[Nike007]

What is the difference between ADHD vs giftedness? I have been look this up for a while and I haven't found a clear site. How does someone know if they have ADHD when they have giftedness or vice versa? I believe I have ADHD but I have giftedness so I don't know if I have ADHD or if I just have giftedness. I have heard that ADHD can be hidden in a student with giftedness until a time where their smartness is at the same level as everyone else and that is me at the moment. I have been able to compensate on my AD/HD symptoms until about 3-4 years ago when I started to have worse and worse symptoms.

Can you explain to be the difference? Thanks.

Also, even writing this I am distracted by the TV in the background. It's getting hard enough.

ADHD is a disorder in which the brain is overstimulated where-as giftedness is generally being classified as intellegance beyond your age level. There are studies that do correlate mental illness with being gifted though.

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by ChaoticInsanity

ADHD is a disorder in which the brain is overstimulated where-as giftedness is generally being classified as intellegance beyond your age level. There are studies that do correlate mental illness with being gifted though.

I mean symptoms-wise. I know that there is a difference with the brain and stuff, but there are a lot of similar symptoms. As an example, both can be inattentive because they find what is happening boring.

Thanks for the reply .

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[lavendersage]

What is the definition for "giftedness" in this context? I think I know what you're referring to but want to make sure. Thanks

[pbutton]

For me, an ADHD symptom is being distracted by sounds, like your example of the TV. That's not related to being gifted, as far as I am aware. I find sounds distracting even when I am not bored.

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by pbutton

For me, an ADHD symptom is being distracted by sounds, like your example of the TV. That's not related to being gifted, as far as I am aware. I find sounds distracting even when I am not bored.

Not in that type of sense. This happens to me if someone is talking to me and I am watching TV, I don't and can't pay attention to the person talking.

I mean, usually AD/HD, more H than AD, the teacher notices if the student is acting/blurring out, if the student is not paying attention/daydreaming, etc.. These symptoms aren't because of AD/HD, but because the gifted student is bored and wants to be entertained. Well, that's what i read somewhere.

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[Perna]

Good article: http://www.positivedisintegration.com/Hartnett2004.pdf

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by Perna

Good article: http://www.positivedisintegration.com/Hartnett2004.pdf

Thank you. That was a really interesting and helpful article/study. I appear to have a mixture of both giftedness/ADHD. As an example, I have always been bored in my math class and would do something to distract me from what the class was doing because I was far ahead. This happened in a lot of other subjects also. But I am also inattentive in general, like something around me like a poster can distract me. Someone can tell me something and sometimes it seems to go through one ear and out the other if you know what I mean. I am also very, very, very forgetful. So just some of each category I fit.

Thanks for your response .

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[specialneedsmom]

ADHD tend to be more creative than non-ADHD. Creativity is considered one of the "gifts" of ADHD.

It is easier to teach a creative person how to be more focused, than it is to teach a focused person to be creative. So, I'd rather have more creativity than more ability to focus.

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by specialneedsmom

ADHD tend to be more creative than non-ADHD. Creativity is considered one of the "gifts" of ADHD.

It is easier to teach a creative person how to be more focused, than it is to teach a focused person to be creative. So, I'd rather have more creativity than more ability to focus.

Sorry, I feel like this may be the wrong definition. Giftedness is usually defined by having a higher IQ than the average person, along with being creative, imaginative, and a few other things. I have found something that has explained to me the difference between the two based off of symptoms. AD/HD is different from giftedness because people with AD/HD (more the AD than the H part) are distracted in all situation while a gifted student is only distracted when doing school, work, or homework that is too easy for them. Same with hyperactivity and being impulsive. A gifted student would only do this in a school setting or when doing homework or work while someone with AD/HD (more H than AD) would do this all the time.

Thanks for the response though .

[CrazyLo]

I am diagnosed with ADHD and I also have very high IQ. This is interesting. Makes me wonder...

[Rymo070]

Originally Posted by CrazyLo

I am diagnosed with ADHD and I also have very high IQ. This is interesting. Makes me wonder...

There have been a few studies done that found a correlation high intelligence ADHD, they have even observed a higher average IQ among us.

The debate at this point is whether we develop higher intelligence to compensate or if ADHD is a byproduct of greater intellect, it's no coincidence that ADHD and being gifted are so hard to separate.

Some behavioral scientists have theorized that ADHD itself developed as a genetic advantage in a hunter/gatherer society. Being able to detect and react to the slightest sound or movement instinctively as well as through the increased intuition gained by non linear thoughts along with the ability to shift to hyper focus easier than normal humans would have been life saving throughout our development. Factor in the hyperactivity and you have yourself a true Apex Predator.

I've never considered my ADHD to be a disadvantage or disability; how the hell can I have a learning disability if I learn faster than 99% of the population?

Anytime I have had a teacher familiar with ADHD and that knew how to work with people like us my grades in school immediately proved the model.

Anytime I have a manager with that same familiarity I have thrived in the workplace.

So is it really us that need to change who we are or is it society that needs to stop trying to force wildly creative and intelligent people inside this one size fits all box they've decided to build?

[CrazyLo]

Originally Posted by Rymo070

Some behavioral scientists have theorized that ADHD itself developed as a genetic advantage in a hunter/gatherer society. Being able to detect and react to the slightest sound or movement instinctively as well as through the increased intuition gained by non linear thoughts along with the ability to shift to hyper focus easier than normal humans would have been life saving throughout our development. Factor in the hyperactivity and you have yourself a true Apex Predator.

Fascinating! I'd like to read more about that if you have any links!

[Parousia]

I think it can be part of being gifted, but is not always present at a diagnosable level. Some people with a high IQ do seem to be able to focus, even when a lecture, speech, etc is boring. Learning style could also be a factor there.

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[Parousia]

The comment about people with ADHD being distracted in all settings isn't correct. If something is very interesting, many people with ADHD hyperfocus, and struggle to move onto something else, or even to hear someone talking to them.

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[CrazyLo]

Originally Posted by TrueLove4Me

The comment about people with ADHD being distracted in all settings isn't correct. If something is very interesting, many people with ADHD hyperfocus, and struggle to move onto something else, or even to hear someone talking to them.

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Yup!!!!!

[unbreakablej]

I think I am more 'creative' than most people (good with coming up with out of the box ideas) but my memory (both short and long term) is just so bad. I can remember absolutely useless and random facts but not the crucial information that I need (whether for work or school).

I can calculate fast, but I do not even have enough REM to remember the numbers as they go through my head. Sometimes I cannot even register the numbers in my head if they are said out ot me orally. WTF.

Despite people/teachers etc. telling me my entire life that I 'have potential to do better', I am just plugged down by a sense of under achievement. I know I am not stupid but at the same time, I am unable to use my brains for anyhting useful.

It is starting to get slightly depressing.

[kanasi]

Originally Posted by unbreakablej

I think I am more 'creative' than most people (good with coming up with out of the box ideas) but my memory (both short and long term) is just so bad. I can remember absolutely useless and random facts but not the crucial information that I need (whether for work or school).

I am too but it's only been useful if I'm doing things on my own. As I've grown older, I've become increasingly hesitant about sharing my ideas on how to do things better/faster/more efficiently. No matter how awesome I think my ideas are, most people don't want to explore every possible way of doing things like I tend to do.

I can calculate fast, but I do not even have enough REM to remember the numbers as they go through my head. Sometimes I cannot even register the numbers in my head if they are said out ot me orally. WTF.

Interesting. I'm the opposite there. I know perfectly well how to calculate things, but I'll take forever doing anything that takes more than one or two steps, because I either can't mentally keep the number I'm working on in my head long enough, OR I forget what stage of operation I was on, OR I forget the answer I had partially formulated so far. Between the three of these, I end up starting over a bunch times. But if someone says a number to me orally and all I have to do is remember/write down/call the number? Most of the time that'll stick with me fine.

Despite people/teachers etc. telling me my entire life that I 'have potential to do better', I am just plugged down by a sense of under achievement. I know I am not stupid but at the same time, I am unable to use my brains for anyhting useful.

It is starting to get slightly depressing.

I'm sorry this has been so discouraging for you. If your teachers are seeing it in you, then please believe them (because a good teacher will know): you ARE an intelligent person.

[everythingsworld]

Give this a whirl.
Maybe a few answers for you.
I can't post links yet, or else I'd post a link to this recent show.

Google THE LARRY MEILLER SHOW + The ADHD Advantage to listen to the author, show was from Sept. 6th.

It can be a gift but you have to learn how to use the gifts that we are given.

[everythingsworld]

Here. Hopefully some insights for you or others
?The ADHD Advantage? | Wisconsin Public Radio

[snickie]

Oops, I've wandered too far out of my little corner in the ASD forum. Oooooh what's over here?

First things first: Hiiiii, I'm Snickie. (Hiiii, Snickieee.)

I got sidetracked in the ASD board, in the topic regarding AQ test scores, and someone pointed out that what I was describing sounded like it could be ADHD. Here's what I posted:

Originally Posted by snickie

My problem with tests is that halfway through the test my brain goes into this hyperanalytic mode where I'm like, "Is this the answer that is true about myself or is it the answer that is true to some subconscious desire to score a certain way?" Because I know the typical behavioral traits of ASD and especially Asperger's, and I know exactly how each answer I put will affect my score, and I do think I am on the spectrum, but I also know I'm very high-functioning. So I'm always questioning the validity of my results.

Originally Posted by snickie

It's possible I have some sort of attention deficit disorder. I have lost some ability to focus on what people are saying as of late. Example: yesterday in [music] pedagogy class they were doing peer teaching, and my mind would latch on to when [Guinea Pig] was playing but as soon as they stopped and [Classmate] started talking (the one I was supposed to be taking notes on), it was like, "Nope. Not paying attention to you." And then [Guinea Pig] would start playing again and I'd be like, "I have no idea what [Classmate] just said."

I'm pretty sure in the latter I was more interested in remembering all the letters of the Greek alphabet which had nothing to do with the class. >>

Anyway, it's relevant to this topic because I am gifted. In my first elementary school we took a Standardized Achievement Test (SAT but not the college one) and one of the results that would come back was IQ, and I was always in the 135-145 range. When I was officially tested with the county (just before my transfer into public school), I scored 138 and that was without really applying myself, supposedly.

But as far as my teachers could tell, I was ADD. My preschool teacher once even brought it up to my mom that I was slow, probably had ADD, and my mom was like, "She can count to a million and your other students can barely even recognize the number 16. She's not slow." My kindergarten teacher recognized that I was gifted and knew how to work with gifted children, so that was a great year. The year afterward, the start of first grade, my parents would get frequent phone calls saying I had not been paying attention in class, stacking my pencil box and things like that. And my mom's like, "She's bored." And she took me to Sylvan Learning Center and had me tested to prove that I was actually really smart. And I was. (Somehow I have this mixed up in my memory because I thought the Sylvan trip had been done after I switched schools but maybe not. Also, this was when I decided that I really liked math and that has stuck with me.) I went to a different school for the rest of the year, apparently because of social issues but I was under the impression that it was because we had moved and we didn't want to drive as far every day. The new school was a Montessori school and all I wanted to do was color. All. Day. Second grade (at yet another school) was the end of the teachers-think-I'm-dumb streak.

It's different now though. Back then I wouldn't focus because I was bored and wanted to do something else. Nowadays focusing on some things, usually people talking, has become a conscious effort. Interestingly I don't have this problem in band, probably because I have an instrument in my hands and am actually physically doing something besides sitting and trying to listen, and the constant sensory input forces me to stay focused.

Anyway I've taken the ADHD test here before and have never scored beyond "mild ADHD possible" with more emphasis on the inattention subscale, even now that I've been experiencing these lapses in focus when people are talking. And that brings me back to the thing I quoted up above, about taking tests and knowing how each answer will affect my score.

Based on my incessant ramblings here, what are your thoughts?

[kanasi]

Hiiii snickiiieee

I'm glad your mother understood you so well when you were younger that she defended your intelligence like that!

I think maybe the question part of your post should be in a new thread since this isn't really on the topic of giftedness but more about a possible diagnosis? This thread is more about acknowledging that many of us with confirmed/suspected ADHD actually did quite well in school, and acknowledging ADHD diagnosis shouldn't hinge on poor grades.

I'm not clear on the symptoms you're having aside from not being able to listen/getting distracted. Maybe you can answer your questions for yourself in the following way:

1. Make note of the ADHD "quiz" questions you answer yes to
2. Come up with multiple examples of each of those symptoms from your life (both earlier and throughout your life
3. Make a list of areas of your life (school, home, extra-curricular activities, etc.) where you have any kind of expectations or responsibilities to fulfill, and then map out how those symptoms are clearly and consistently interfering in each of those areas.
4. For your personal reference, maybe rate your level of impairment on a scale of 1-10

If you find multiple symptoms in multiple areas of your life, and you consider yourself solidly impaired in any significant areas, then you should ask a psych for help. If you aren't finding yourself significantly impaired or your symptoms don't quite match ADHD, it will still be useful to you.

[snickie]

Ahhhhh the question. XD I don't think I meant it to relate towards anything diagnostic but rather a reaction to everything else. But the rest of it is mostly on-topic?

That's actually a really good guide, thank you.

[Nike007]

Anyways, regarding this topic for me, my psych won't diagnosed AD/HD -inattentive because it's not impairing my life, as in school mark life. As a female, I am a strong perfectionist, but I procrastinate until the last second before I get what I need done and then everything seems normal. And other examples, but the point of this is, since I am doing good in school equals no AD/HD, meaning you can't do good in school with ADHD according to my pdoc. That has been the only thing that has bugged me about my pdoc. Everything else is good about her but this so.... yep. I have to wait until the new place to be evaluated or 18. Fun.

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