Attention Deficit (AD/HD)

"Profound statements roll from his mouth, much too mature and intellectual for a child of his age. He remembers experiences you've long since forgotten and drags you to the window to watch the raindrops, falling like diamonds from the sky. On the good days being the parent of a spirited child is astounding, dumbfounding, wonderful, funny, interesting, and interspersed with moments of brilliance." Mary Sheedy Kurchinka, Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic

Are you Quick Smart or Multiple Thought Impaired? (The Positives of having ADD)

I’m tall, I’m right-handed, and I have a short attention span. None of these traits need to be fixed. Let’s take a look at some people whose biographies or life history indicate strong ADD or ADHD behaviors.  [list of great achievers]  It sounds to me that if someone says that you have ADD you should consider it a compliment.  Scroll a little further, and be sure to read Carolyn's story!  And don't miss The Results Project bumper sticker: Your honor roll student will be working for my Quick Smart Kid
 

Attention Deficit Disorder Resources

Non-profit organization (based in Puget Sound WA, but membership world-wide) dedicated to sharing ADD resources.  Particularly good collection of adult ADD resources - read Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Adults.  Don't miss their great article collection, starting with From Assessment to Treatment: Developing a Comprehensive Plan to Help Your Child with ADHD (both articles by Sam Goldstein)...
 

Before referring a gifted child for ADD/ADHD evaluation by Sharon Lind

Parents and gifted educators are asked with increased frequency to instruct gifted children to conform to a set of societal standards of acceptable behavior and achievement -- to smooth the edges of the square peg in order to fit into a "normal" hole. An extension of this trend is reflected in an increase in referrals for medical evaluation of gifted children as ADD/ADHD. To avoid mislabeling gifted children, parents and educators may want to complete the following check list to help them decide to refer for medical or psychological evaluation...
 

Different Minds: Gifted Children With AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and other Learning Deficits by Deirdre V. Lovecky

Recognizing the different levels and kinds of giftedness, Lovecky provides insight into the challenges and benefits specific to gifted children with various learning difficulties.  Guides parents and professionals through diagnosis and advises on how best to nurture individual needs, positive behavior and relationships at home and at school... 
 

Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's, Depression, And Other Disorders by James T. Webb, Edward R. Amend, Nadia E. Webb, Jean Goerss, Paul Beljan, F. Richard Olenchak, and Sharon Lind

Physicians, psychologist, and counselors are unaware of characteristics of gifted children and adults that mimic pathological diagnoses. Six nationally prominent health care professionals describe ways parents and professionals can distinguish between gifted behaviors and pathological behaviors...  
 

Parenting Children with ADHD: 10 Lessons that Medicine Cannot Teach by Vincent J. Monastra

A Book for Parents from the American Psychological Association.  Full of great information, including Chapter 5: Students with ADHD Are Entitled to Help at School...
 

Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

If you have an exceptionally spirited child, this book is written for you.
Now Also available Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook
 

The Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD  by John F. Taylor

Great guide to ADHD and what it means (and doesn't mean!) to your life at home and school.  How to deal, and how to succeed!
 

ADD & Coming of age by Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times

Today, the children on the leading edge of a wave dubbed by some “the ADD generation” have reached the cusp of adulthood. And as they take on jobs or college, care for themselves away from home, enter into adult relationships and become parents, these newly minted grown-ups are carrying out a massive natural experiment...
 

ADD Resources National non-profit for people with AD/HD

A great way to learn more about ADHD. If you think you might have ADHD, start with Dr. Amen's Adult ADD Symptom Checklist then read the "ADHD Basics."
 

ADD Traits in Famous and Talented People ...a scrapbook

Frank Lloyd Wright, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Robert Frost - Not a bad bunch of role models!
 

ADD / ADHD LD On-line's summary of resources
 

ADHD and Children Who Are Gifted (ERIC Digest #522) by James T. Webb and Diane Latimer

Frequently, bright children are referred to psychologists because they exhibit behaviors (e.g., restlessness, inattention, impulsivity, high activity level, day-dreaming) commonly associated with ADHD...
 

ADHD Primer for Parents Part I; Executive Functions NOT inattention as the defining trait Susan Crum, EducationNews.org

Stress has a curvilinear effect on executive functions.  Too little stress is not sufficiently challenging to invoke executive functions and too much overwhelms the system. This is why the complexity of a task much be tailored to the child's current capacity and not based on the general education curriculum.  It is also why parents walk a very fine line between setting expectations that are too low, and being perceived as nagging a child to do something they aren't equipped to do...
 

ADHD Research Update David Rabiner, PhD

Monthly e-newsletter full of valuable information (free 3 month trial), plus articles right on the site
 

ADHD versus Overexcitabilities

Chart of differences between ADHD and Overexcitabilities...
 

Attention Deficit Disorders and Gifted Students: What Do We Really Know? by Felice Kaufmann, M. Layne Kalbfleisch, F. Xavier Castellanos

In recent years, several have expressed concern that giftedness is often misconstrued as ADHD and that the diagnosis of ADHD among the gifted population has run amok. We acknowledge that there are cases of mistaken diagnosis, although as of this writing, we have found no empirical data in the medical, educational, or psychological literature to substantiate the extent of this concern...
 

Beyond Ritalin: Facts About Medication and Other Strategies for Helping Children, Adolescents, and Adults With Attention Deficit Disorders by Garber, Garber and Spizman

For everyone concerned with ADHD, for those wary of medication, for those who want to know more about Ritalin
 

Blinks, A Phenomenon of Distractibility in Attention Deficit Disorder

Where do ADDers go when they space out, and why can't they just say "I'll think about that later?"
 

Born to Explore! The Other Side of ADD

Welcome to a site devoted entirely to exploring positive and alternative views of attention deficit disorder.  An especially good summary Gifted or ADD?
 

Brain Chemicals and Modern Life Born to Explore!

Reduced serotonin levels from stress, lack of sleep & exercise, poor nutrition, and lack of sunlight are connected with ADD... and much more
 

Brilliant and Hyper: Giftedness and ADHD are Not Mutually Exclusive by Pat Sullivan

There has not been a great deal of research on the coexistence of giftedness and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Despite the fact that many children do exhibit characteristics of both, few are dual diagnosed. It is important to understand that giftedness and ADHD are not mutually exclusive...
 

Challenges of Identifying and Serving Gifted Children with ADHD by Lori J. Flint

Educators need to do more to improve the quality of education of these high-potential yet terribly at-risk children and to reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosis of children who are gifted and creative and overexcitable as having ADHD... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

The Coincidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Creativity by Bonnie Cramond

Concern for creative children whose behaviors may be seen as maladaptive in school and who are incorrectly diagnosed as suffering from ADHD
 

Correlation between ADHD and gifted children... by Jerome J. Schultz

What about the child who is gifted and has ADHD? Unless a child understands his or her intellectual strengths and potentially negative impacts of the ADHD, they may be confused by their inability to sustain success
 

Denial of Eligibility Because of Gifted Intellectual Ability and/or Lack of Failure

The U.S. Department of Education, in a written response to questions from the Learning Disabilities Association of North Carolina, stated that "...each child who is evaluated for a suspected learning disability must be measured against his or her own expected performance, and not against some arbitrary general standard."  Even an intellectually gifted student may be considered for eligibility for special education.
 

Diagnosis Questions by Betty Maxwell

"How much is too much?  Even given the general understanding that overexcitabilities are a natural part of the "gifted package," it’s sometimes hard to know natural from needy behavior. The general lack of professional education regarding issues of giftedness can lead to wrong advice or even misdiagnosis."
 

The Difficult Child: Expanded and Revised Edition by Stanley Turecki

Parents and teachers often label children as "difficult" but this can mean such a variety of things. This book includes excellent descriptors of behaviors and traits...
 

Diverse Populations of Gifted Children: Meeting Their Needs in the Regular Classroom and Beyond by Starr Cline and Diane Schwartz

Written to help classroom teachers identify and plan for gifted children from special populations, including children with disabilities, minorities, the learning disabled, preschoolers, the exceptionally gifted, gifted females and underachievers
 

Does Our Middle School Have ADHD? by Lynn Ayers

In the middle of the night, having devoted most of the evening to extracting an acceptable one-page essay from a brilliant twelve-year-old, I was struck by an astounding revelation. I think it’s highly likely that our school may have ADHD!
 

Dreamers, Discoverers and Dynamos: How to Help the Child Who Is Bright, Bored and Having Problems in School (was: The Edison Trait) by Lucy Jo Palladino

Edison Trait kids have the qualities that make innovative leaders, inventors, explorers, yet they often have a hard time in school where their personality traits may be seen as weak or negative
 

Driven To Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell, John J. Ratey

Edison Trait kids have the qualities that make innovative leaders, inventors, explorers, yet they often have a hard time in school where their personality traits may be seen as weak or negative
 

The Einstein Factor broadcast with Robyn Williams

Some very gifted children are often condemned as failures in the school system because they learn in a different way to the majority of kids.
 

The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene

Not ADHD, not ODD, but... explosive.  Whether at home, school, or both, this book gives great insight and good advice into these often frustrating children...
 

Gifted children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (ERIC Digest #649) by Maureen Neihart

Are gifted children over-diagnosed with the disorder? In what ways are gifted ADHD children different from gifted children without the disorder and from other ADHD children? Does the emerging research suggest any differences in intervention or support?
 

Gifted children with AD/HD by Deirdre V. Lovecky

Formal data explore how these children differ from other gifted children and from average children with AD/HD...
 

Gifted Education and ADD The Mining Company Guide to ADD

This collection of useful information on Gifted ADD/ADHD deserves your review...
 

Gifted with AD/HD by Dana Olney-Bell, sixth grader

I’m twelve years old and for as long as I can remember, I’ve had opposite sides to myself. I’m told that I’m "gifted" — very smart and creative. But I also have to work really, really hard at things that seem much easier for other kids, like memorizing and paying attention...  I hope other kids who are gifted and have AD/HD know they’re not alone. I hope what I’ve written helps kids talk to their parents and teachers about things that bother or worry them and makes them feel less weird and alone...
 

Gifted or ADD? by Teresa Gallagher, Born to Explore

If your child seems bright then please, please, PLEASE have a qualified psychologist evaluate him or her for giftedness BEFORE you accept a diagnosis of ADD and medication...
 

Giving Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success by Alan Finder, New York Times

With girls outperforming boys these days in high school and college, educators have been sparring over whether there is a crisis in the education of boys.  High-priced tutors and college counselors have jumped into the fray by charging as much as $100 an hour and up to bring boys to heel.  The tutors say their main focus is organizational skills because boys seem generally to have more difficulty getting organized and multitasking than girls do...
 

How to Handle a Hard-To-Handle Kid: A Parent's Guide to Understanding and Changing Problem Behaviors by C. Drew Edwards

Writing with authority and compassion, Edwards explains why some children are especially challenging, for reasons from ADHD to profoundly gifted, then spells out clear, specific strategies parents can use to address and correct problem behaviors with firmness and love
 

The Intuitive Brain Born to Explore!

An attempt to persuade clinicians to be cautious when applying an ADD diagnosis to gifted children
 

Is This Your Child?: Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies by Doris J. Rapp

Details the physical and environmental factors that can contribute to our kids' behavior, including food, chemical sensitivities and 'sick building' syndrome
 

Is Your Child Hyperactive? Inattentive? Impulsive? Distractible?: Helping the Add/Hyperactive Child by Stephen W. Garber, Marianne Garber and Robyn Freedman Spizman

How to work with ADD/hyperactive children to help them build control, offering advice on diet, medication, coping with professionals, available resources, and programs to enhance attention span
 

Learning and Motivational Characteristics of Boys With AD/HD and/or Giftedness by Sydney Zentall, Sidney Moon, Arlene Hall, and Janice Grskovic

Findings indicate that teaching these students how to simplify, breakdown, or categorize assignments, projects, materials, and ideas, and then providing checkpoints along the way would be effective... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

Learning Outside The Lines by Jonathan Mooney and David Cole

A practical guide to help kids jump through the necessary hoops to achieve whatever larger, postschool goals they may have. While much of the material is written for kids who've received the label LD or ADHD, many of the suggestions can be just as helpful for those who've been labeled "gifted," or any other student who feels frustrated with the daily routine of standard education
 

Living With the Active Alert Child: Groundbreaking Strategies for Parents by Linda S. Budd

For anyone who is confused, frustrated, and sometimes pushed to the limit by the seemingly uncontrollable behavior of their bright, lovable child
 

Meeting the Challenge: Using Love and Logic to Help Children Develop Attention and Behavior Skills by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline

By the Love and Logic Parenting folks, shows parents how to assert control in a respectful manner, and help kids develop these valuable skills...
 

The Merrow Report: ADD A Dubious Diagnosis the PBS special...

Click on Download Transcript for the full text of the report (Adobe Acrobat required)
 

Misdiagnosis of the Gifted by Lynne Azpeitia, M.A. and Mary Rocamora, M.A.

Gifted individuals face many challenges. One of them may be in getting correctly identified by psychotherapists and others as gifted

Mis-Diagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children: Gifted and LD, ADHD, OCD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder by James T. Webb, Edward R. Amend, Nadia E. Webb, Jean Goerss, Paul Beljan, F. Richard Olenchak

Many gifted and talented children (and adults) are being mis-diagnosed by psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and other health care professionals. The most common mis-diagnoses are: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Mood Disorders...
 

NIH Consensus Development Conference on ADHD US National Institute of Mental Health

Full text of conference abstracts; the state of ADHD in the United States, including treatment, education, potential for abuse of medications used to treat ADD and other issues
 

Please, Please be sure! ADHD or Gifted and Creative by Trevor J. Tebbs

If suspicions surface with respect to ADHD (or some other disorder) but the child is identified as, or suspected to be highly able/gifted and creative then the characteristic behavioral traits noted above must be considered before reaching any conclusion. A second opinion, preferably from an expert in gifted education (sadly – often hard to find), should be a matter of course...
 

Primary Peeks: ADHD or Intensities of Giftedness? Editor, Carol Fertig
 

Problems in Identification and Assessment of ADHD by Steven M. Nordby

Discusses the diagnosis questions facing parents of perhaps gifted, perhaps ADD / ADHD children
 

Psychologists familiar with testing the gifted compiled by Carolyn K.

So many of us are looking for the 'right tester', someone familiar with gifted children, test ceilings, supplemental use of the SB-LM test, twice exceptional children, and more...
 

Reaching the Child with ADD

Ten Steps Towards Improving Your Relationship With Your Child
 

Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child by Jeffrey Freed and Laurie Parsons

"If there is a child in your life who fits the ADD pattern, let this be the one book you read cover to cover before proceeding with any intervention." C.R. of UOG
 

Shadow Syndromes by John J. Ratey and Catherine Johnson

While more than 50 million Americans suffer from full-fledged mental illnesses, millions more suffer from milder forms--yet they likely don't realize it. Also available on cassette
 

The Social Impact of Girls with ADHD by David Rabiner

Results from this interesting study add to current knowledge of the social difficulties of girls with ADHD by highlighting a pattern of social behavior that includes higher rates of relational aggression, reduced prosocial behavior, and higher rates of socially awkward behavior. When accompanied by ODD, increase in overt aggression are also prominent...
 

Teaching Study Skills and Learning Strategies to Therapists, Teachers, and Tutors: How to Give Help and Hope to Disorganized Students by Diane Newton

If students are to have organization, study skills and learning strategies at the point when they need them, the skills have to be taught ahead of time. By middle school, or certainly no later than high school, students need specific instruction, demonstration, ample practice, and in many cases careful monitoring...
 

Teenagers With ADD: A Parents' Guide by Chris A. Zeigler Dendy

Add to the struggle for control and confusion with emerging identity of the typical teen, the challenges difficulty focusing attention, resisting impulses, or remaining still, and you will understand the necessity of a manual for how to live and work with teens with ADD
 

Unicorns Are Real by Barbara Meister Vitale

Concrete suggestions in an entertaining, easy to read book to make learning and living easier for the right brained and those with learning disabilities
 

Video Games to treat ADD? by Leonard Holmes

Can your child attend better in school by playing video games? NASA research on brain waves may soon have practical applications in this area...
 

Weighing Nondrug Options for A.D.H.D. by Tara Parker-Pope, in The New York Times

While some studies of alternative treatments show promise, there is little solid research to guide parents.  A study on the effect of artificial coloring and preservatives on hyperactive behavior in children caused many pediatricians to rethink their skepticism about a link between diet and A.D.H.D...
 

What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin? ADHD's Impact on Creativity by Jeff Zaslow, in The Wall Street Journal

In chemistry labs, students who used to mix chemicals haphazardly, out of an insatiable curiosity, now focus on their textbooks. In English classes, kids who once stared out the windows, concocting crazy life stories about passersby, now face the blackboard -- to the great relief of parents and teachers.  But will the Ritalin Revolution will sap tomorrow's work force of some of its potential genius? What will be the repercussions in corporations, comedy clubs, and research labs?
 

What's wrong with Doug: the academic struggles of a gifted student with ADHD from preschool to college and
What's right with Doug: the academic triumph of a Gifted Student with ADHD both by Douglas A. Campbell, in Gifted Child Today ($)

From the very beginning, Doug stood out because of his intelligence, extroverted behavior, and his reluctance to do homework, but it was not until the academic problems of his first year of college that I figured out that his differences extended well beyond intelligence and into the nature and function of his brain. Doug was ADHD and gifted; the frustrations associated with this dual condition, which disrupted his first year in college, can be traced back to his early years in school...
 

Why Do So Many Smart Children With ADD Fail In Our Public Schools? by Thom Hartmann

Would any management put most of its dollars into its weakest divisions and starve the promising ones of capital? That is exactly what is happening to our brightest and most gifted children
 

Last updated February 02, 2010