"Parents of gifted children who do not have ADHD will quickly say for instance, "oh, yes. She's passionate about reading, and when she reads, she's as unmoving as a stone. She would read for hours if we let her, and she is unaware of virtually everything around her" Such a child is very unlikely to have ADHD"
(Sorry don't know how to do that quote thing)
Hmmm...I just don't think I agree with this. I have been reading/reflecting trying to tease out adhd from giftedness for over a year now and I truly believe that I have exexcutive function deficits that are best explained by adhd (but were exacerbated by a not-challenging enough environment.)
And...sorry to say the skills have not improved with time, because the coping mechanisms I was using are simply inadequate to manage mothering 3 kids and a house with a husband who works 80 hours a week.
"The extra intellectual stimulation really helped. One good ALEKS session and he was a different kid for a couple of days. It was freaky."
This I think is so true. Part of my problem now is being in a geographic location that is just not meeting my needs intellectually. (Not that it wouldn't be possible, but the executive function/planning issues make it extremely difficult for me...if we lived, say in NYC, it wouldn't take as much planning/organization to find something intellectually stimulating to do and like-minded people to do it with.)
