Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Kindergarten 2009-2010

Just a quick update here. I met with the teacher and she said that she sees focusing issues and the gifted teacher told her that that's not because he's gifted but that in her research she's read that gifted kids can mimic the signs of ADD. Score 1 for the teacher for doing some research. That made me really happy.

She said that I can bring in worksheet pages and that she'll get some of the 1st grade textbooks for him to use in class. She moved him to a desk close to the wall so that not as much can distract him. She did say that he has a lot of trouble finishing his work but that yesterday when he knew I was going in for the meeting he did 3 days of work that he had to catch up on so that makes me think that he CAN focus when he wants to which seems like it'd be hard for somebody with ADD to do.

Today I sent in the worksheets and I actually got some back that he did! I was so excited that at least for now she's doing what she said. He told me that during nap time she sat with him and gave him quizzes (which he seemed to love) on his letters and numbers.

I talked to a counselor at the school board and the counselor at his school is supposed to go into his classroom and talk to the teacher about what his scores actually mean and how gifted he really is. She's also going to observe him for a few days and see what she thinks. The lady I talked to today said not to schedule a doctor appointment for him yet but to wait and see what they observe. She told me that there's so much that they can try with him before I need to bring him to a doctor.

Today I'm feeling positive about school!

Yay Jamie, so glad that the school is being so understanding and wanting to investigate more without just assuming. Sometimes schools can be quick to jump to ADHD for any child that is not focusing perfectly on their work. It's a shame. Glad your son's schools is looking into it and trying different strategies in the classroom to see if his attention and focus improves!

Yah Jamie! That is so positive!

Thanks so much for your input Shellymos. It is really hard to read symptoms in black/white and not know how they actually apply. He is a tunnel vision kid and I am not so it is hard to differentiate some times.

Yes!!!!

I'm not at all offended! It's not your fault that the athority figures in my life are taking liberties with the phrase 'hyperfocus' and expanding it to mean much more than 'lost in TV or Videogames' \

I also sort of remember one of these 2E gifted experts saying that he used 'hyperfocus' to help him get through Medical School. That really sent my 'denial alarms' off and I wanted to throw the book across the floor. I wish I could get the reference for you, but I was so fired up that it's sort of a fuzzy memory. Maybe it was Delivered from Distraction? Can anyone help me out here? So I think that perhaps it's not just a local problem.

In the long run, there may be something like PG/ADHD that is a seperate entity all on it's own. My DS13 has said that in his opinion all the Davidson boys (present company excluded) have ADHD. I think this in one of those situations where his lack of experience is leading him to an incorrect conclusion, but Gifted Intensity can sure make a kid look 'weird' to a child who has internalized 'kid standards' and 'school standards.' Frankly I'm thrilled that my DS13 has the abilty to internalize that set of values, even though I don't appreciate all of those values. But no, shellymos, I'm not offended by you. And I'm actually not offended by our dear 2E ADHD experts who are still in the dark about giftedness. Afterall, I was totally in the dark about giftedness for my first 40 years of life!

Love and More Love,
Grinity

OMG. Hours upon hours of Perler beads; hours upon hours building with Legos. Before the Lego discover at age 4, hours upon hours of doing puzzles, including doing them cardboard side up to make them more challenging. Collecting every shiny rock on the school playground and bringing them home for months. And now, license plates. First, mapping them. Then, writing them all down over and over during the summer (always starting fresh once all 50 states had been found). Looking them all up on Web sites. Now, making me take photos of the unusual license plates we find. Demanding that we drive through all the levels of parking garages just to look at the license plates. Asking to eat cheese, cheese and more cheese, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Hyperfocus" completely and utterly describes DS7. I've always called him "singularly focused." And really, none of my friends have a kid like this. It's so nice to hear someone else describe what I've been living with for 7 1/2 years!

How do you all handle it?

Interesting thought. I have a family member that is highly gifted....not sure what IQ is exactly. Anyhow, he has ADHD as well. I have often wondered where one ended and one started...sometimes it is hard to say which is a trait of which. Instead of doing homework assignments in college, he re-wrote the syllabus because there were mistakes. He always did things like this. He failed most of his classes and dropped out. He wasn't diagnosed or treated with ADHD until adulthood, he saw a commercial and realized that everything they described applied to him and went to see his doctor. Unfortunately now he suffers from depression as well because he wasn't treated for so long and hasn't been able to hold down a job, etc. It's a long story. But anyhow, he clearly has ADHD...but he is clearly gifted as well. He is able to spend long hours on projects...but gets distracted with elements and doesn't finish things often. He will go off on tangents constantly (in work, in conversation, in everything). Not sure how I got into this heartwarming story : ) I guess it just made me think about it. But while he does clearly have elements of hyperfocusing, because he is gifted I was never sure exactly whether it was a part of ADHD or giftedness.

This made me smile

We are doing the license plates too only not the state names but rather the numbers. My DS7 has papers everywhere with these codes on them from license plates. "Drive faster mom to catch up to that car" is what I hear a lot. He then looks for random patterns, number patterns, etc. He told me which number was the most common. I think it was 1 and 5. Too funny. So if you see me coming up behind you and squinting at your car, now you know what I am doing.

License plates popular here too! DS5 had a stretch this summer where we had to stop in front of every parked car when we were walking anywhere so he could make up funny words for the 3 letters in the license plates.