Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Gifted DS misdiagnosed with ADHD?

I spoke on another thread about how I suspected by DS may be gifted in visual spatial learning due to his test scores when he just turned 6 and was diagnosed with ADHD. The scores are here if you're interested: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....s/233061/Gifted_DD_2e_DS.html#Post233061

Something new has come to light which has made me wonder even more if he is gifted and has, in fact, been misdiagnosed. He has a Snap Circuits kit which he loves and we got it out again this week for the first time in many months. It didn't hit me before, I guess because I never considered that he may be gifted, but I noticed that he can sit alone and focus and play with it for an hour or more. Also, he doesn't follow the projects that come with it, he insists on making up his own.

A lot of material I've read about misdiagnosis of ADHD states that the lack of concentration and focus should be in ALL areas which makes me wonder. Thoughts?

It's entirely possible that your ds may have been misdiagnosed. Yes, I agree with you that if your child can sustain attention for long stretches of time with a book, a snap circuit, or something else that engages him and stretches his mind that it's possible your ds doesn't have ADHD.

My ds10 was misdiagnosed with ADHD at age 6. We took him to neurofeedback instead of medicating him after we saw an expert who recommended it. Neurofeedback confirmed that ds doesn't have ADHD based on his actual brain wave activity. Also, ds is 2e/pg and the OEs can make it look like ADHD. That's another factor many people without expertise on giftedness or 2e kids miss.

Some individuals report hyper focusing with ADHD: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo...dhd-hyperfocus-what-is-it-and-how-use-it

So, I'm not sure that your example rules out ADHD.

In addition, neurofeedback is somewhat controversial as a treatment for ADHD:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mentserv.html

Here's a better link re: neurofeedback:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4892319/

I am a gifted adult with ADHD, and hyper-focus was the reason that many teachers argued against the ADHD diagnosis when I was a child.

How does he do with activities that he doesn't enjoy. Is he able to apply his talents and see a project through? One of the things that I noticed when I hyper focus is that the world kind of quiets down.

One common misconception about ADHD is that it is a deficit in paying attention (hmm, maybe the name has something to do with that!). It is actually a deficit in regulation of attention--so individuals may have, at different times, difficulty sustaining attention, or shifting attention. Another misconception is that the deficit should be without exception. Everyone, diagnosis or no, is more successful at sustaining attention for high-interest tasks, and shifting away from boring tasks. The more significant skills would be the ability to maintain attention for low-interest tasks, and the ability to shift attention away from high-interest tasks.

My 10 year old has very obvious ADHD. But she taught herself to read in preschool by following along with audiobooks, and she can focus for hours on things like computer games. Even the computer coding course that she did independently at home, she would stay on task. But she has a big problem staying on task with academic work, esp. if it involves writing, and has a lot of problems with distractability, except for certain tasks like reading a book she really likes. Or doing arts/crafts projects. She stays on task for things that she really enjoys but has a really hard time with other things.

Well said!

Thanks 75west and Flyingmouse for your responses.

I'm not sure if he is hyperfocusing as the article in the link describes how the participants becomes engulfed in the activity and loses track of time and energy. My DS was very focused on the Snap Circuits but then was quite happy to get ready and go out and play soccer for an hour (after a full day of school) - another activity which he seems to have a natural talent for and is able to concentrate on (for the most part!). Granted, he was wiped afterwards though!

I don't enough about neurofeedback to provide an opinion but it seems to be one of those methods that creates a lot of contention between experts.