Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Gifted DS misdiagnosed with ADHD?

Thanks everyone for your responses!

I always thought DS had obvious ADHD as I constantly have to redirect his attention when he's doing homework and his teachers have reported the same thing, however he will sit and concentrate on things he's interested in. Also, if he hasn't been outside and burnt off energy, he can be bouncing off the walls.

It does seem difficult to get his attention when he is really into something but I could say exactly the same about DD - and DH come to that!

ADHDers have good days and bad days. Inconsistency in attention is hallmark. As is hyperfocus. It's not always so extreme, and a generally flexible child can snap out of it just fine. My Advanced and ADHD son hyper focuses (like right now) but doesn't have issues with reasonable task switches.

I wouldn't talk yourself in or out of anything - it's too easy and doesn't help anyone. I had myself completely talked out of my son's giftedness and ADHD. I was questioning everything. So I had him retested (IQ) while medicated for ADHD. The difference between pre-ADHD and post-ADHD meds was shocking! I'm not in denial anymore! Perhaps some follow-up testing would put your mind at rest and help guide your parenting and academic decisions?

Also ADHD runs in families, so similar ies between your son's attention and other family members is not relevant in terms of whether or not your son has ADHD. (They might all have ADHD!).

My dad (undiagnosed), myself, my sister and one of her children, one brother (undiagnosed), my son, my ex-husband, my best friend I've known since high school, my close Internet-friend and one of her children. ADHD is my normal so comparing my son to friends and family isn't meaningful!

Thanks sanne, that makes a lot of sense. I have in fact just been tested for ADHD myself and I will be getting the results next week so I'll let you know! I see a lot of myself in DS in that respect.

I will be getting both kids tested I think just to see. DD is in the gifted program at school and I'd be interested to see what her IQ is, also we think she may have 'stealth' dyslexia (my DH is dyslexic). DS is a lot more advanced academically than the first time we tested but we don't medicate so we'll see what happens.

Jeeves, there are different types of neurofeedback and different system manufacturers and a lot of infighting in the field as everyone thinks their system is best. It is unfortunate because pretty much all linear model systems are great in the right hands and the non-linear dynamical system is great in any hands but the infighting and competition for supremacy in the field has really impeded the overall growth and promotion of this modality.

Also, there are a bunch of cheap gimmicky toys flooding the market that call themselves neurofeedback and their lackluster results lead users to think all types of neurofeedback must not work.

I did a lot of research on it before trying it (you can read my thread from several years ago, if you have a couple hours lol). And now I can now confidently speak from 5 years of personal experience. I am a firm believer in this technology.

My experience has been with NeurOptimal dynamical neurofeedback: pretty much everyone benefits and there are no negative side effects. It isn't targeted treatment so it doesn't matter what your diagnosis is, your whole brain gets a chance to observe and optimize its functioning. This means no diagnosis is required to start training and there is no risk of over training or getting it wrong. It is just overall better functioning. Two Olympic rowing teams used it this year for peak mental performance and a competitive edge(England and the Netherlands).

I used it on my 7 year old rescue Border Collie who had severe storm anxiety and after 2 sessions she was like a different dog during thunderstorms so I think that ruled out placebo in my mind

After seeing what neurofeedback did for my daughter 5 years ago, I was determined to make it more accessible (affordable) for others, I have now been renting out NeurOptimal dynamical neurofeedback systems for home training for 4 years (this is the only kind of neurofeedback that I would recommend for DIY or home use because it is fully automated and requires zero expertise to use safely and effectively).

I have yet to have any parent tell me they didn't see big improvements in their child after training a month at home with a rental. In fact, several parents went on to buy systems after seeing what one month of training could do.

I have seen many kids avoid being medicated with training. I have also had a number of parents tell me their child has gone from hating reading to skipping several grade levels - 2 parents in the last 6 months told me their child is now losing the dyslexia label and dropping services because their reading fluency and comprehension now test well above grade level. I am hoping to get a study together on reading specifically. There have been a few very small studies on this topic that look promising already.

Additionally, I just wrapped up a year long placebo controlled double blind pilot study using it for employees in the workplace which yielded some pretty interesting and compelling results, I plan to present the findings at a conference this spring.

It is difficult to deign a good study because each person has a unique set of co-morbid factors and extrinsic constraints -outside variable that you can never really control for.

Here is a video on the use of NeurOptimal in a special needs school last year, note the school administrator says all children benefited regardless of their unique underlying issues and the time away from class was well worth it for the huge leaps that were occurring in the classroom: http://neurofeedbackforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=44

I hope this is helpful for anyone looking into neurofeedback. I couldn't find what I wanted when I began my search way back when so I am doing my best to put it out there for others.