Make Your Child Smarter

ADHD and Giftedness

Q: My daughter turned 3 last August 23, 2007. She has shown some signs of being advanced compared to children of her age. She knew how to count from 1 to 10 before she turned 2 and she learned all her sounds and letters at age 2 ½. Before age 3, she learned to read 2 letter words and some 3-letter words like cat, hat, fan man…all 3-letter words ending with at and an. After her 3rd birthday, we brought her to a doctor specializing in Developmental Pediatrics. The assessment of the doctor is as follows:

Background information:
The child was brought for developmental evaluation because of advanced skills and hyperactivity. She seemed to attain developmental milestones at an early age. She was enrolled at a Nursery class at the age of three and has been doing well academically but was noted to be very active and restless.

Behaviors Noted during the evaluation:
· Restless, squirming during the evaluation
· Very Playful

Summary of Developmental Profile:
· Test Used: BDZ
· Gross Motor Skills: 3 ½ - 4 years old
· Fine Motor / Visou-Motor Integration Skills: 3 years & 7 months
· Receptive Language: 6 years old
· Expressive Language: 4 – 4 ½ years old
· Personal/Social/Adaptive Skills: 4 years old
· School related skills - Cognitive: 4 years & 4 months
· School related skills – Practical Reasoning: 4 ½ - 5 years old

Clinical Impression:
1. Potentially Gifted Child
2. Hyperactivity Problems

Recommendation:
1. Her hyperactivity may still be developmentally appropriate but parents are advised if such behavior will persist, then they may need to seek professional help to manage her behavior like an occupational therapist.
2. Developmental Monitoring.
***End of Evaluation***

Is it true that her hyperactivity is still appropriate for her age? Is there a need to be alarmed at this point in time? Is my daughter a gifted child with ADHD? Is it possible that she can overcome her hyperactivity at age 5 or early on? I’m really confused if I should be happy or alarmed with her assessment results. Please help and tell me what you think and can you please offer some suggestions or recommendations on how to take care of my daughter?.

A: It is important to find a local treatment provider to interpret your results. However, it might help for you to be aware of the overlap between the symptoms of giftedness and the symptoms of ADHD. One of the key indicators of intellectual giftedness is overexcitability. A gifted child can be mis-diagnosed with ADHD. In a few cases, it is possible to have both ADHD and Intellectual giftedness. I have written 3 books on the gifts of ADHD (i.e. The Gift of ADHD) and believe that the gifts of ADHD are separable from intellectual giftedness. At the age of three it is possible that hyperactivity is both developmentally appropriate and also a reflection of the giftedness. It is of course possible your daughter falls in the rare category of being both gifted and ADHD.

here are some resources to consider in seeking a trained mental health professional to offer you clarification on your question. These are internet articles that point to the confusion between intellectual giftedness and ADHD.

Dabrowski's concepts of overexcitabilities / excitabilities

Overexcitabilities in Gifted Children

The Emotional Needs of the Gifted Child

I hope this help. Take care!

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