A little opinion here please...?

It is my very strong belief that individuals with ADD are gifted people. Our need for stimulation comes from a dissatisfaction with the run-of-the-mill, the everyday, the tangible...We are always striving for something better. We are incredibly passionate and full of energy. We thrive on discovery.

What do you think?

Sorry, couldn't find my answer in the list.

Oh no, sorry!

What is your opinion on the matter?

I think AD/HD is unrelated to intelligence. Some are gifted, some are of below-average intelligence, most are somewhere in between.

onemoreyear, I believe that people with ADHD have varying degrees of ability.

Perhaps you could help me. I'm having a terrible time finding a definition of "giftedness" in children. What is meant by a gifted child?

I see ADD as being abnormaly bored in correlation to intelligence. According to many advocates of the gifted, it is normal for a gifted person to be inattentive, restless, or impulsive. However, it is not normal for an average person (intelligence wise, creativity wise) to be inattentive. I think that ADD makes the gifted "boredom" factor even worse in a school setting, although certain ADD subtypes (Inattentive) may counteract certain undesirable behaviors (being disruptive) in the gifted. By the way, I use the word normal in a statistical model sense, not necessarily an indicator of a more desirable state.

Almost everyone with ADD I have met in real life has seemed to be gifted. I think the key is to not evaluate the performance of cognition alone when dealing with ADD people, but in specific instances. I make errors all day in cognition (whether it be calculation, troubleshooting a problem and missing a detail or aspect, or mixing up words as I speak), but that doesn't mean I lack ability. I am simply inconsistent. Because these subtle errors may be seen as cognitively lacking by many NTs (namely, ones who are extremely attentive to details and have a high tolerance for mundane, repetitive work), many may see themselves as being lacking because many (those whose parents fall into the aforementioned NT category) are trained to view themselves from the eyes of others.

To answer the question, yes, I do believe that ADDers are gifted, even if their IQ score isn't in the formal range for the typical psychological criterion. Even if one doesn't have creative talents or special skills, being extracultural (which often leads to thinking with one's own brain! (thinking outside the box)) could be a situational gift.

One last note. I do not believe the statement of the gifted being impulsive, inattentive, or disorganized as being universally true (depending on the particular definition of gifted). I know many people at the place in which I work (the "real-world") who seem intelligent (probably scoring gifted on an IQ test) who are organized, punctual, on task, and rather uncreative! These types are probably unrecognized throughout the educational system as they do not pose a problem in the classroom and are not bored easily. Sometimes I wonder if MBTI (meyers-briggs type indicator) (or whatever other typing system applies) is a better indicator of school success in suboptimal environments than IQ (which is interesting because many correlate the gifted with xNxP types, which makes it seem logical that the gifted would be impulsive, inattentive, etc).

Well, this is probably a bit more than the topic was about, but do believe it still relavent. A bit long-winded for myself as well.

I agree with vegansoprano, that intelligence and ADHD are probably independent of each other.

If you're not intellectually gifted, ADHD can hamper academic achievement.

Regardless of intelligence, ADHD can hamper social development, organization and planning abilities.

If you're gifted, you may have a little more horsepower to overcome obsticles (Oh, that I could someday overcome and sp:oll).

Interpretaing the gift as creativity:
If you need to overcome obsticles, if you're treated differently from others, if your ADHD behavior sets you apart, you're forced to see and act upon life and culture in new ways. You have to create just to get through the damn day! This can lead to great art or the little miracles embeded in the mundane.

I would consider this a gift, and all ADHD people gifted.


Almost everyone with ADD I have met in real life has seemed to be gifted.
Unfortunately , many crash and burn. It's a lot to ask of someone who didn't choose this gift.

Am I too negative?

I think the key is to not evaluate the performance of cognition alone when dealing with ADD people, but in specific instances. I make errors all day in cognition (whether it be calculation, troubleshooting a problem and missing a detail or aspect, or mixing up words as I speak), but that doesn't mean I lack ability.

Nicely said.

There is no valid reason (not that anyone's shown me anyway) to suppose that the distribution of intelligence is any different in the ADHD community than in the general community. Probably a bit of a bell curve thing happening ;)

"Gifted" is a technical term, and an unfortunate choice, really, because so many people argue that we are all "gifted" in one way or another. Yes, ADHD can be a gift, it gives people some unique abilities. But that doesn't mean that they are gifted in the formal sense of the word. Giftedness is defined as an IQ over 130, at least here in Germany, and bears no particular relation to ADHD. Gifted and ADHD kids show some of the same symptoms before they are diagnosed, i.e. fidgetiness and disruptive behavior in school, and of course one person can be both gifted and ADHD, but no connection between the two has been found, as far as I know.

I view it as a gift. I voted with the majority on this one !
Nova

It's funny, I actually don't know what I meant by gifted. I just know that, perhaps by chance, everyone I've met with ADD seems gifted...even if it's just an incredible level of common sense.

Examples:

My friend, we'll call him "JOHN," has been on dexedrine since he was about 8. He is the most wired and hyper person I know--a very strong case of ADHD. John got fired from two jobs during college and had no car or cash. He used to scrape together pennies to buy the cheapest beer he could find. Despite this...JOHN just graduated from college with a 3.75 in Business, but instead he gave it all up to join the Peace Corps after a one-month stay in Russia. He absolutely loves traveling and has an other-worldly quality that gives him this...aura...of wisdom. It has nothing to do with INTELLIGENCE...but his choices/situations stick out in comparison to other friends.

Another friend, "Dirk," just graduated from college too. He had terrible insomnia with Ritalin during college so he used to kill a 12-pack of Natural Light every night before he went to bed. He moved to another state and became an airport security guard. At night, he sits around his house and drinks beer...But his mind is always turning! He comes out at the most random times with the most random analyses of everyday situations. He observes his social relations with a critical eye and has a very good sense of the world around him. Some of the deepest and most philosophically challenging ideas have come out of this guys' mouth...Again, nothing to do with "smarts," but he is just...gifted. He thinks more than anyone I know.

Finally, my good friend "Zeke." He has never attended a single class since we've been students together. He never does his homework. The day of the exam, he sits down with the book about three hours before the test and walks out with an A. It's really frustrating to be friends with someone like this when you start studying for the exam a week before and end up with a C-. Zeke is now in South America touring Mayan temples and herding llamas for 50 cents a day. He's not a rocket scientist, but he could be if he wanted to...he's just...gifted.

Hope that clears up what I meant by gifted.