Special Interets ASD:

-up to 90% people with ASD develop SI

-develop at a young age and persist into adulthood, people usually accumulate many special interests as they grow up

-little known about SI in adults, but speculated that people with ASD would be more drawn to systemizable interests such as sciences, mechanics, etc

Special/Intense Interests NT:

-around 30% of NT children develop intense or special interests between ages of 1-4 years old

-intense interests typically do not persist into adulthood

-interests more to do with people, imagined play, and social environments on a broad level

-speculated that adults would be more drawn to mentalizing interests such as sports, people, or games

Special Interests in ASD vs Intense Interets in Neurotypical (NT) Individuals

It was observed that girls with ASD interacted differently with their interests than boys with ASD or girls without ASD, with a notable amount fixating on fiction, dolls, and animals. These fixations usually were atypically strong, for example wanting to contact authors and write with no intention of making it a career or using it for school, animal fixations extending to wanting to be that animal or adopt mannerisms, and inserting one-self into the dolls' world instead of playing with others or just having the dolls play with each other.

Special Interests in Girls with ASD

Both people with ADHD and people with ASD report having special interests or hyperfixations, but it seems that the term "hyperfixation" is more commonly used in reference to ADHD and "special interest" is more often used in reference to ASD. Is there really a difference or is it just semantics? Could ADHD hyperfixations also be an autistic trait since comorbidity is high between the two but co-occurance is often missed?

Is There A Difference Between Special Interests and Hyperfixations?

previously called "restricted" or "circumscribed" interests, but now believed to be more related to information processing and cognitive strengths than repetitive behaviors. Can develop as early as 1-4 years old and occur mainly in children with ASD but neurotypical children can also develop intense interests (though there are differences)

Ithaca College

- About 12-13% of those diagnosed with ADHD have co-occuring Autism Spectrum Disorder 
- About 40-70% of those diagnosed with autism have co-occuring ADHD and 
- ADHD and ASD are both estimated to be 70-80% genetically-influenced, although research has not yet identified which genes influence the development of ADHD and ASD 
- Social difficulties are commonly associated with ASD, but certain common behaviors in ADHD (getting distracted during conversations, not remembering important dates, having difficulty taking turns) can also indirectly cause difficulty in social settings 
- Both ADHD and ASD are associated with greater rates of executive dysfunction  

Co-occuring ASD and ADHD 

Caldwell-Harris, Catherine L., & Jordan, Chloe J. (2014). Systemizing and special interests: Characterizing the continuum from neurotypical to autism spectrum disorder. Learning and Individual Differences, Volume 29, 98-105. ISSN 1041-6080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.10.005.

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