Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADD/ADHD at private school

My 6 years old daughter is attending kindergarten at a private school. I just got her trimester report. In the report, the teacher says, "She does not listen when her peers are speaking, thus she is often unable to respond appropriately in the group discussion. She frequently needs me to repeat my question when I call on her to respond.� I know that my daughter has a very short attention span and many other symptoms of ADD/ADHD, but it is still shocking for me to hear that directly from the teacher. The teacher also says in the report that my daughter �also needs a great deal of teacher support when it comes to her handwriting.�

Some background information: Based on my observation of my daughter, she learns very fast (if she is focused, which is a big IF) and always sees things in her own ways. She has near photographic memory of visual information, though she is not very sensitive to numbers. As part of the admission process to the kindergarten of the private school, my daughter took a one-hour cognitive assessment at the school last December. After the test, the first word the psychologist said to me was �WOW�. Then she said that she was �running out of things to test your daughter�. I didn�t get a full report because the admission office said that �we don�t give the full IQ test, we only use a few subtests for admissions purposes. Therefore, we are unable to provide you with a full report.� And actually my daughter got an �Average� for the last test for Processing Speed even though the Full Score is �Very Superior�. The psychologist added a note in the one-page report saying that she feels the Average for Processing Speed �is most likely underestimated as your daughter became fatigued at the end of the test.� I�m not 100% whether the cognitive assessment is WPPSI IV.

On the other hand, my daughter does have many symptoms of ADD/ADHD and Tourette Syndrome. If I were the one filling in the Vanderbilt or SNAP-IV Assessment Scales forms, she certainly will be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. And she also couldn�t pass some causal ADD/ADHD tests like finger tapping. The only thing that may say the opposite is my daughter�s �superior� working memory as also noted in the one-page cognitive assessment report, which is strongly against the ADD/ADHD diagnosis.

Now back to the question: The private school my daughter is attending is a competitive one and is hard to get in. If it is a public school it probably would be better for me to get my daughter diagnosed and to advocate for her to get IEP or 504. But I�m afraid that the private school may not be willing to divert resources for her and may simply ask us to transfer to public school. Initially I was hoping that my daughter�s cognitive ability could carry her over until high school when she may be able to grow out of it. But now it seems that the teachers have already noticed that and are very unhappy about that. Even though my daughter is placed in an advanced language art group and did well in all the reading comprehension and spelling tests, she probably gets more warnings for absent-mindedness and bad handwriting than praises. It may very well lower her grades and is gradually starting to affect her self-esteem now.
This makes me worry about her now. Should I get my daughter diagnosed and advocate for her at the private school, or should I just do nothing and wait till middle or high school to see if she could grow out of it? We really don�t want to leave the pirate school. Not only because it is a very good school but also my daughter has all her best friends there and is generally happy at school playing with friends. Does anyone have any experience with advocating ADD/ADHD kids at private schools?

Thanks. Any input is very much appreciated.

Well, here some things from my experience. In my eyes ADD/ADHD is pure psuedo science, much as drapetomania. You need a label for where society fails to meet the needs of an individual person.


Nearly every gifted person I've met who has been professionally accessed via an IQ test has scored low or very low in processing. In my case I scored in the 0.25 percentile of the population, despite having scores in other area in the 99.95 percentile. The psychologist thought I had done it intentionally, saying he has never seen such a low score expect on those who are profoundly delayed or retarded developmentally.


But if you ask me any person who is truly gifted will score low in processing speed. The gifted brain examines everything under an electron microscope ingesting and processing all data by default taking its time to meticulously examine all of it. You can do it quick and sloppy, or take your time and do it right so to speak. Remember, anything the requires intense mental concentration be it drawing the blueprints up to a skyscraper or investigating a complex crime takes time just because there is so much to work with, and all of it must be checked/rechecked as to assure its correct. Same happens in one of those tests. Speed is sacrificed for quality. Also one must bear in mind the tests themselves are more for average than gifted. Many have theorized the lower or higher the IQ the more likely the test will not be accurate.


This does not exactly prove my point, but its worth reading imho:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10447


Personally If I was in your shoes Id try and get the school to accept your daughter and work with her, provided she enjoying going there and like the environment.

I do need to comment that it is not true that most GT individuals, let alone all of the "truly gifted", score below average in processing speed. The large-scale data sets say that GT individuals score, as a group, higher in processing speed than NT individuals do. That being said, processing speed does tend to be -relatively- lower than higher-level cognitive areas (reasoning/abstraction), but still usually in the Average to High Average ranges (and sometimes much higher). And, of course, some GT individuals do score very low in processing speed, for a variety of reasons. IOW, the whole range of processing speed performance occurs somewhere in the GT population.

And as much as I think that we overpathologize in our culture, I would also hesitate to throw out all of the data (including fMRI and genetics studies) on ADHD.

Along both of those lines, I would also be conservative about looking for an ADHD diagnosis right now. If something is interfering with your DC's happiness, growth and development as a whole person, or access to resources that she needs, then it may be worth investigating further, which may include a comprehensive psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation. But I wouldn't go in fishing for a specific diagnosis.

Thank you, aeh. I agree completely.

I think it's good to avoid generalizing. Some people are very smart and very quick. Some aren't. Labeling people ("quick and sloppy") honestly doesn't help.

Perhaps misunderstandings about high processing speed are similar to misunderstandings about high IQ. I'm HG+ and have very fast processing speed. This trait doesn't mean that I rush through tasks. It just means that I can see something, get it into my brain, interpret it, and respond faster than most other people. Examples include a quick reaction when the red light changes to green while simultaneously checking for red light runners and knowing the color of the next light and the likelihood of its changing before I get to it, being able to see a path through a traffic jam, or being able to calculate quickly. It doesn't mean that I rush through work while relying on "fast processing" to compensate, as implied by quick and sloppy.

In fact, I have a tendency to check the veracity of things I read rather than being sloppy and accepting things.

OP: your child is still very young. Could part of the problem just be that she's a little kid who doesn't really want to sit still? Schools these days expect a lot more from kids than they used to, in ways that aren't necessarily realistic. My eldest was accused of having ADHD by a kindergarten teacher who didn't realize that he was fidgeting because he could read chapter books and she was teaching about the letter "b." This is a real problem for many HG+ kids.

Best to remember I never labelled anyone quick or sloppy, it was just a rough analogy - not a literal description - hence the "so to speak". 2 people have to do a task like baking a cake. One does it quickly, the other takes their time. The latter is more likely produce a uniform result. This is not meant to say Gifted can not have very fast processing. But in my real life experience, gifted people scoring low on processing while scoring high on all else is not uncommon.

Eyl, for what it's worth, my DS6 scored quite highly on working memory, but has severe ADHD. He took the SBV, which doesn't include processing speed, but I don't see him having any problems in that area. He takes meds now, but when he took the test he was not medicated. There seem to be at least some kids out there who have ADHD and great working memory.

I'd agree with aeh and val in that it may be nothing or it may be something else or it may just be part of being gifted/a poor fit with the curriculum, but if your daughter is unhappy/unsuccessful it wouldn't hurt to look into it further. One of the main reasons we started meds for my son was how poorly he felt about himself due to his inability to be successful at home and school. His self esteem has really bounced back lately and he is happy again. He is also going to a private school and they are great about helping him and being understanding.

I'll just ignore the resident expert Dr. Edward on ADHD. Surely he has done plenty of studies to back up his claims that ADHD is pseudoscience and I can't wait to read them. Do come back and let us know when they are published.

Well, thats a leap on my credentials. But in all seriousness, how can relative observation be science? Show me the blood test for ADHD if I am so wrong.

Show me the blood test for autism, dyslexia, schizophrenia, obesity, intellectual disability, high IQ, dry skin, good sense of smell, or ignorance.

I think we both would agree there is no blood test for any of those. But things like obesity can still be measured via scale and measure.

On the side of IQ, even that is technically relative from an observational standpoint. A gifted person may appear dumb, average or brilliant to any one average observer regardless where the other really stands. This of course is not meant to deny or disparage anyone, but just to show the outcome of observation without measure.

If you knew anything about ADHD, you would know it is measured via a scale. A rating scale. Just like any other diagnosis in the DSM. You don't believe in any of them, or just ADHD? All of us here have children who were diagnosed with giftedness using a scale. There is nothing out there to indicate that it is any more reliable than the scales used to diagnose depression, ADHD, or anxiety. You appear to have a specific and non-sensical problem with the idea of the disorder known as ADHD. That is fine, it is your right. But don't be surprised if mentioning it on a public forum full of educated people gets you some grief. I believe in science and ADHD is backed up by science. You are free to have your own opinion, but I'll stick with fact.