Originally Posted by shellymos
Originally Posted by Grinity
I'm a little skeptical about the hyperfocus argument to discern between gifted and ADHD. I mean, if anyone has research statistics about 'hyperfocus' in kids with ADHD of average IQ (in families with siblings of average IQ) I would love to see those statistics, until then, forgive me if I remain close minded.

Well, being a therapist at a children's mental health clinic for several years I saw it quite often. ADHD is not about lack of being able to sustain attention, it is a disregulation of attention...I used to always hear the TV/computer argument with parents. They would say their child can't have ADHD because they can spend forever being engrossed in certain activities. They would say that their child would ignore them when the TV was on.

Hi Shelly! Great to have your experience. I've heard the 'hyperfocus' referring to TV and computer games - and I can see how that is part of ADHD. But have you seen a bunch of kids who get engrossed in 'creative' or 'non electronic' endeavors as part of the 'not gifted, ADHD' crowd? Examples of things that others have called 'signs of ADHD/hyperfocus' are:

spending a long time creating a new animal design with those little beads that you iron into plastic blobs,

drawing graph paper when he needed it for an experiment back in his dysgraphia days

Using Microsoft paint, and going pixel by pixel at age 3 to block up the wholes so that paintcan tool wouldn't spill over.

These are things he would do over and over, just once in a while, I would see signs of intensity/perfectionism that look like 'hyperfocus' to others.

Does that fit your experience?
Thanks,
Grinity

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