Did you ever wonder if your ADHD child is also a gifted kid? Most people think that it cannot be possible but there have been many studies that proves that there are a lot of kids who are ADHD and gifted.
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The gifted ADHD child is also likely to show higher level functioning in at least one subject area. Abstract reasoning ability in particular is often well developed and in advance of other more basic skill levels. Gifted children with ADHD may also differ from more average children in the greater degree of asynchrony (differences in degree of development across cognitive, social and emotional areas compared to age and IQ) they show. They may behave less maturely than average peers some of the time, but more maturely at other times, for example, making airplane noises in school at age 7 and 8, but on the other hand, having advanced ideas about how to play complex games. They also can be far more emotional than age peers with AD/HD. Sensitivity is an important aspect of giftedness, and gifted children with ADHD show their sensitivity in awareness of the external environment, internal states and feelings, projective identification with aspects of their field of interest, in empathy and compassion for others and in passionate feelings for people and causes. When feelings are negative, gifted children with ADHD can become overwhelmed by worries that would never occur to the more average child. Gifted children with ADHD often have more specialized interests than age peers, and perform similar activities in more complex ways. Gifted children with ADHD need and like more complexity than age peers, and seek it out in activities and interests. Interests may be pursued over a number of years and to an intense degree. Some also pursue many activities over the course of years, and become proficient in several diverse areas of accomplishment. Friendships tend to reflect both the giftedness and the ADHD of the child. These children have advanced needs for complexity in friendships, want to share complex interests, and have more advanced understanding of rules, games and strategies than age peers; however, they also exhibit deficits in social behavior, misreading social cues and showing poor timing and lack of understanding of group goals and group dynamics. Often concerns about fairness are paramount and reflect the gifted children's advanced moral reasoning ability, while immature emotional development is shown in the children's inability to act on these same moral issues. Thus, the child insists on fairness in game rules, until he or she starts to lose. Then fairness becomes less salient than winning. |
I have met a few children with ADHD who have been gifted with absolutely incredible memories.
A teenage neighbor of mine with ADHD would be a good example of this. With the ADHD, he has many behavioral issues, but his memory of listing things is excellent.
The other day, I was just setting off to work when he was coming out of his house to go to school, so I gave him a lift to school in my car. on the way, he asked me what glutamate was, and I replied that I wasn't sure, but I thought it was used as a thickener in food and drink, to which he replied that if it wasn't the same as gluten, then my husband and daughter would be able to drink a fruit drink that was his favorite.
To this I replied that, there were other things as well as gluten that my husband and daughter couldn't have including malt.
I was totally taken back, when he reeled off the list of ingredients in the fruit drink from beginning to end from memory, including malt extract, from greatest ingredient to least ingredient.
Most people wouldn't be able to do this from memory without any prompting, and I consider him to have been gifted with a great gift, if used wisely, it could do him well in the future.
I am a gifted child (well, a sixteen-year old) with ADD. That sounds rather arrogant, but I don't intend it that way.
I have struggled with finding a place to fit in socially and academically. With people my own age, I have no self-confidence, with strong feelings of being "different" or "out of place." One of my closest friends has even told me once, "I used to hate you because you were smart," referring to my 7th grade year, when I would sit in the back of my advanced math class and construct my own lesson out of problems in a college textbook. I relate best to people I meet in their twenties, befriending the staff at my camp instead of the fellow campers, having enjoyable conversations with my teachers yet feeling lost when I talk to my lab partner.
Although I have clear understanding of the work my classes cover, and participate knowledgeably in class discussions, my ADD causes focusing and attention issues, causing me to fail to stay on task and complete assignments on time. Sometimes I cannot motivate myself to begin them at all, instead focusing on conversations around me, or a song playing in my mind, or a particularly pretty sight outside of the classroom window. As a result, I can score a 98% on my midterm exam, yet fail the class quarter because of missing work. Try explaining that to your mom.
Also, my sensitivity to emotion has led me to my two passions in life: caring for animals, and artistic expression. I am constantly writing poetry, singing, or acting to release the turbulent and ever-changing emotions I hold in all other times. And with animals, I feel the nonjudgemental emotion they have; whether it is love, joy, or why-is-this-lady-sticking-a-thermometer-in-my-WAITAMINUTE, it isn't marred by social expectations, and it puts me at ease.
Being gifted with ADD is never easy, but it's made me who I am, and I wouldn't change a thing. At times I might get really low, but there's always something that will pick me up again. Even if it's just a really cool math problem. Oh, the nerd in me.
~Anna~
PS. I hope this gave a little first-hand perspective to this.
Oh yeah, having the mentality to play complex games really suits the category (mind games that is). You have no idea what I always think about and say that people would never think about or say(shocks people all the time).Sometimes it's about what people are going to say, and finding their reaction by doing something. one of the thing I love doing it's always something in the normal perspective would find shameful or embarrassing.
it's like this imagine when people talk their is a limit of weirdness, say the anchor only reaches the bottom but a lot of time when I talk I go beyond that. Have anyone tried picking their nose and asking something that would put people in awkward situations and then they'll say something like "you need to get an assessment done"
I'm very sure there were many times I wanted to see people drown and I bet a lot of normal people don't think like this oh and by the way even I weight 230 pounds I like to swim in deep lake water. ADHD is what makes me naturally a great swimmer. Other people weighting 230 by weight lifting probably would sink or bum into me like at the pool. It is by law I'm a retard(pwd) however I always thought that normal people are sport retarded. I'm in the B.C special olympic under the organization of the Richmond B.C coordinator, and I'm trained by the head coach that teaches swimming. There are plenty of swimmers in the special olympic that can beat a normal person any day. That is why at the swim meets I have no respect for the people timing me for record to the head office.(many of the times I yell beside in their year "HOW DO I DO breaststroke" or I go (?) and do a lot of pointing telling them to get out of my right of way, they have no rights to tell us how we should sit and prepare if they're weaker than us.(I know this because I'm a weight lifter I can literally bend them if they talk like they're so much better than me again).
Message Edited... Persephone: Please keep your messages free from extra characters while using good grammar. You will notice most Posts here are written without the use of excessive smilies or Teeny Bopper scribbles. |
Yes, I have been diagnosed with ADD, and am on 54 mg of Concerta, and 10 mg of Ritalin in the morning and afternoon (for before and after the Concerta is effective). These medications are helpful with focusing issues, yet I find that when they wear off they cause an emotional "crash," which leads to a more depressed feeling later on in the day.
While the medications do help, they are not miracle drugs. I find myself micromanaging and obsessing over details, and there are still issues with attention. The times when I focus the best are when I am expressing myself through performing on stage. However, I sometimes feel as if the medications impede my creativity, and I am reluctant to take them when I go to rehearsals or performances.
~Anna~
Thanks Anna for sharing. When my son and daughter (twins) were 5 I was told that they should be tested. I believe they thought my kids were ADHD, my husband refused. He somehow believed that they were misdiagnosing kids and druging them which later would have an negative effect on them later and they become addictive. They reason the school suggested this was because my daughter had a focusing problem it was hard for her to sit still. My son as well, they are now 8 and still have the same issues, not as bad thought. We never had them tested. My son is having problems in school focusing he is very bright and can bring home a hundred
in regular classes and for exams he will bring home a 82. His teacher constantly tells me he can do better if only he focuses.
Paintingblue
Paintingblue said:
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I believe they thought my kids were ADHD, my husband refused. He somehow believed that they were misdiagnosing kids and druging them which later would have an negative effect on them later and they become addictive |
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They reason the school suggested this was because my daughter had a focusing problem it was hard for her to sit still. My son as well, they are now 8 and still have the same issues, not as bad thought. We never had them tested. My son is having problems in school focusing he is very bright and can bring home a hundred in regular classes and for exams he will bring home a 82. His teacher constantly tells me he can do better if only he focuses |