Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional maladaptive daydreaming?

I think this is what is going on with my DS10 (in addition to possible Tourettes plus OCD)

Does anyone have a kid that does this? I don't mean to just daydream a lot, I mean daydreams on steroids with pacing, jumping, facial expressions, laughing etc. and very very detailed, triggered by films, tv, books etc.

He has self described as being in this state in his classroom at school 70% of the time - meaning he is aware of what is going on in the class for only 30% of the time but is still pulling proficient and advanced scores.. which would explain why he is not working above grade level...

He is in this state at home probably at least 50% of the time. Since he had no other ADD symptoms I didn't know what was going on... now that I know he is lost in a dream I can see what is happening.

Does anyone else have a kid doing this?

DS7 has always paced/skipped while daydreaming. He'll get going in a circuit around an empty area or just go back and forth and get lost in his own head a while.

He will go a few days without doing it if the situation isn't right or he's occupied with reality. We went on vacation with my brothers family and he was so busy playing with his cousins he didn't do it all week.

He does seem to enjoy it. It is a "thing" to do for him. Like reading, watching TV, playing with toys or riding his bike, he'll announce that he is going to go think.

I was wondering if it might be channelled into exercise at some point. Maybe running, swimming or cycling? I think running at a track or swimming laps would be safest because he is so in his head, I think he'd be dangerous in traffic.

Uh oh. Uh, yes. This is totally my kid. He calls his "creative shocks" - many times he will come "write" (i.e., dictate or type) the resulting stories. But yes he does this. To me, I think it looks very, very much like Stereotypic Movement Disorder. It's pretty much my kid to a T. I have posted about it here before.

I went to link the thread I started on it and I saw you had posted there recently. Linking it again for your convenience: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....typic_Movement_Disorder_.html#Post194825
Be sure to take a look at the article I link there!

My son tells me ( and I not sure how true it is or how accurate his perception is) that he doesn't do it in school as much anymore. He says it's combination of his being more busy and engaged and also he is purposely trying to be more private about it since it "looks weird."

Oh and in order to get our son out of his "dream" - we would say "Okay, DS, pause it... pause your story for later we got to go!" At one time, we were even saying "beep!" to indicate that we had paused his "movie" LOL.

I hate getting too personal on here but totally used to do it too ( I did it in a different way than my son and I hid it better than he but it was essentially the same thing). So I think it may have a genetic component. My father used to pace constantly and be in his own world while pacing around repetitively. I remember doing it as far back as I can remember, but it only got "bad" when I was anxious and stressed. In my teen years, I had so much trauma and crazy bad home stuff happening I couldn't do anything but "maladapaptive daydreaming." It was actually very debilitating. But I got out of the situation eventually (over 4 years) and recovered.... Obviously I am fine now and don't do it at all now. So I guess one can also grow out of it to a certain extent?

Irena I don't think it is stereotypic movement disorder because he paces-also onset is wrong he started later. SMD does not seem to be associated with OCD whereas MD is. My DS is showing OC and anxiety and that's why I'm leaning towards MD. But there are a lot of similarities and they might turn out to be the same or similar conditions.

I just saw your last post-I think it is genetic although I didn't have it. And I do t hink you can grow out of it too -thanks for answering.

I started a similar thread about tantrums resulting from this. My DD is on a swim team and swims 4-5 hours a week. I think she daydreams while swimming, though. I insisted she play Settlers of Catan with me last night, rather than reading or daydreaming. It helped, I think.

I may find a hands-on kit for her to do with DH while I'm at work so that she's problem solving instead of day dreaming. iDK

In MD exercise seems to be important to "improving" the daydreaming... some adults who do this run, some pace, some skip- some shake something in their hand like a pen, etc.

I spent a lot of time on the internet reading self reporting maladaptive daydreamers's experiences. That's why I'm not sure about the SMD because the onset of MD appears to be around 6 or 7, but SMD is usually very early on (from birth to 3 years old). I only noticed him doing this at about the same time he started the tics (about 6 or 7)

Also the adults and teens who have MD describe it as almost being addictive and some are searching for answers on how to stop it. In both SMD and MDD you can apparently stop the dream when you want to, but you enjoy it and don't want to. In both tv can be a trigger (which is what is triggering my DS).

I did read the whole thing that Irena posted about SMD which was really *incredibly* helpful (it was the first thing that made sense to me), but then I called John Hopkins and spoke to someone involved in the SMD studies there and the onset didn't really fit, plus I looked at a lot of youtube videos and most of the kids with SMD were not pacing they had flapping or hand movements- nothing that looked like what my kid is doing. When I read both descriptions MD seems to fit better. He does it anytime he is bored etc. For instance, I asked if he does it when he plays games with his friends at school, and he said only when he is out of the game. He has done it (with pacing in a circle) in class- the teacher says he just catches his eye and he sits back down. However my son tells me the teacher doesn't know how *much* daydreaming he is doing..so I assume that he is not having to pace every time he daydreams (which also seems separate from SMD). One seems to be just a neurological condition, and the other seems to possibly be related to anxiety / OCD since (on the internet anecdotally - meaning take it with a grain of salt) it has been treatable to some extent with SSRIs.The person at John Hopkins said only therapy but not meds were effective on SMD. The person who did the more recent study on MD using self reported information from people posted this here https://www.scribd.com/doc/20700187/Daydreamers-Anonymous-Prelim-Findings. I think she also has posted her study on Scribd but I have to purchase it to read it (which is next).

But again they may be the same condition or similar conditions. They are remarkably similar.

Oh and if we look at this through the gifted filter, we get imaginational overexcitabilites...