Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Can ADD mask giftedness?

My DS is 8yrs and in 3rd grade and by all descriptions I've seen online is definitely gifted. However, he did not qualify for the GATE program at school. I was told his Ravens score was not high enough. He's constantly complaining about being bored in class. I've noticed he makes a lot of careless mistakes on his work and I'm wondering if he may have done poorly on the Ravens test due to his lack of focus.

When he was in K, his teacher recommended we test him for ADD. He was complaining constantly about being bored and often got into trouble. We had him tested by a non-profit mental health agency that does free counseling for our school district. The diagnosis was that he did not have ADD. He also took the WISC IV and his score just came back average. Both results left us thinking, "Huh?" I was really surprised that his IQ was only average given all his gifted traits...speaking early (50+ words at 1 year, complex sentences 2yrs), fixing the VCR, putting the vacuum cleaner together, philosophical questions beyond his age-level.

I'm wondering, could it be that he really does have ADD and it's affecting his scores on these tests for giftedness? He definitely has that "hyper focus" thing going on. In first grade he'd be up early before school reading a book on chess strategy. And even now if he gets up in the middle of the night to use the restroom I sometimes catch him reading in his room at 2 in the morning! Yet, I find myself often telling him to "focus" and he is often easily distracted, forgetting what he was supposed to do. I feel like I'm constantly on his case, but now I'm wondering if maybe he can't help it.

My gut says he's a gifted kid and I'm really suspicious now of ADD, but I'm wondering if I'm just looking for an excuse for poor test results and difficult behavior.

Any thoughts, suggestions or advice on what to do?!

Do you know what his subtest scores were on the WISC? If you are at all concerned that the previous test was inaccurate, it may be worth retesting.

This sounds like me. I always feel like I have ADD - inattentive-type. My organization level and attention span seem to be approximately zero and I often felt like I was in a fog.

Although in my case, the question would be whether the giftedness masked the ADD.

I think I got a 139 on the Stanford-Binet about that age. No one raised the possibility of ADD with me.

Without subtest scores, and really, without a more thorough evaluation, it is really difficult to tell if there is some disability (ADD or something else) that is depressing the IQ scores. The FISQ and even the GAI don't give anything like a perfect measure of giftedness.

My son presents like he is ADHD/ADD, and his FSIQ is nothing to get excited about, but he has exceptional verbal gifts. His score profile is remarkably "spiky", so the deficits mask the gifts when you add everything together. It would be a grave mistake to take his WISC FSIQ/ SB-IV composite score as a measure of his abilities, though. He is highly gifted, but with disabilities.

I'm not sure if I'm reading this WISC summary correctly, but it looks like his subtest scores are:

Verbal Comprehension 35
Perceptual Reasoning 30
Working Memory 21
Processing Speed 21

I have no idea what these numbers mean. The person administering the test was a grad-student. I remember him telling me the test was going to take "x" amount of time, but my son ended up finishing way early...maybe an hour earlier than expected. I had wondered if he just got tired or bored of doing the test, but being a new mom in the school system I didn't really question it.

It would be good to know how the individual subtests looked, to know if the 35 summed score for the Verbal Comprehension was made up of two twelves and an eleven, or two sixteens and a three, for example.

If you suspect that your child is gifted with a disability that is interfering with performance, you really need someone who has experience with this particular population (gifted kids with disabilities, not just gifted kids and not just kids with disabilities) to do an evaluation. No way would I expect a grad student to be able to accurately interpret a situation where you might have LDs and giftedness complicating the picture.

When you are looking for a professional, make sure that they are familiar with the information in this book.

I agree with aculady, it would be helpful to know what the variation in scores in the individual subtests looks like. If there's any question of LD and giftedness, I'd also be concerned about having the test administered by a grad student - one of the very important pieces of information that comes along with testing is the testing administrator's opinion of the "state" of the person taking the test - are they performing well, do they seem to be distracted etc - which is something that I'd guess a grad student hasn't had anywhere the experience with observing and evaluating that would tease out potential problems with the accuracy of the test given on that particular day at that particular time.

polarbear

Your description of your child sounds almost exactly like mine when she was 8 and 9 years old. she's now 10. She spoke early, read early, asked deep questions and was bored to tears and headaches with school. in first grade she begged me to homeschool her. it took her a few months of begging, but after lots of research I took the leap. At home, with one-on-one instruction it became apparent to me that there is something seriously different/wrong going on with her. she was consistently inconsistent, a hallmark of ADHD. fro example, her strengths are in her math abilities, and at the time she was happily working through algebra, but would d be stumped when she need to do simple subtractions.
We had her tested by a grad student when DD was in kindergarten. the numbers were simlirar to yours, some very high, some so low, and an overall "average" IQ. By the tiem DD was in 3rd grade I had a her have a full nuerophysochologial battery of testing by a PHD with years of experience with children who are 2e specifically ADHD and gifted. The results confirmed what I knew in my guts for years. DD is profoundly gifted, and her giftedness was being masked by severed ADHD inattentive type. she's now a DYS and thriving with homeschooling and appropriate challenge and support.
My advice to you:
1- trust your mother instincts. if you think something is wrong, then something IS wrong.
2- Get your child testing comprehensively by an expert.
3- Till you get your child tested, keep track/notes of the strange inconsistencies you notice from your child.

HTH

Wow, Hatice, thanks for validating a mother's instincts.

Thanks to everyone else for your input as well. I was hoping to hold off on further testing unless things got worse, but it may be inevitable.

Hatice, do you have any recommendations as to finding such an expert? Clearly there is so much at stake that only the best and most experienced should conduct the evaluation.