Hi everyone,
I am a 22 year old student from London, England. I have never been tested for ADD nor has the matter even be discussed in reference to me, but recently I have begun to question my attitude to my studies and how I organise my life. I am an extremely unproductive person, I procrastinate and time-waste and find it extremely difficult to plan my time efficiently. I am not particularly sociable and although I am not disliked I find it difficult to attract friends.
Obviously I know it takes a long time to diagnose ADD and I don't expect any definite answers from you guys, but my principle question is what is the link between academic performance and ADD. I don't do bad at uni by any means, in fact I generally perform above average (depending on what I am studying of course - damn french grammar!!). Is ADD normally associated with poor academic performance?
Also, is it possible to go undiagnosed with ADD for a long time and/or develop ADD after childhood?
I have so many questions, but I feel really stupid going to the doctor to talk about it because I feel he would tell me just to stop wasting time and get on with my uni work rather than obsessing over unsubstantiated fears.
Anyway, sorry to go on so long, but I would really appreciate any input you guys can offer, thanks.

my principle question is what is the link between academic performance and ADD. I don't do bad at uni by any means, in fact I generally perform above average (depending on what I am studying of course - damn french grammar!!). Is ADD normally associated with poor academic performance?
Also, is it possible to go undiagnosed with ADD for a long time and/or develop ADD after childhood?

While it's not possible that ADD develops later in life, it's QUITE possible to deal with it for many years without realizing the problem. You'll find a LOT of adults on this forum who were not diagnosed until their 30's, 40's or even 50's.

It's ENTIRELY possible to do very well in school with ADHD. Besides being affected in different areas (reading for some, math for others), there's a wide range of academic abilities. I did VERY well in school and in college. It wasn't until I reached the very top, qualifying for PhD candidacy, that I ran into academic trouble because of it.

Everyone's impaired in different areas. Doing well academically doesn't mean you don't have ADHD. Then again, it's always possible you don't. Your doctor will ask you why you think it is that you've gotten along until now. My answer to that was a lot of work, a lot of self-discipline, a good support system, and a 180 IQ.

Good Luck!

I don't know very much about it aside from personal experience, but I do know that for me it meant preforming poorly academically. I'm very intelligent so I was considered to be a slightly eccentric child who was very intelligent (all A's until 5th grade). Once I hit 5th grade and the work changed and my enviroment changed my grades promptly dropped down to D's, I struggled to maintain even that level of preformance until high school and now I'm not even scraping by at all ( I have 2 F's on my report card, which I just recieved today). My cumulative gpa is 1.2 ( I think.).

For me the problems seem never ending as I have a bit of hyperactivity to go with my inability to pay attention.
I'm overwhelmed by all the work (as someone put it, I can see the forest- but not the trees) and anything dealing with multiple lines of text for me is a problem. I skip around frantically while reading, and I end up trying to read the same paragraph many times over to get ANY information from it. I seem to do ok in my math class, but I don't do much of my work in there for that reason. I get lost in the middle of worksheets and book assignments and continually have to re-find my place, and re-work problems. In the time another student can do and re-check all of his math work I will have just finished the assignment, usually with multiple small errors (transposing numbers, forgetting the appropriate symbols, or in the case of variables skipping over variables without noticing, et cetera).
But my lack of motivation, procrastination, and all that effect every aspect of my life. I even find myself unmotivated to do things that I consider hobbies, and fun.

I was about average in school when I was really young, then around grade 5 or 6 I started to care more about my marks and performed above average from then on. I did well in university and I'm in a masters program now. My overall IQ is average but I scored higher on subtests more relevant to courses I choose to take (i.e. verbal subtests). I wasn't diagnosed as a child. I'd suspected it since high school and but was offically diagnosed not too long ago.

Hi

Just from my own experience - ive only been diagnosed recently, it will impact on your ability to preform academically, however people can and do compensate for it in differing ways.- one of the most simple ways is by working harder and longer - ive always taken longer to do projects, exercises etc - eventhough i have managed to get through to PhD level, at which I am struggling now.

I dont think you should feel stupid asking questions to your doctor - whatever it is thats holding you back should be investigated.

One of the defining characterisitcs of ADD is that it has to be present in your childhood - if not its most likely something else. Aparently depression and other problems show similar symptons.

If you dont want to go to you doctor yet - why not get a book on it first to educate yourself - there is quite a selection on amazon.co.uk

best of luck

While it's not possible that ADD develops later in life, it's QUITE possible to deal with it for many years without realizing the problem.

This is correct. Many times people with ADD don't realize how much harder they are having to work when compared to same age peers simply because we do not know what it is like being any one but us.

Often the college atmosphere makes ADD symptoms more noticeable because many of the structures we used to cope in school are gone. Often without realizing it parents often provide structure for their child. When the child goes off to college this support is no longer available.

How and how much as well as when ADD becomes a problem is also determined by the severity of the ADD along with the type of ADD. Inattentive usually go un-noticed longer because they are less of a distraction than hyper actives people.

Here is a hyperlink to our college university section maybe pop over and see how much your experiences and feelings coincide.


http://www.addforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&f=23&page=1&pp=25&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=7


Oh yea welcome to the forums!!!!!

Welcome to the forums! It's definately not a stupid question -- however not all doctors are well versed in adult ADHD. This is especially true outside the United States. You might try reading the book Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults by Thomas Brown of Yale Univeristy. He discusses how and why ADHD sometimes hits the radar screen later in life and specifically how that applies to brighter individuals. Also you owe it to yourself to find out what is going on. If it's not ADHD, it might be anxiety, depression, etc. which also might need treatment. Another good book to look up is Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey (both ADDer's who teach at Harvard).

Something you said Tammy just got me thinking about why college was successful for me. I went off to college, but it was a small private college with strict rules. Freshman weren't allowed to have cars, TV's weren't allowed in the rooms, computers weren't something people could afford back then in their rooms, the college was in a self contained valley with nothing other than a grocery store, card shop, and snack shop for entertainment. We weren't allowed to go to movies, had a strict curfew and such. Heck, it was probably stricter than living at home. Nothing much to do but study, exercise and practice my French Horn music! Those three things are a good combination for me!:) I managed to do very well in college and my master's program too (and with 55 or so less IQ points than Barb had to play with;) -- but of course, I skillfully managed to avoid any statistics, difficult math or foreign languages classes:p !).

If an ADHD brain is "turned on" by a subject, the person can frequently hyperfocus on it and do as well or better than other students. It's those classes the brain find uninteresting where the problem lies. Foreign languages are frequently a problem area for ADDers -- probably in part because of the short term memory issues. Hallowell and Ratey state the inconsistency is the hallmark of ADHD. Do well there and poorly somewhere else.

One last book suggestion is Women with Attention Deficit Disorder by Sari Solden. She discusses how inattentives (as opposed to hyperactives) are frequently missed, especially girls. ADHD looks different in women and is only now really being looked into.

Scattered

those were some great, very constructive replies.
It's great to read so many personal stories - everyone is different after all.
Thanks for book recommendations Scattered, i love "research"!!
In fact, I have already ordered Thomas Brown's from Amazon.
:D:D:D

Hope you like it! :) I saw myself all over in there!

Scattered

As others said, you can't develop it in adulthood, but you can still go for years with relatively un-impacted grades if you're fairly bright, or you "mesh" with school more than some other ADHD people, or if your environment is strict enough...etc.

I made honors all through school until I got to college. Last semester, my GPA dropped below a 3.00, but I did well enough first semester (3.75) that I still have won an academic scholarship for the year. Which I may not be able to use because I'm close to flunking, and may be past the point of no return...but that's another story.

There's a concept called "hitting the wall." The "wall" is different for everyone, but it's the point where you can't cope well anymore. To me, the "wall" has obviously been hit the past 2 semesters. It might be different for you, and if you haven't hit it...! Then you're lucky to be catching this now, whatever your difficulty is.

Your past history of ADHD symptoms may not even be very obvious to you, so don't necessarily rule it out on the basis of your own self-observations. My mother rated my childhood symptoms much higher than I would have expected her to. Also, when I read that teachers may note ADHD symptoms on report cards, I ran to find mine...and then cried when I saw nothing in them that looked indicative. The psychologist who evaluated me, however, had a different opinion, and translated some "teacher-speak" for me - there were more comments in there on my symptoms than I initally realized.

Of course, it could be something else that you're dealing with as well - even something physical like low iron. So don't rule that out, either.

Your past history of ADHD symptoms may not even be very obvious to you, so don't necessarily rule it out on the basis of your own self-observations. My mother rated my childhood symptoms much higher than I would have expected her to.Bean's right (nothing unusual there!:) )! ADHD folks are known to be terrible self observers. They typically underestimate their symptoms and that mother's are generally more accurate in appraising their childhood behaviors. I was reading that in Thomas Brown or Russell Barkley's work -- in either case they're both top notch ADHD researchers.

Scattered

Also, when I read that teachers may note ADHD symptoms on report cards, I ran to find mine...and then cried when I saw nothing in them that looked indicative. ...

I also cried, but for exactly the opposite reason.

It was all there, doesn't pay attention, chooses to disconnect, to dreamawake, can't seem to finish what he's started, lost potential, he disrupts the course of the class, if only he tried... etc etc.

Even after being on this site since August, reading people's signatures with their teacher's comments, AND reading a whole thread devoted to this topic, it took over three months for me to come up with the brilliant idea that I, also might have these report thingies. My psychiatrist was giving me a somewhat hard time and these would help for sure. Then a psychologist I was assigned for psychotherapy diagnosed me right there, without reading any reports.

Which one is worse? crying because it was hard to see then or crying because despite it being so obvious noone noticed?

I think I win. ;) :(

I have nothing but good things to say about my parents in this respect. They did their very best and I have no doubts about that. There were a few teachers though, they were pretty bad, misleading my family with the hay fever I had, which was pretty bad, supposedly so bad that it carried over to the winter time (!!!) This was in Spain in the eighties. I still have to meet someone who was diagnosed with ADHD in Europe in the eighties, although I'm sure there are.

Bean said: Your past history of ADHD symptoms may not even be very obvious to you, so don't necessarily rule it out on the basis of your own self-observations. My mother rated my childhood symptoms much higher than I would have expected her to.
Bean's right (nothing unusual there!:) )! ADHD folks are known to be terrible self observers. They typically underestimate their symptoms and that mother's are generally more accurate in appraising their childhood behaviors.

I read something on Amen's site, I think, about having someone else to the rating scale, so I had my DH do it to rate me.

Most of his ratings were similar, but there were a few that I was very surprised about. Like, I have always considered myself a pretty coordinated person; I'm a good dancer and can be graceful. But, DH said I was "a bit awkward". I was shocked. Then he told me that he doesn't walk around with bruises all over his body from bumping into things!

I thought my constant knee-banging and shoulder-bumping was normal!!!

I thought my constant knee-banging and shoulder-bumping was normal!!!


LOL I resemble this remark. I was sooo glad when the use of patient beds with crank handles at the bottom became scarce because I had bruises on my shins all the time from those stupid things.

I do tend to have bumps and bruises here and there. Most of the time I do not even remember how they got there. I have even been asked during a physical if I had a clotting problem because of the bruises. My response was;
“ I don't because if I did I would bleed to death monthly.”
Gary slightly red faced said
"she just runs into things when she works out side."

I am not particularly clumsy I just get too distracted some times to pay attention to where I am in relationship to where every thing else is!!!

Haha, I'm constantly bumping into things! It was obvious enough to me, for whatever reason, that this isn't normal, but I didn't know why I did it. There was a corner in my school that I used to run into EVERY time I tried to go around it, and I could have SWORN I was walking down the middle of the hallway! *drifts sideways*


It was all there, doesn't pay attention, chooses to disconnect, to dreamawake, can't seem to finish what he's started, lost potential, he disrupts the course of the class, if only he tried... etc etc.
*nods* I had most of that too...but it wasn't phrased like that. It was all "spun" positively, but once you got the gist of the "spin" you could see what the teachers really meant. Like...I got comment after comment on what a DELIGHTFUL sense of humour I had, but perhaps I could show it at more appropriate times...I think I got that comment every term.

The first time I read that, I thought they were just saying I was funny. But the psychologist who evaluated me said that this is what she sees in report cards of kids who blurt things out a lot. :rolleyes: Apparently they even called home all the time to complain about that very thing, but does it show up as a negative comment in my report card? Nooo. There's barely a rebuke in there.

I do think I was less "obvious" though.

Yes, well, I relate to that too. I got both kinds of comments. While some of the teachers' comments were worded as I specified above, clear and to the point, others', like you say, were more enigmatic in nature, "what the hell is up with this kid, but he does this and this better than anyone else" becomes, I don't know, creative writing for teachers or something, with some ridiculous circumlocutions. Well, it's 20 years later and here I am. Thanks for liking me!

I'm sure if I hadn't studied at all, if I hadn't tried so dammn hard, or if I had been some kind of teenage hooligan I'd have been picked up.

I think this belongs in the vent thread.

"Creative writing for teachers" - perfect description.