Gifted children suffer when undue expectations exist without consideration of other complex characteristics that define their day-to-day experience. Children identified with ADHD become deficit-focused when their strengths are neither recognized nor celebrated.
One way to distinguish between the two is to identify the “acting out” behaviors. If the behaviors happen in specific situations then the child's behavior is related to giftedness. On the other hand if the behavior is the same across all the situations, then the behavior is related to ADHD (Bainbridge 1).
The child may be both gifted and have ADHD, which presents as an inconsistent (or even average) performance across school subjects. It can be difficult to correctly address a common situation like this even for experienced teachers.
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.
The giftedness may be so strong that the child performs well, masking the difficulty created by the ADHD. Conversely, the attention disorder may be so strong that the child underperforms, masking their giftedness.
ADHD AND GIFTEDNESS are sometimes described as having the same or similar characteristics. However, one diagnosis is considered a disability and one, a gift. Neither assumption is ideal in supporting the child identified with either ADHD, giftedness, or both, often referred to as twice exceptional or 2e.
Hyperactive includes many of the stereotypical behaviors associated with ADHD such as constant fidgeting, shifting or moving, difficulty staying seated in class, and the inability to stay focused on one task. Impulsive is characterized by a tendency to act before thinking about consequences.
Long attention span: Gifted kids frequently have a longer attention span than their age peers. On the other hand, they might have issues with attention and focus. Those children are called twice-exceptional or 2e kids. Sensitivity: Both emotional and tactile sensitivity are common among gifted children.
While gifted children may not be any more susceptible to mental health issues as other adolescents, there are certain aspects of giftedness that may influence or amplify a gifted child's experience of mental health issues.
When do signs of giftedness appear? 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.
Studies have shown that 50% of kids who are gifted have ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But that doesn't mean that 50% of people who have ADHD are Gifted.
ADHD student strengths often include a high level of creativity and innovation. ADHD students often have an outstanding ability to think outside the box and come up with unique solutions to problems. They are also often highly empathetic and intuitive, with a deep understanding of others' emotions and needs.
Although gifted children generally do well, they may show behaviors that mimic ADHD. For example, they may appear hyperactive because they ask many questions and are so excited about learning. Or, they may fail to participate in age-expected activities because of their over-focus on an area of interest.
Hyperactive is a word often used to describe gifted children as well as children with ADHD. As with attention span, children with ADHD have a high activity level, but this activity level is often found across situations (Barkley, 1990). A large proportion of gifted children are highly active too.
What is Gifted Kid Burnout? Like other experiences of burnout, gifted kid burnout is the result of long-term stress. It is often characterized by physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, and emotional detachment. It can be brought on by juggling too many roles, having little control, or few to no breaks.
Gifted children often set very high standards for themselves and get frustrated when they can't meet them. This can sometimes result in tantrums and other difficult behaviour. It's great for your child to work towards high standards. But your child needs to understand that they can't have high standards for everything.
Social Skills
The problems gifted children sometimes face with socializing often stem from their asynchrony and educational setting. Asynchronous development, or uneven development, is often considered a core trait of giftedness.
One of the most common characteristics of gifted students is their ability to learn things early and rapidly. Many gifted students have excellent memorization skills, which aids in their ability to connect previous knowledge with new information, thus accelerating their acquisition of new concepts.
Characteristics of Profoundly Gifted Children
Ability to comprehend material several grade levels above their age peers. Surprising emotional depth and sensitivity at a young age. Strong sense of curiosity. Enthusiastic about unique interests and topics.
Giftedness falls into one or more of the following areas: intellectual, academic, creative, artistic and leadership.
There is significant overlap of characteristics among people with ADHD, high IQ, and creativity — like curiosity, impatience, high energy, low tolerance for boredom, charisma, nonconformity, risk-taking, and resistance to authority.
High IQ may “mask” the diagnosis of ADHD by compensating for deficits in executive functions in treatment-naïve adults with ADHD.