Let me tell you about Kyler and tell me if this sounds normal. When he was 2 he was introduced to the computer. I cannot even get my 3 year old interested. He did all of the Reader Rabbits, etc, educational software. He is 6 now. He began reading in preschool. He is now in kindergarten. When he was being observed for his IEP, they tested him under the Weschler IQ program and he scored a 118, they said that he is very analytical. He is now the only child in his class in the AR (Accerlerated Reading) program. He is also being considered for the Alpha Class (gifted). I was talking to a parent helper whom he was very rude with, and she said that she didn't think he was paying attention to anything because of his behavorial issues at that moment. But she said when he settled down, he did the schoolwork correctly, learning from the other kids mistakes while he was acting up. He had a spelling homework assignment. He was to find a long "A" and short "a", glue the pictures to a piece of paper and spell them to the best of his ability. He chose Acorn and Apple. He spelled Acorn Akrn and Apple Apel. This is normally what the kindergartners are doing at the end of the school year and still doing in first grade.

Now Kyler is diagnosed as being Severe ADHD and also ODD. Does this sound normal to other parent's of ADHD kids?

Linda

I am not a parent, but I'm a "social worker" (technically under WV laws I am, heh) who has worked as a tutor and camp counselor at an afterschool program for 3 years, and have worked with a few ADHD/ODD kids. The behavior is pretty much typical. My kids are older, normally, but as I said, the behavior is more or less typical.

is which part normal, The ADHD part, the ODD part or the spelling part? The spelling part is.

I guess I'm asking if all of it is, especially the inelligence part.

The behavioral criteria for giftedness and ADHD are almost identical, so it's hard to tell sometimes if a child is ADHD, a gifted child who is also ADHD, or a gifted child who is simply bored. Giftedness and ADHD often walk hand-in-hand :-)

I wouldn't really worry much about the spelling -- it's not unusual in first and second graders, and he obviously understands the underlying concept (vowel sounds) and that's the important thing. A lot of very bright creative people struggle with spelling.