers claim that a social behavior emerges from a biological impairment and, at the same time, assert that the behavior is willful and selfish'?" Thank you for helping us to see the connections, the contradictions and begin to ask questions!

This book took us out of the dark and into the light and we could finally put into words exactly what our child couldn't. He is now almost 11 and we have struggled like every parent out there that knew their child was more than ADHD. This is my second time around with a boy diagnosed ADHD and I kept trying to tell the doctors that there was more to it than that. Armed with this book and the ideas and references provided, we started showing doctors that these children are different and they do exist and there was ways to help them. Last week he was nominated to advanced placement classes. It took a long time to bring him "out" and with the proper care he is getting now it looks like he will be with us for good.

This book provides a very persuasive case of the links and similarities between ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders. While it has been known for a long time that people on the spectrum often have attentional problems, this book explores this phenomenon more extensively. Most noteworthy is the conclusion that a diagnosis of ADHD often gets in the way of a diagnosis of autism. This leads to an incomplete understanding of symptoms of autism, which are often misinterpreted, for example, as oppositional defiance. Further, many opportunities to treat autism are missed. Great job!

Diane has done a wonderful job of connecting the dots in a picture that is just now emerging into mainstream awareness - the placement of ADHD and autism/Asperger's on the spectrum of attentional differences. Even my use of 'spectrum' is perhaps inaccurage - it's more like a landscape. And one that Diane will familiarize you with in new and fascinating ways...

-- Thom Hartmann

Diane Kennedy's book will get us to think. Kennedy is dedicated to the idea that our classification systems with autism and ADHD may be off kilter...way off kilter. I think she is right. We have so much to learn about autism and ADHD. The medical community is not buying into pseudo research, and much of the non scientific community has walked into this malignant mindset, a blatant mistrust of doctors. Where do we go from here? What Kennedy suggests is we look again at our paradigms. Parents need to trust teachers and teachers must trust school officials. You'll find many more answers in this book. The book also spurs us to ask more questions...and yes, the politics of special education, that is entirely a different subject.

If you have a special child, this is a MUST READ!! Bravo Diane!!

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"