Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADD - not hyperactive

Hi,

I have a DS11. We do not know if he is gifted. My husband and I are, and we also have a MG DS5.5 and a HG+ DD8.

I've posted in another thread about the testing history of our DS11 and that we are about to get his evaluated again to see if he might be 2e.

But, I wanted to ask if any of you have experience with kids who have attention deficits, but who are not hyperactive.

DS11 has never been overly active. He is very tactile and loves to touch things, but can definitely sit and attend to things appropriately. However, it takes him hours to do homework that takes others an hour, not because he can't do the work but because he gets distracted. His teacher says that he is often just half-way through his tests when the other students are turning things in. And by distracted I mean not just with things around him, which really seems to be less of a problem, but with his own thoughts. My nephew has always said that my DS seems to "have a party in his brain" and this couldn't be more true. His teacher said that perhaps he is just immature, but no one has ever mentioned that before and I really don't think that's true.

Have any of you had experience with this?

TIA!

I haven't read the other thread, but this sounds like one highly intelligent kid to me. I expect he needs a really good, understanding teacher to draw his attention and nurture an imaginative, thoughtful individual.

It sounds visual spatial to me too. My DS7 would hear a noise (say a fan kick on) that the rest of us maybe have tuned out, but he then would follow the track of the sound in his brain to its source and then visualize the motor, components of air exchanger, etc. You can imagine this process could take a while and add to that the amazing ability of some individuals (men in my family) to tune out a woman's voice (teacher, mom, etc) and you have a dx of inattention when in fact he is paying quite a bit of attention to the task at hand (finding the source of the noise). Its much more interesting than listening to a lecture or doing a worksheet.

See, I've thought this way about him, too. If you've ever read the Clementine books, the lead character is just this way, too. She IS paying attention, just to other things. I remember saying to my DS's 1st grade teacher when she said he was easily distracted that I always thought of him a hyper-attentive and that he always noticed any changes in the room.

Still, his inattentiveness to his schoolwork is a seemingly big problem. I can't tell you how many times we have to say his name and remind him to get back to work. And I wonder, too, how much information he's missing at school if he's "in his head." The only other time we see a problem -- and boy is is frustrating -- is that he has a tendency to go into the bathroom and stay there for 30 minutes to an hour and you just know it's because he's sitting there thinking.

I looked at a web site (wikipedia, I think) that listed 9 symptoms of ADHD-Inattentive type and he has 6 of the traits. Does this sound clinical to you or just a sign of creatity and/or intelligence? We're pulling our hair out here!

We were told that DS7 though he mimics ADHD he does not have a dx nor would medication "correct" what's "wrong". It was suggested to us to do more hands-on learning to keep him focused on the task at hand he needed more visual stimulation. Black and white paper is not enough visually to keep him on task. We do a lot of the suggestions on this board like the bouncing ball, multiplication facts while jumping either on the trampoline or up and down the stairs (he answers it right he goes up a step, wrong he comes down, etc). Typing is good as are computer programs that have visual effects. I've also noticed that he does not work well in the am, well to be more specific anytime before 3 pm. So we do school in the evening. I know this parallels ADHD types but it is what it is and fortunately we can work around it. I realize a lot of people don't have this option. Giving your son something to doodle with (see doodle thread) is also a great idea if the teacher will allow it.

So to answer your question, for us it is a highly creative mind. IMO Have you read "The Mislabeled Child" by DRs Eide???? That would clear up a lot for you I suspect.

Every child is different, but I have to tell you, we were worried about the same things you are describing. Ds6 was also described as immature. He wasn't paying attention and would talk when the class was supposed to be quiet. He would also get out of his seat without raising his hand, and he'd get in trouble for all of these things. We were worried about ADHD, although he's really not hyperactive.

Psychologist who did his gifted testing didn't suspect ADHD, but we were still worried because the behaviors continued. We just pulled him from his private school, and I'm home schooling. He's like a different kid! Very few attention issues. In fact, if he's learning something new, no matter what it is, he's glued to lesson and asking for more. He was just bored at school. He was working on kindergarten material, and at home, I've discovered he's at the end of first grade, second grade, or third grade levels with most subjects. No wonder he wasn't paying attention. He didn't see the need. If you reserach characteristics of ADHD and gifted children who are not challenged, you'll see how similar the behaviors are.

I'm not saying to discout ADHD because you want to know for sure what's going on with your child, but don't assume it's that. I'd recommend making sure he's really being challenged in the classroom before going the ADHD route. For a gifted child to sit all day and wait for everyone else to catch up, it's torture.

Good luck to you. This site is wonderful for support and information! It's been invaluable to our family.

I think he is challenged enough in school this year. He's switched to a private school so the curriculum is a bit different and he finds a lot of the new stuff (particularly religious history) interesting.

Also, it's not that he's not following class rules or that he's disrupting anyone, just that he takes forever to complete anything in school or for homework. He's not chatty (actually is quite shy and introverted, although he is making new friends) and does remain seated when he's supposed to and otherwise behaves.

I don't know if this matters or not, but in 2nd through 4th grade when he took the state's annual assessments he took the average amount of time, or slightly less, to finish the test and performed average. Last spring he took way longer than the rest of his class to take the assessments and jumped three grade levels in reading (to 8th grade level, when he was in 5th) and up something like 15%age points in math.

I told his teacher today that he does tend to do better on tests when he has more time, but this really isn't the issue. It's that he takes so darn long to so schoolwork and homework and makes so many dumb mistakes because he is constantly getting distracted. I swear, when I check his homework, I can tell exactly where in each problem he got distracted.

Thanks for all your great thoughts so far. I'm really curious how common it is for kids to gets so distracted, but without hyperactivity. I'm also curious about any diagnoses and anything that can be done to get him to focus.

master of none, I'm glad you shared. My DS, too, does better when I sit right next to him and prompt him when I see his mind wander. But, I have two other children who are simultaneously doing homework and it's hard to sit with DS11 for an hour or two. Maybe I just have to find a way to do that, because when I have been able to do it it does help. Unfortunately, I am stuck between whether this is a self-discipline issue that he just needs to take responsibility for or whether this is a medical/brain chemical thing. My gut has always said that something isn't quite right, but I just can't figure out if it's ADD or if it's just that he's "in his brain" thinking about a million different things.

hi mnmom23
I remember when trying to figure out my 2E son that it mentioned "distracted with self" vs. "distracted by external stimuli" in one of the davidson articles that dealt with differentiating gifted from gifted plus aspergers (in addition to a whole bunch of other distinctions)..It said that chidlren with aspergers tend to be more internally distracted. Also, if you don't already have it, a great resource for figuring out what the second "E" is in "2E" is the Eide's book called "The Mislabeled Child"..very detailed explanation of all the disorders and how they can all look like one another. Also I don't want to suggest i think he has aspergers but i remember this discussion of types of distractions and thought it might be relevent to you.
irene

renie,

I know you weren't suggesting Asperger's, but I wanted to throw this out there in case it gives anyone else any insight. I've looked at several different symptom lists of Asperger's and my son does not have any of the symptoms. He doesn't get lost in his own thought so that you can't get his attention, it more that his mind wanders while he's supposed to be doing his work. We can always get him to refocus for a few minutes if we're there, but then he gets distracted again. Non-stop. I think he does get distracted by things in the room as well. But, like hkc75 said about trying to think about the source of a background noise, I think he just gets distracted by something as a starting point and then his brain runs with it.

A clinical problem or a problem with disciplining himself to not get distracted or merely a personality trait? When we get a full educational assessment done, how will they decide which it is?