Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Had both the kids tested today

OT: Kriston, can you recommend a tape recorder for DC? I would assume these days most are digital and not tape?

ALso, I recall a friend posting that ADD is not only flitting from one thought to another, it's also tunnel vision ie inability to shift focus when it's required or needed. What I took from the conversation is that it's an inability to control attention, be it to maintain focus on something or to stop focusing on something.

Hyperfocus...(I love that word)
http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/612.html

Yes, but I don't think the hyperfocus version of ADD works with my son either, at least not in any negative sense. He just doesn't *like* to shift focus...and he *is* just 7! I mean, as RJH said, at that age they usually don't want to do what they don't want to do, you know? DS7 can actually multitask pretty effectively. He just prefers not to, and when he does, he has to do it at his speed.

Honestly, no one has ever even hinted at ADD for my son. Never! (And isn't that unusual for a HG+ boy in a bad school fit with behavior problems cropping up? I mean, isn't that what they always go for?) It's just not something I see at all, in any form. Can't speak for RJH, of course. Maybe her case is different? But I just see that my son processes things slower than his HG+ depth--but normally for his age!--as his scores indicate (and as I saw before he was tested). Not with difficulty, not without focus or with trouble controlling his focus...just slowly.

Of course, before I had his scores, I called him a dawdler and got mad at him. Now I'm a great deal more understanding.

But ADD? No. Not something I see.

And frankly, even if I did see it as hyperfocus ADD, I'd probably be doing exactly what I'm doing anyway. Adjusting. He certainly doesn't need medication or anything else. He's doing fine.

And BTW, I love to get hyperfocused. I call it "flow" and use it well when I'm writing or reading something intense. Not a bad thing at all!

As for a recorder, I don't have anything in particular I'd recommend. Something cheap, easy to use and portable, but tough enough to withstand a kid being a kid. I'd probably just hit Radio Shack and see what's there, or maybe a department store for a really young child to get one of those Playskool or Fisher Price ones specially made for kids to bang on.

I will say after reading the whole article that just like the tale they tell, when I was a kid, if I were reading when my mom would call me for dinner, I wouldn't even hear her. Maybe I have hyperfocus ADD?

Other than that one issue, it was never a problem though. Actually, it was a total asset that got me through school and jobs with flying colors!

Hmmm...

If it doesn't cause major problems, it's not a disorder. DS6 "hyperfocuses" and tunes out the rest of the world when he is absorbed in something and (other than aggravating me at times) it probably helps him more than anything. And he doesn't come close to having ADHD.

Anyhow, D&C, I think your point is good - that ADHD causes difficulty regulating attention, not just distractibility.

DH's ADD didn't cause him any problems until he had to balance work, home, family etc as an adult. Through his PhD there were no problems. But with all the interruptions of adult life, he had a hard time switching focus and found it exhausting and was grumpy all the time. Hyperfocus is great; the problem is when you can't find the intermediate levels of focus necessary for making dinner and making sure your kid doesn't run in the street, while talking to your spouse about the day. kwim?

Yes, agreed.

That's what I don't see from DS7. I probably have more of a problem with it than he does.

I don't have a diagnosis of ADHD but I definitely benefitted from reading this book: http://www.amazon.com/ADD-Friendly-Ways-Organize-Your-Life/dp/1583913580

I'm scattered and disorganized in an adhd-like way but I like to think of these as quirks, not impairments. But that doesn't mean that I can't try to work on things that annoy my DH at times...

It's scary to think of the diagnosis that could easily be slapped on me.

Sounds exactly like DS12 at age 7. We actually had 'school incidents' where he would just stall and cry when he was supposed to do a 'write a story that starts with the little half sentence we give you.' Then the teacher said he was 'uncooperative.'

Part of it was that his awareness of standards of what 'good writing' sounded like were much higher than what he could achieve. As he's gotten older he has a better understanding of what is age and grade appropriate, but back then anything shy of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with computer printing was heartbreaking.

What helped:
a) learning to type so that he could get those words out fast. I started bribing him to do 'Mavis Becon Typing' at age 7, and he was functional by age 9, amazing by age 10. It opened up a whole world for him.

b) As he got older, his brain did grow in a way that now that he can use a graphic organizer, he needs one less than ever. He does have a nice big Working Memory, so maybe that is why.

c) 3td grade teacher assigned a writing assignment that was so big and so long that he finally got over the 'it has to be perfect' and into the 'punch drunk - put anything down' stage of writing. I love that stage. He had to write a paragraph for each letter of the alphabet for something that had to do with winter in our State.

We finally go laughing around letter X. Something like: X is for Xray when you slip on the ice and break all your bones. I could tell that his 'inner critic' had gone somewhere warm on vacation and he just wanted to get through those last few letters.

BTW - how brilliant is a teacher who lets the last two weeks before the winter holiday break be all day writing workshops for jumpy little pre-holiday kids? It was so nice not to be having behavior complaint phone calls. I think it was because the kids were all individually as engaged as they could be. My favorite teacher!

Hope that helps.
Grinity

I think you hit smack-dab on what I was talking around, Jool. Thanks for that!

I don't like the idea that because my son has a "quirk," he could be diagnosed with something. I get the sense (perhaps wrongly!) that RJH doesn't necessarily like that either.

Not everything different from the norm is bad. Sometimes different is a strength! And even if it is a weakness, it doesn't necessarily require a label and a diagnosis. It may just require a bit of behavior modification, as you're doing for your DH's sake.

I know I'm preaching to the choir about that, but still...