Autism spectrum disorder symptoms in children with ADHD: A community-based study.
Expect elevated ASD symptoms in elementary students with ADHD—screen with SCQ during intake.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team studied 5-8 year olds from regular schools.
Half had ADHD. Half were typical kids.
Parents filled out the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) to count ASD-like traits.
What they found
Kids with ADHD scored much higher on ASD traits than peers.
The gap was medium in size.
Boys with severe ADHD showed the most ASD-like signs.
How this fits with other research
Reus et al. (2013) saw the same pattern first, but in kids already diagnosed with ASD.
Canals et al. (2024) later found only a large share of all school kids have both ADHD and ASD, yet a large share of them were missed.
Tonizzi et al. (2022) adds that when ADHD rides along with ASD, working memory and daily living skills drop even lower.
Ingadottir et al. (2025) shows older kids with both labels score better on visual puzzles than ADHD-only peers, hinting the profile may shift with age.
Why it matters
If a new client has ADHD, plan on seeing SCQ scores in the mild ASD range. Do not assume a second label—just note the overlap and watch for extra support needs in daily routines.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms in a community-based sample of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and non-ADHD controls. We also examined the relationship between ASD symptoms and ADHD subtype, ADHD symptom severity and child gender. Participants were 6-10-year-old children (164 ADHD; 198 non-ADHD control) attending 43 schools in Melbourne, Australia, who were participating in the Children's Attention Project. ADHD was assessed in two stages using the parent and teacher Conners' 3 ADHD index and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children IV (DISC-IV). ASD symptoms were identified using the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). Unadjusted and adjusted linear and logistic regression examined continuous and categorical outcomes, respectively. Children with ADHD had more ASD symptoms than non-ADHD controls (adjusted mean difference=4.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.8; 5.3, p<0.001, effect size=0.7). Boys with ADHD had greater ASD symptom severity than girls with ADHD (adjusted mean difference=2.9, 95% CI 0.8; 5.2, p=0.01, effect size=0.4). Greater ADHD symptom severity was associated with greater ASD symptom severity (regression co-efficient=1.6, 95% CI 1.2; 2.0, p<0.001). No differences were observed by ADHD subtype. Greater hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were associated with greater ASD symptoms (regression coefficient=1.0; 95% CI 0.0; 2.0, p=0.04) however, this finding attenuated in adjusted analyses (p=0.45). ASD symptoms are common in children with ADHD. It is important for clinicians to assess for ASD symptoms to ensure appropriate intervention.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.09.016