ADHD AND GIFTED CHILDREN

I have a gifted ADD (also LD—apraxia and dyslexia) son in the fifth grade. We were lucky to have an early diagnosis and special accommodations for ADD by the end of 1st grade. It didn’t help the LDs as the school hoped. It took us until the end of the 2nd grade to get the school to realize that and support the rest. Academically, he was no great shakes coming out of the second grade. All he had going for him were impressive standardized test scores, a high IQ, and a pack of letters from anyone who had worked with him, interviewed him, or tested him recommending that he be placed in a program for the gifted now that he was supported with an IEP.

My son is on medication for ADD, which for him is absolutely necessary. He had been in a gifted center since 3rd grade, where he is thriving. He needs a class where things are challenging and move along quickly, yet has enough depth to satisfy his curiosity. He needs the stimulation of other kids like him— kids who can keep up with him, who have interesting ideas and knowledge of their own to share. In a regular class, he was bored and had no one to talk to besides the teacher. He has kid friends now!

Good luck to you and your son.

Julie,
Thanks for the response. My son has been in the gifted program since kindergaten, and has never really had any problems until this year. His previous teachers have never even suggested ADHD, but we decided to take our son to a councilor since he was starting to really hate school. He has never made friends easily in school, and has a best friend this year for the first time ever. He is better with kids who are in the 12-15 age range. I have an appointment to take him to the pediatrician next week. I am very concerned about the issue of medication. I know it may help him, but the adults at our school are very critical of ADD kids. I have worked at the school on a voluntary basis, and heard all of the comments. The medication is kept on the front desk, and dispensed in front of any one and everyone. I would like to find out about some of the newer medications that last all day. I want to do whatever is best, but if it doesn’t work, I don’t want the adults (ie, teachers, and principal) to have a preconsived notion of what his problem is.

Laurie,
Before you do anything make sure he is really Adhd. Highly gifted children
have overexcitiblies that look alot like Adhd. Was he tested with the
WISC? My dd is gifted and I made sure to find a psycholigist that
understands gifted children. Many are misdiagnosed as Adhd when
the only problem is being bored. Does he have the same type of problem
in his gifted class? If you have not seen the Hoagies site online it may
do you some good, they have information on Gifted and Adhd.
www.hoagiesgifted.org

My advice in this situation is always to keep your ear to the ground about next year’s teachers. See if any are very hands-on teachers. ADHD students, particulary gifted ones, benefit from interactive lessons and a classroom where the teacher has an interesting personality and teaches in an interesting way.

If you hear of a teacher with a reputation like this, ask the principal to assign your son to that teacher’s room next year.

I doubt it’s the intensity of the curriculum that invites your son to zone out but rather the monotony of it.

Whether to medicate is a hard (and very personal) decision, but don’t rule it out based on having to receive medication at school. There are a number of longer acting stimulants that only need to be give once a day, for example, Concerta, Metadate (both long-acting forms of Ritalin) and Adderall XR. My own child, who is gifted, has ADHD and learning disabilities, takes the regular adderall once a day and that is sufficient to get him through the school day. Before he began taking medication, he had a great deal of difficulty, even though he was placed in a class for gifted students with LD, and even though he is profoundly gifted. After medication, he became able to stick with boring or hard things and to complete his work. He became a straight A student who occasionally even likes being at school. Whether medication would be appropriate for your child is something you will want to discuss with your doctor, and a question on which you will want to do your own research. What you will likely find is that there is ample evidence of the short-term effectiveness (about 18 months, as I recall) of stimulant medications for the majority of children, and the safety of using these medications over a long period of time, but not very much research into whether long-term use continues to provide the same benefits to children as short-term use does. Some kids have intolerable side effects from the meds, but most do not. Almost all kids will experience mild to moderate appetite suppression while on the medication, which some people find tolerable but others do not. Finally, if the adults at school are critical of kids with ADHD, they ought to re-examine their values. I question what such people are doing teaching children. Are these individuals aware that the incidence of ADHD is greater in those who have above-average intelligence ( and even more prevalent in kids who are gifted)than it is in those who are average?

Andrea

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. I talked to my son’s pediatrician this morning. She suggested that I call my insurance company and continue from there. She was very concerned about the diagnosis. My son only went to a psycologist 3 times, with no testing, and was diagnosed with ADHD. I had done a lot of research on the issue of gifted and ADHD, and took it to her, and she dismissed it without even looking at it. I called the insurance company today, and they are having me take him to a psychiatrist for evaluation and testing. I feel much better about this. I am not discounting the fact that my child might very well have ADHD, but I want them to be sure. I don’t think that is possible after 3 45 minute visits, and having him complete sentences, and draw pictures. Thanks for all of your advice, I will let you know how the psyciatrist visit goes.

What do your son’s past teachers think? Did they notice that he had hard time paying attention? My son was diagnosed ADHD-inattentive in 3rd grade. (He’s also in the Gifted program.) By that time I had several years worth of teacher comments, family history, etc so the diagnosis made sense. I also had the school test for LDs (he has none) and teachers fill out behavior surveys. I also read up a lot on the subject; “Driven to Distraction” is a great book. When I read it, I could see my son!

Although gifted kids are sometimes labeled incorrectly with ADHD, it is also true that ADHD kids CAN be gifted. You have to do a lot of research to make sure you have the right diagnosis.

IF your son is infact ADHD, whether to medicate or not is a highly personal decision. We decided to try Ritalin when nothing else worked. It has helped our son a lot!

It sounds as if your pediatrician is being very sensible. We had a complete neuropsych eval done on my son when we were trying to figure out what was going on. It was the best thing we ever did. It’s hard to decide about medication until you know what you’re dealing with, and if medication would even help.

My son’s eval gave us independent testing results. No one had anything to gain one way or another; it was simply to find out where he stood and hopefully get a track to run on to get him help. It did that, and gave us credibility with the school when we said he needed something that he wasn’t getting.

Medication is a complex enough decision without considering the impact of derogatory comments the people at school make about kids and parents of kids with ADD. You should have all the facts and medical advice you need to make the right choices without their two cents.

Good luck to the both you. Will keep you in my prayers.

Assorted comments. It’s likely that the ADHD population is bell-shaped and that there are gifted, average, and below average students. If a child is truly gifted, the child may not have neurological ADHD. If a child has a major challenge with inattention, it is pretty difficult to reconcile that with being extraordinarily gifted it seems to me as giftedness is a function of both the ability to pay attention as well to engage the faculty of memory. The comic/actor Robin Williams is certainly extraordinarily gifted but in my view Robin Williams is not ADHD.

Sometimes it can take a number of years for the right diagnostic term to sort itself out.

There are persons in American society such as Thomas Edison and Bill Gates who at one time were considered to be learning disabled but bottomline - were they - really? Or were they extraordinarily gifted instead and simply misunderstood in a major way as children by well-intended teachers?

This is very true of the gifted.

I am the mother of an ADHD/gifted child and an elementary school principal. First, there is no excuse for the medicine being dispensed in front of anyone. Second, teachers and administrators who speak in the manner you describe about ADD/LD children are at the very least being unprofessional.

On a personal note, we have gone from Ritilan to Adderall to Concerta and have found the Concerta to be our answer to success. As stated in early posts, medication is a highly emotional and personal decision. In our case, it was the right one.

It sounds like you have a good pediatrician and you are asking the right questions. Good Luck!

I have a nine year old son that hasADHD. He has HATED school since the first day he was left there but was doing alright until this year. He is in the third grade (he had two years in Kinder) and reading things like Harry Potter which they say is about 6th grade level. He can read anything you put in front of him but might not understand it if the context is too much. But he spells and writes so poorly that he can not read what he has just written. He also has no problem in math but can’t remember his basis math facts. I believe he is very gifted because of the things I see him do and say…like he is very mechanical. The problem is I can’t get anyone at the school to pay attention and test him for learning disabilities and I can’t afford to have him privately tested. Now he is failing writing, spelling and science(his favorite subject). Anybody got any ideas! Shari

Put your request in writing detailing your specific concerns. Send a copy to the principal. You need to start a paper trail.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been over and over to child study and at each meeting have asked for an evaluation to be done and it is on paper every time and here we still sit! I go back again to child study next Tuesday to try again. Thanks for answering!

Maybe you will have to bite the bullet and have your son independantly tested. I would start with a psychologist because they can determine your childs ability through “IQ” testing as well as achievement testing. A significant discrepancy would signal a learning disability. This would also give you evidence of whether your child is gifted or not. Do you already have an ADHD diagnosis? If not, the psychologist should have questionairres and possibly some testing that could indicate whether ADHDor ADD are present. After testing, you might have some very real suggestions from the psychologist as to what needs to be done to accommodate and facilitate your child’s learning at school.
We just had this done. Our insurance would not pay until we met our deductible, which we have not met. The bill came to about $550, which is a hefty sum for only a pre-evaluation visit, two hours of evaluation, a post-visit, and a medical doctor’s visit. We have started our son on medication for ADHD (we already had a gifted label so you might have to pay more for an IQ test). Once we see how the medication affects him, we will develop a 504 plan to provide specific accommodations for him. We chose this path because we felt our son would not qualify for special education services since he is not performing below grade level. We also knew the school could not give an ADHD diagnosis. Our medical clinic is letting us make payments of $50 per month. You might consider this. Be up front with the tester and make sure they can handle the task.