Originally Posted by kathleen'smum
Originally Posted by Pru
It really does give me chills. Have I really been scolding and resenting what I perceive to be inordinate stubbornness or simple laziness in a child who may in fact be suffering from a real disability? Ouch.

We asks ourselves this same question. Some days, we just can't help the scolding. You get soooo frustrated and nothing seems to help, then you begin to think that maybe she IS doing it all on purpose. Later, the guilt sets in and we convince ourselves that we are expecting things from her that she is incapable of doing on her own (thus far). DD's WM was in the 34%-ile, most probably a reflection of her ADHD. Even seeing it on paper and hearing it from the psychologist, we STILL doubt her giftedness on a daily basis. How can a kid that smart have such a hard time with the smallest details of life??

Executive dysfunction is a disability. It's just not always viewed in that way, although the perception is changing with more concentration on EF difficulties in kids diagnosed, perhaps misdiagnosed, with ADD. Working memory is a big red flag for executive dysfunction. The problems become more pronounced as kids move through school with more demands placed on them. My child scored a 62 (1%) on the WMI of WISC-IV. In subsequent testing, she performed markedly better in higher order memory skills than the lower order skills, part of that is likely due to the fact that she pays more attention when she perceives the task to be more difficult. (Unintentionally double-posted) That's true in every day life activities where the more assumed activities we do don't get the same concentration as the more difficult and/or entertaining activities. When your working memory is weak to begin with, less concentration can exponentiate the problem rather quickly. Of course, when these kids become overwhelmed by their demands everything falls apart.

Last edited by AshSoph; 09/14/11 06:54 PM.