Hi all,
Quick background; our son is in 2nd grade and has been having behavior issues in school since PK: talking out, fidgety, picking on other kids, unkind words to kids, won't do "practice" work, etc. he has always done well at school; straight A's so our issue is behavioral & social only.
We thought it was because he wasn't being challenged and was bored in school. In GR1 we pushed the school to have him assessed for gifted. FSIQ on WISC was 139 with 149 GAI.
That school didn't offer a FT gifted program, so he was moved to a 1/2 combo class and did better. For 2nd grade we moved to a new public school that offers a FT gifted cluster. He was doing great at first. Then it fell apart in the 2nd semester. Behavior issues were back. He started picking on a kid in class (stomped on her backpack, put a spider on her, says. mean words toward her, etc.)
The teacher says he is impulsive, and says things without thinking and then regrets it. She suggested we have him assessed for ADHD. I really like her, and be a use she has been teaching only gifted kids for a long time, I trust her instincts.
We have been with a therapist for a year working on social skills and anger management, so she did some tests and sent us and the teacher some surveys. She comes back with, yes- he has ADHD.
Long story short, I've read a lot about asynchronous development, overexcitabilities, etc, and have read a lot about gifted kids having similar qualities to ADHD kids.
How common is it that a gifted child could also be ADHD?
The therapist explains this is a process. We thought the behavior issues were due to boredom, but now that he has moved to a curriculum that is challenging, and we are still seeing the same behavior issues, we have to look at other causes.
He is our only child, so we don't have anything to compare him to. He does not have any real friends, and never gets invited to parties, play dates, or anything like that. We definitely have issues. But is this normal for some gifted kids, or could it be ADHD?
