Taking things literally

[Getittogethergirl]

I know taking things literally is a symptom of Autism Spectrum Disorder but can it also be a trait of someone with ADHD? My son has ADHD and often (not always) takes people too seriously. For example, When he was younger he’d get mad if someone called him a “little boy.” Now he gets his feelings hurt because he misreads what someone is saying to or about him as an insult. I can’t think of an example right now but I find myself often explaining what people “intended” by their comments to him. He doesn’t really have any other traits of ASD, so I’m wondering if this is just a personality quirk of his or if it’s related to ADHD or something else. I’m also wondering what to do to help him socially interpret for himself better because I can see this turning into social anxiety as he misinterprets and overthinks what’s said to him and how he responds. He is 8.

[AdeleS546]

It could be Rejection sensitive dysphoria.

[Julie62]

Hi, my son is 25 now and still does this, but he is more self aware that he is doing it and gets less upset about it. You are doing a great job by helping your son understand what people actually meant. I used to try and find books and stories to read to him which we could then relate to taking things literally and hopefully laugh about. Also his Dad takes things literally too, so I could say to my son “what did you really mean when you said that to your Dad, because he thinks you meant something different!!” So he could see it from the other persons point of view. Eventually instead of getting upset he would say “what do you mean?”. Hope that helps a bit! X

[Penny Williams]

You’re right that it’s more commonly seen with an autism diagnosis, but it can be true of those with ADHD as well. Many are literal, concrete, black-and-white thinkers. They have to learn to look for and interpret body language, tone of voice, and other nuances to see the actual intention. My son has both diagnoses and really struggled with concrete thinking, especially with analogies and figures of speech, for many years. Around middle school he started to learn to pay attention to unspoken language/communication and does a LOT better with it now, at 17.

My son’s autism is very subtle and took 3 clinicians to diagnose because he kept getting dismissed for not having the stereotypical autism symptoms. Personally, I believe ADHD and autism are one spectrum together.

Autism and ADHD: The Complete Playbook for Social Challenges

All that to say, your son could very well struggle with this and have just ADHD, or he could have very subtle autism along with ADHD. The answer will differ based on the clinician you ask, unfortunately. The bottom line really is to work on building his non-verbal language awareness and skills.

Penny
ADDitude Community Moderator, Parenting ADHD Coach, Podcaster & Author, Mom to teen w/ ADHD, LDs, and autism

[marleyjsmith]

I do this too, and have done since I was quite young. I’m 34 now and still struggle with it. I wasn’t aware that it could be an ADHD thing, as I’ve only ever seen it associated with autism. Penny, I personally would be interested in hearing more about the concrete, black and white, literal thinkers with ADHD. Are there articles on that on here?

[Penny Williams]

I’m not seeing anything on ADDitude but you can google and find some resources.

Penny
ADDitude Community Moderator, Parenting ADHD Coach, Podcaster & Author, Mom to teen w/ ADHD, LDs, and autism

[marleyjsmith]

I keep forgetting to reply to this, haha. Thanks, Penny! I googled and found some interesting readings.

[Getittogethergirl]

Thanks so much for the insights.

[althafzayn]

im a 22 year old architect…im taking everything personally..every comment..every unintended avoidance..

[Yarlan Zey]

I think an ADHD person can be vulnerable to getting offended “easily”. However, they should generally be able to interpret things less literally if, for example, they witness someone else being offended. They may be able to see both points of view and see how the offended person may be taking things too literally. Or sometimes they may feel too much empathy for the person being offended and feel similarly offended. If that makes any sense.

[eyeonthesky]

I used to do that, both too literally and too seriously. Nowadays it only tends to show up under stress. I think in my case, I fell behind socially partly due to lack of interest in the fine details of people but maybe I had some other quirk, and then there’s the trouble processing one’s own emotions. Since taking atomoxetine with some immediate results (when they say it takes weeks to work), I think it has to do with a faulty “landing net” between the conscious and unconscious mind so that there isn’t much of a chance to process the information before reacting to it. The right mix of meds and therapies could help.

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