Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD evolution

That just can't be true... I think that, particularly #1 and #2, have to be totally normal. I'm not HG, but seriously, this makes it sound like I have a huge case of ADHD. And I don't. Just because I like to procrastinate and haven't gotten around to writing a simple thank you note that I've been meaning to since January doesn't mean I'm pathalogic. Geez.

What does #3 have to do with ADHD, I wonder. That's just thinking things through, isn't it?

I often wonder about both ADHD and Aspeger's, or at least the mild form of both and whether healthcare professionals are just turning some very mature behaviors into symptoms of something off. Maybe the problem is that the gifted kids have a stronger sense of self than the others. They are not going to be motivated by grades if they consider that meaningless.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I often feel like my 6 and 7 year olds are going through their teenage years right now. They are already questioning everything, already have their own opinions and don't want to do things I ask them to do just because I say so, and balk against doing chores when they don't want to. My youngest would also be a video game addict if I let him. In other words, I see the components listed as something I would expect in teenagers, but maybe not 6 or 7 year olds. In which case what I'm seeing is a sign of maturity rather than otherwise.

Just a final thought:

My ds6 is diagnosed ADHD. I went to El Salvador to visit family for a week and stayed with my aunt, who had three ADHD sons out of five children. She watched him, and told me in very insulted tones that DS6 is not ADHD. He is very bright and enthusiastic, but her sons would never have been able to have the sustained attention that he can have when it comes to tasks he is interested in.

In El Salvador, no one thought anything about either of my kids. My uncles gave me some advice as to how to redirect my DS7, and took my DS6 under his wing and helped him work in the wood workshop. There was no feeling that the kids were different from other kids. It was extremely refreshing.

http://www.incrediblehorizons.com/mimic-adhd.htm

Perhaps this website bears repeating.

Thanks for putting this website up again. My DS11 does have ADHD (I believe as do doctors) but I don't think that the ADHD is the major cause of his school difficulties. I have ADHD and was one of those spacey, disorganized kids at school, but I didn't suffer a lot of diminished self esteem from this back in the "old days."

In the elementary school years I think the overexcitabilites of the gifted, anxiety that may come with ADHD, the classroom environment, teacher expectations, and finally learning disabilities should all be investigated in school/social life is suffering. Somewhere on here someone posted the article about the fact that the higher the IQ, the later the thickening of the pre-frontal cortex in children. Anyway, I'm starting to feel that except in the most extreme cases, an ADHD label in the primary grades might be premature.

Has anyone else started to go this route in their thinking?

Oh, and we were told that ADHD is difficulty focusing when you "want" to but are not interested in the subject. So reading a good book for hours might be "hyperfocus" which can be part of ADHD, whereas reading the social studies chapter and answering the questions (or not) would be a result of ADHD.