Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Interesting article about ADHD in the NY Times

This article about ADHD cites research showing that ~11% of US children have been diagnosed with ADHD.


Anecdotal, but this was certainly our experience recently. A school psychologist diagnosed my son with ADHD after talking with us and his teacher for a little while. DS wasn't even at the meeting. IMO, I think a big part of the problem is that the schools' expectations have changed, and their new expectations aren't necessarily compatible with healthy behavior in a lot of kids.

I'm NOT saying ADHD doesn't exist. But I do believe it's being overdiagnosed.

I didn't bookmark it, but someone said on here the other day that somebody has compared brain scans and gifted children have an area that develops in other children at age six that doesn't develop in gifted children until age eleven that looks very similar to adhd. Probly should have bookmarked or cut and pasted the specifics because I can't find it now. I need it because I was trying to explain asynchronisity and if you wait until a kid's mature enough to quit talking and do his work without being reminded then you've wasted way too long waiting to statt teaching them academics. You know, the maturity will come for most with time, education won't come with time but only if it's given.

But yeah, medications have their place. They all have side effects and they're not candy. Who knows? Maybe they really are just getting better at diagnosing it. I've read here that the best rule of thumb is that the medication is for the child. If the child is suffering and the medication helps it's right. If the child is making everyone around him suffer the medication is not right for that situation. To me that sounds reasonable, but of course everybody can make their own judgement for their own family.

Hi La Texican,
I think this is the research you want (gifted brain cortex thickness study):

That must be it. "The brain cortex thickens faster but the thickening process peaks later in gifted children, didn't start thickening until age seven and didn't finish thickening until age eleven or twelve where the average child finishes thickening and starts thinning at the age of eight." and googling "adhdh cortex thickening" the same NIMH website said "adhd youth average peak thickness at age 10.5 compared to the average age of 7.5. . The delay in ADHD was most prominent in regions at the front of the brain’s outer mantle (cortex), important for the ability to control thinking, attention and planning."
Certainly bookmarked.




Thank you Zen Scanner.

So in other words, the kids with the superior IQ levels are subject to very ADHD-like behaviours at the age when my DS8 was diagnosed (7 yrs) with severe combined type. Hmm. I'm looking at the blue line on the graph again and seeing that at age 7, the highest IQs had the thinnest cortices.

I just love threads like this (mis-dx of ADHD = one of my pet peeves).

(Mind you... there are days when I'm certain he has it.)

I'm also in Australia, and I do find it to be over diagnosed here (in Adelaide). I have known several people to be misdiagnosed, when they had dyslexia/Tourette's/giftedness/issues with abuse in the home. It seems anytime a child is not acting "normal", they are branded ADD/ADHD.

I think even 2% is too high.

The diagnosis of ADD was instead of, rather as well; once it was discovered the real reason for their poor concentration or misbehavior, the ADD diagnosis disappeared. For that, I am glad that medication is not prescribed often in Oz. One friend in high school had "ADD", when in turn was abuse, and the meds didn't work so well for him.

I will point out that I don't actually know anyone who has ADD/ADHD, so I have no knowledge of how well drugs work for those that may need it.

I am no expert on asthma, but don't people die from asthma attacks? And do asthma medications alter the way the brain works?