I have seen from my experience that these two diagnosis go hand in hand. So, not only do the students have Autism to deal with, but they must deal with ADD. This can be a challenge for those that try to educate youth with both of these diagnosis. A lot of times students will say they are thinking while they are zoning out, but if you prompt them usually they get back to the task at hand. Now sometimes students will use an avoidance behavior e.g. Licking a desk, getting up and walking around. It is important to help these students with these avoidance behaviors.
As always ask any questions.
My son Michael has HFA, but much of the time it seems like he is ADD. I agree that these two go hand in hand. It is hard to decipher if he is thinking about something or if he is totally just not paying attention because of ADD. Michael has not been diagnosed ADD, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was. That is funny that you mentioned licking desks. I taught a girl with HFA who would lick walls and especially liked corregated cardboard.
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