ADHD can help some people with academic and professional achievement. Neurodiversity and intelligence are not the same thing. There are brilliant thinkers with ADHD just as there are neurotypical people who cannot get themselves organised, show up on time or read a book in full.
One study found that adults with significant ADHD/ADD symptoms who achieve professional success do so largely thanks to compensation strategies. Because these people are high achievers despite their symptoms, they may not even realize that they have ADHD/ADD.
The child may be both gifted and have ADHD, which presents as an inconsistent (or even average) performance across school subjects.
We've talked a lot about the negatives. But ADHDers can achieve good grades or be considered “highly gifted”, which is often referred to as being 'twice-exceptional' or '2E'. But it's important to note that a high IQ score doesn't lessen the impact that ADHD can have on your life.
Even though educational attainment is lower for people with ADHD in general, some do extremely well in school. Anna Levine, a lawyer with ADHD and the Executive Director of Lawyers Concerned with Lawyers of Massachusetts, explains, “Many people associate ADHD with professional or academic dysfunction.
ADHD can make completing tasks such as school work, homework, or work projects much more difficult. However, there is no clear link between ADHD and IQ. A person may have a high, average, or low IQ score and also have ADHD. ADHD may cause a person to interrupt in class or perform poorly on tests.
High IQ may “mask” the diagnosis of ADHD by compensating for deficits in executive functions in treatment-naïve adults with ADHD.
The students with ADHD also performed better in certain subject areas than those without ADHD. These included the arts, creative writing, science discovery, and architecture. (Their achievement was self-reported.)
Can a Child with ADHD be Gifted? Studies have shown that 50% of kids who are gifted have ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
For instance, among the 18 studies under scrutiny that did not explicitly state an IQ cut-off point the mean range of IQ among individuals with ADHD reported in the studies is from 102 to 110. Given that lower IQ is associated with ADHD this suggests that individuals with ADHD may be inaccurately represented.
Gifted children often are asked “If you're so good at doing that, why can't you do this?” Gifted children with ADHD often show heightened intensity and sensitivity, but they are set up to fail in a system that only recognizes and expects intellectual proclivity without consideration of their emotional needs.
Even when academic performance is high, the hidden cost of ADD (ADHD) is often taking a toll. Gifted students with ADD (ADHD) often struggle with anxiety, even when grades are high. They may suffer from boredom when required to do unnecessary, repetitive work that less gifted students may need.
At Work or School
Research has found that people with ADHD have more creativity and idea generation than people without the disorder. 3 This can lead to outside-the-box thinking that is so important for innovation. Hyper-focus: Many people with ADHD become hyper-focused on things that interest them.
High-functioning ADHD could mean: you experience severe symptoms but have developed “work arounds” to carry on with daily tasks and responsibilities. your symptoms are mild, and you're able to function with minimal impairment. symptoms are greatly impairing in some areas but you're highly functional in others.
Struggles with reading, writing, and math are common among students with ADHD. Use these strategies and tools to help your child overcome these and other learning challenges in core school subjects.
ADHD Assessment & Treatment Centres
To legally protect the rights of people with ADHD in Australia, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA), a person's ADHD must be classed as a disability according to the criteria as specified in the DDA. DDA disability definition criteria relevant to people with ADHD: 1.
Physical or kinesthetic: With this style of learning (which is extremely common for children with ADHD and other learning disabilities), the child prefers using their hands, body and sense of touch to learn.
High-IQ adults with ADHD seem to function well, but it comes at a high emotional cost. They feel burdened and exhausted, blaming their struggles on themselves, not on their ADHD.
Signs of giftedness can appear as early as infancy and continue during the toddler and preschool years. Testing for giftedness and high IQ, however, usually takes place around age 5.
Everyone needs 7-9 hours of sleep each night to feel productive and well during the day. But people with ADHD often have a hard time falling or staying asleep. Because you feel tired, your ADHD symptoms get worse, and that makes it harder to sleep the next night.
The mind of a person with ADHD is full of the minutiae of life (“Where are my keys?” “Where did I park the car?”), so there is little room left for new thoughts and memories. Something has to be discarded or forgotten to make room for new information. Often the information individuals with ADHD need is in their memory…