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ADHD and Autism
Is There a Connection? By Kelly Burgess
Further testing confirmed that Sam and Tom both had Asperger's syndrome.
"This was such a revelation for me because it explained so much about my marriage and our family relationships and marital relationships that had often been difficult," says Kennedy. "It wasn't long before I began to put this obvious genetic link together with a link to the problems my older sons were having as well."
She began promulgating her theory about an ADHD/autism link to anyone who would listen, speaking at conferences and, eventually, writing the book.
Then, a year ago, she was attending a conference when she was stopped in the hall by neuroscientist Eric Courchesne who was profiled in Newsweek because of his research into predicting autism. An article had just come out about researchers who were looking for an ADHD gene and found that the genes these people had in common had already been identified in people with autism.
"Eric stopped me in the hall and we talked about the article that had come out on the subject," says Kennedy. "Then he told me that my book was the hypothesis and that study was the conclusion. I felt validated."
After being what she refers to as a "one-woman army" for so long, Kennedy is now finding much acceptance for her radical theory. Since she came across this discovery "intuitively" eight years ago, there have been some very concrete findings that are close to proving her theory as fact.
While she's more than grateful that her crusade is helping to define effective future diagnoses and treatments for children with ADHD and autism, she's even more grateful that her sons are doing so well in their lives. Now 18 and 20, Jeff and Ben are pursuing careers, while Sam, 13, is working through his issues with plenty of support from his understanding family. Kennedy could back off now, but she won't.
"As long as I have a breath in me, I will continue to fight for better diagnosis of these disorders in children," says Kennedy. "This is an issue that parents care passionately about because it affects their children. As long as I can continue to help them, I have my life's work."