In MD exercise seems to be important to "improving" the daydreaming... some adults who do this run, some pace, some skip- some shake something in their hand like a pen, etc.
I spent a lot of time on the internet reading self reporting maladaptive daydreamers's experiences. That's why I'm not sure about the SMD because the onset of MD appears to be around 6 or 7, but SMD is usually very early on (from birth to 3 years old). I only noticed him doing this at about the same time he started the tics (about 6 or 7)
Also the adults and teens who have MD describe it as almost being addictive and some are searching for answers on how to stop it. In both SMD and MDD you can apparently stop the dream when you want to, but you enjoy it and don't want to. In both tv can be a trigger (which is what is triggering my DS).
I did read the whole thing that Irena posted about SMD which was really *incredibly* helpful (it was the first thing that made sense to me), but then I called John Hopkins and spoke to someone involved in the SMD studies there and the onset didn't really fit, plus I looked at a lot of youtube videos and most of the kids with SMD were not pacing they had flapping or hand movements- nothing that looked like what my kid is doing. When I read both descriptions MD seems to fit better. He does it anytime he is bored etc. For instance, I asked if he does it when he plays games with his friends at school, and he said only when he is out of the game. He has done it (with pacing in a circle) in class- the teacher says he just catches his eye and he sits back down. However my son tells me the teacher doesn't know how *much* daydreaming he is doing..so I assume that he is not having to pace every time he daydreams (which also seems separate from SMD). One seems to be just a neurological condition, and the other seems to possibly be related to anxiety / OCD since (on the internet anecdotally - meaning take it with a grain of salt) it has been treatable to some extent with SSRIs.The person at John Hopkins said only therapy but not meds were effective on SMD. The person who did the more recent study on MD using self reported information from people posted this here
https://www.scribd.com/doc/20700187/Daydreamers-Anonymous-Prelim-Findings. I think she also has posted her study on Scribd but I have to purchase it to read it (which is next).
But again they may be the same condition or similar conditions. They are remarkably similar.
Oh and if we look at this through the gifted filter, we get imaginational overexcitabilites...
