When Impulsivity Meets Structure: The "AuADHD" Challenge

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The gap is staggering—25% of Americans have disabilities, yet 80% of them never cross the threshold of our churches. In this thought-provoking exploration of neurodevelopmental conditions, host Tracy Correll unpacks the complex characteristics of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and the fascinating paradox that emerges when both conditions occur simultaneously in an individual.

We begin by examining ADHD's hallmark features of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, diving into how these manifest in social interactions, emotional regulation, and cognitive processing. Then we shift to autism's distinct presentation of social communication challenges and restricted, repetitive behaviors, highlighting the importance of routine and structure for those on the spectrum. But perhaps most illuminating is our discussion of what some call "AuADHD"—the concurrent presence of both conditions that creates seemingly contradictory needs within the same person. How can someone simultaneously require rigid structure while thriving on impulsive flexibility?

Beyond the clinical definitions lies the heart of this episode: the reminder that knowing the individual transcends any diagnostic label. Tracie encourages listeners to engage with neurodivergent individuals through trial and error, emphasizing that imperfect attempts at inclusion demonstrate more care than avoidance out of fear of making mistakes. The goal isn't flawless implementation but persistent love that creates pathways for everyone to experience spiritual growth and community belonging.

Ready to transform how your faith community welcomes those with neurodevelopmental conditions? Discover more resources at indispensable-people.com and through Tracy's books "The Indispensable Kid" and "Gospel, Accessibility and the Indispensable People," available on Amazon.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a wife, mom, teacher,pastor and missionary, and I
believe that every person shouldhave the opportunity to know
Christ, grow in Him and serveHim with the gifts that he has
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans havea disability.
That's 25% of the population.

(00:26):
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics biblical foundations,
perceptions and welcome to thisepisode of Indispensable People.

(00:54):
Today we're talking ADHD, autismand the mix of both.
What does it look like?
How does it impact what we do,the interactions, what is the
person who is impacted by thosedisabilities going through, and
how can we come alongside them,especially as the church, to
support and accommodate as weminister?

(01:17):
So, first of all, let's diveinto definitions.
Into definitions, right.
Adhd is known as it's kind ofkey symptoms, as inattention,
hyperactivity, impulsivity, somesocial skill things that we
need to be aware of when itcomes to ADHD is that social

(01:38):
difficulties can occur, butthey're really secondary to
attention and executivefunctioning issues.
Also, we want to think aboutrestricted interest as it comes
to ADHD.
It's less common to haverestricted interest in ADHD than

(01:59):
it is in autism, and so theymight have focused interest, or
a word that is often used now isa hyper interest.
We want to think aboutemotional regulation they can
have.
Individuals with ADHD can havesome emotional dysregulation.
If you can imagine a brainthat's moving super fast trying

(02:24):
to process feelings and emotions, things that they're working
through.
That can have some difficulty.
As it comes to the cognitiveprofile, we want to consider
that those with ADHD mightstruggle with sustained
attention, working memory andcognitive flexibility.
Cognitive flexibility Somediagnostic criteria for ADHD

(02:46):
primarily focuses on inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity,
and some subtypes within thatare inattention, hyperactive and
impulsive combined.
So kind of the same things thatI just said.
Treatment for ADHD ofteninvolves medication or

(03:07):
behavioral therapy and othereducational supports when
considering the schools.
Now let's dive into autism,where we can see key symptoms as
social communication deficits,restricted and repetitive
behaviors.
Restricted and repetitivebehaviors when we talk about

(03:29):
social skills within the autismspectrum disorder, we want to
know that there are coredeficits in social reciprocity,
understanding social cues andengaging in back and forth
interactions.
Restricted interest there mightbe intense, focused interest.
Routines are very common.
We want to consider that whenit's emotional regulation, they

(03:53):
may have difficulties withemotional regulation.
Again, if you have rigidthinking or structured thinking
and something comes outside ofthat structured thinking, which
emotional type things don'ttypically follow along the lines
of, you know a structure, andso that's going to have some

(04:14):
difficulties within it, we wantto consider when it comes to the
cognitive profile that they mayexhibit, you know, some
exceptional attention to detail,might have some visual spatial
skills and pattern recognition,sometimes leading to savant type
abilities, or, you know, just ahigher intelligence in certain

(04:37):
areas.
Again, all of these descriptorsare not specific to every
single person with ADHD orautism.
It is varied among thoseindividuals.
So the basic diagnosticcriteria that is focused on when
considering autism is socialcommunication deficits,

(05:00):
restricted interest andrepetitive behaviors.
So the symptoms and thediagnostic criteria match up.
So, when it comes to treatmentof those with autism, you're
going to see those individualslikely to participate in
behavioral therapy, speechtherapy, occupational therapy
and, in a school setting,receiving educational supports.

(05:24):
So here's the next interestingpiece, and this is something
I've been seeing more of andreading about more of recently,
and that is the Audi ADHD I knowI'm saying it funny and weird
and autism.

(05:44):
It's autism and ADHD, umconcurrence.
And recently I saw a video andit was kind of like a group
therapy setup.
Of course it was fake and andpretending, um, but it
introduced okay, this is theADHD group, this is the autism
group.
And now we have a new memberand it's the Audi ADHD.

(06:08):
You know, um, and basically the, the interactive person, the
counselor, the therapist,whatever um says.
Okay, these are the charactersof AD, characteristics of ADHD,
these are the characteristics ofautism.
Which one do you lean moretowards?
And the crazy hard part isbecause the one person with ADHD

(06:36):
of course, doesn't necessarilythrive on.
They're kind of going withtheir impulses and their actions
and thoughts.
And then the person with ADHDor autism I person with autism
is focused on structure androutine and schedules, and so

(06:56):
the person in this video who hasboth says actually I need both
simultaneously, which soundsabsolutely impossible, right?
So let's go through somecharacteristics and some things
that the person with autism andADHD both look like.

(07:19):
So the key characteristics arethe individuals with auto ADHD
experience a combination ofsymptoms, both ADHD and autism
spectrum disorder Greatdefinition that I just found
right.
It's just going to just puts itright, lays it all on the line.
Absolutely not.
But then it indicates that whenit considers social

(07:42):
interactions.
They can have both difficultieswith reciprocity and challenges
with attention and executivefunction in social situations.
So if you can only imagine,first of all I struggle with
having conversation back andforth with you, but then I also
struggle with staying attentiveand on task while I'm doing it

(08:03):
Sounds very, very difficult.
So when it comes to interest,they may have intense interest
in routines, interest androutines, but also struggle with
shifting focus or adapting tochange.
So when they begin to hyperfocus, it's going to be very
difficult to move them on to thenext thing.

(08:25):
Transitions will probably bevery difficult within that
context.
When it comes to restrictedinterests, those interests,
again, it's gonna be theshifting the focus or adapting
to change.
The structured piece is going tohave the biggest impact.

(08:47):
When it comes to emotionalregulation, they can experience
significant emotionaldysregulation.
And if you can only imagineright, a brain that desires
structures, routines, things inorder, added to a brain that is
impulsive and interactive, andthen try to sort through your

(09:09):
emotions within that, thedifficulty is immense.
So the emotional regulationbecomes just a huge challenge.
When it comes to the cognitiveprofile of an individual with
both ADHD and autism, they'regoing to exhibit a mixed
strength, of strengths andchallenges related to both ADHD

(09:34):
and autism.
Again, that's gonna be aninstance where you get to
interact with the individualperson and really see their
individuality and what thatdiagnosis might mean for all of
those different things.
So it's really a personalgetting to know.

(09:56):
That is going to give you thetrue picture into that
individual.
And when it comes to diagnosingthese types of things, it's
really a huge challenge becauseone diagnosis makes the other
one more difficult and they mayrequire some specialized

(10:17):
assessments as they go.
And the treatment of thosethings is they're gonna have a
combination of interventionsboth for the ADHD and autism and
they're going to address thosewithin that individual and the

(10:39):
needs that they have.
Again, it's going to becomemore individual specific.
So, although ADHD and autismare separate neurodevelopmental
disorders, they definitely sharesome symptoms and both
conditions can affect attentionspans and communication, but
there are key differencesbetween them and whenever they
are combined it definitelycompounds the issues.

(11:05):
So it is a complex considerationthat I would say even
therapists, behavior specialists, educators those who are much
more readily interactive havebeen learning about this, have

(11:29):
been taught about this are goingto struggle to some extent to
figure out, simply because it'sjust not.
It's going to be individual,specific and it is really
combining some characteristicsof each thing that are

(11:50):
completely opposite.
So we want to consider thosethings within the individual and
, again, I can never tell youenough definitions, enough
recommendations that will bemore important than getting to

(12:14):
know the person.
Getting to know the person isgoing to give you the direction
that you need and sometimes it'sgonna come with trial and error
of how to support that personand some things will work and
some things won't work, and Iwould say that you are better
off for trying than to not tryat all.

(12:35):
We won't get it all right allthe time and that's okay.
The love and respect that wehave for each individual to try,
even if we might get it wrong,is going to be more caring and
loving and including andpurposeful, and all of that

(13:00):
wrapped into one, than we'llever get from a label, a
diagnosis, a definition of anysite.
So we just want to make surethat we are supporting that
person in the way that they need.
That's going to be the mostimportant thing Individual,

(13:25):
caring, loving, open doors,willing to go through the hard
stuff not always getting itright to make the gospel
accessible so that every personcan know, grow and serve him.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?

(13:46):
I have absolutely not, but weare going to continue this
conversation so that people ofall abilities can have the
opportunity to know Christ, growin him and serve him with the
gifts that he has given them andserve him with the gifts that
he has given them.
For deeper dives into thesetopics and more, check out

(14:08):
indispensablepeoplecom and visitAmazon to purchase the books
the Indispensable Kid and Gospel, accessibility and the
Indispensable People.