William Sears writes about the ability of kids with ADHD to hyperfocus.
He says that it is not so much that ADHD children cannot focus, as that they focus inappropriately. He calls it selective attention, because they select out what is important to them, and often hyperfocus on that to the exclusion of other things. According to Dr. Sears, this is one of the four main qualities that define ADHD.
All kids do this sometimes, but kids with ADHD do it to the extreme.
I know that this all seems to fly in the face of what we hear about ADHD, but like giftedness, there are a lot of misconceptions about ADHD.
OK, that makes sense. I would swear that my husband should have been diagnosed with ADD as a child, and the symptoms continue. Drawers, doors left hanging open; tool boxes & tools left on top of places & lost; etc. One thing that drives me crazy, and fits this description, "selective attention, because they select out what is important to them, and often hyperfocus on that to the exclusion of other things" -- he picks up the mail, goes through it until something catches his eye, and forgets to check the rest of the mail.
