Many people view the benefits of ADHD as “superpowers” because they are additional skills that their neurotypical counterparts do not have. ADHD gifts people a unique perspective on the world that those without ADHD are unlikely to understand. For example, not everyone has the ability to hyperfocus.
So we want to emphasise that having ADHD is not a weakness or a failing, and definitely does not mean that someone is, or will be, a bad person. In fact, ADHD usually comes with lots of skills and character traits that other people would wish to have, and make them very 'good' people.
There's been a lot of focus on the harmful symptoms of ADHD. Although there's less research on ADHD superpowers, people with ADHD report that they are more energetic, creative, courageous, and resilient than people without the condition.
Imagination and Creativity
Many individuals with ADHD are really creative, inventive and imaginative. They often have more than one idea floating around their brain and are the ultimate 'outside the box' thinkers. They often have a different or alternative perspective and approach to tasks and scenarios.
Being creative and inventive.
Living with ADHD may give the person a different perspective on life and encourage them to approach tasks and situations with a thoughtful eye. As a result, some with ADHD may be inventive thinkers. Other words to describe them may be original, artistic, and creative.
What is “The Gift of ADHD”? People of all ages who have the diagnosis of ADHD can reliably be observed to share a set of gifts including creativity, exuberance, emotional expressiveness, interpersonal intuition, ecological consciousness, and leadership.
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.
ADHD can cause students to wander off task, overlook details, or forget important information. If you have or believe you might have ADHD, then you know what a struggle it can be to study, submit assignments on time, and pay attention to lectures.
The five gifts of ADHD include creativity, emotional sensitivity, exuberance, interpersonal empathy and being nature smart (The Gift of Adult ADD, 2008).
Research shows employees with ADHD can be more curious, creative, imaginative, innovative, and inventive. They tend to be out-of-the-box thinkers, with an approach that can be highly prized in the workplace. Your ADHD symptoms can work for you, when you learn more about them and have proper treatment.
In essence, the traits associated with ADHD likely help more with enhancing hunter-gatherer skills than those of a settler. Up until about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of agriculture, all human beings had to hunt and gather food in order to survive. Nowadays, most people don't have to worry about finding food.
Hyperactivity in adults with ADHD may appear the same as it does in kids. You may be highly energetic and perpetually “on the go” as if driven by a motor. For many people with ADHD, however, the symptoms of hyperactivity become more subtle and internal as they grow older.
Children with ADHD are often described as fearless – but sometimes this means taking risks or doing things which are not wise. People with ADHD are restless and find it hard to sit still or do one thing for very long. They need to move about and may fidget.
Traumatic stress, apart from other factors like premature birth, environmental toxins, and genetics, is associated with risk for ADHD. The connection is likely rooted in toxic stress – the result of prolonged activation of the body's stress management system.
Because of the similarities outlined above, 2e children who are both gifted and have ADHD can be especially difficult to detect. While many experts agree that these children do exist, there is currently no formal criteria to identify giftedness in children who are ADHD or to identify ADHD in children who are gifted.
How Can ADHD Affect Kids at School? ADHD can affect a student's ability to focus, pay attention, listen, or put effort into schoolwork. ADHD also can make a student fidgety, restless, talk too much, or disrupt the class. Kids with ADHD might also have learning disabilities that cause them to have problems in school.
Shankman: Simply put, ADHD is the brain's inability to produce as much dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline as “regular” people's brains produce. Because of that, our brains have become “faster.” When managed right, that becomes a superpower. Have you found that you tend to think faster than most people? Yes.
All types of ADHD may include weaknesses in executive functioning. Thus, children with ADHD are more likely to have problems getting started on things, and have difficulty with planning, problem-solving, and time management.
They can be considered to be creative geniuses. Scientist and Nobel prize winner Albert Einstein is considered to have had ADHD because he “was as disorganised and forgetful as he was insightful and intelligent.” There is other evidence to suggest that he may have had dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism combined with ADHD.
Each other used a cut-off of 80 or above or did not take IQ into account. 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.
Studies show that children with ADHD have a significant deficit in working memory compared to their typically developing peers. Learning about what it means to have poor working memory is the key to understanding many of your child's challenges.
Type 6: Ring of Fire ADD
Symptoms: primary ADD symptoms plus extreme moodiness, anger outbursts, oppositional, inflexibility, fast thoughts, excessive talking, and very sensitive to sounds and lights. I named it Ring of Fire after the intense ring of overactivity that I saw in the brains of affected people.
ADHD is not a disorder. In fact, if directed, harnessed, and utilized, it can be a superpower and give you the ability to achieve great success.