It seems that if you have say, a group of 100 NT kids, you will find that a small number are very intelligent and a small number are not at all intelligent. Nobody can argue this.

It also seems to be that with a group of 100 AD/HD kids the number of intelligent and unintelligent kids increases.

I was just thinking.. hang on, same condition.. Why are they so diverse? Why aren't they just as often 'average' 'above average' or 'below average' as NT kids?

Well I got this little idea and I don't know if you guys will agree but from what I gather:

Kids with AD/HD think faster. They also think laterally. As a result they can not focus on one thing- whilst thinking about it, they think of something more interesting and instantly focus on that. Their attention shifts to many different things when really, they were SUPPOSED to be thinking about the first thing.

Well, if I heard about a kid who "thinks faster and laterally" I'd instantly assume they were smart. Wouldn't you?

So what went wrong. Why aren't most kids with AD/HD very intelligent? Intelligence isn't the only thing that is important in life, but who wouldn't agree that it is a good thing to have?

Say when a child with AD/HD is learning about elephants and somehow whilst processing what they are learning, something reminds them of a video game they once played. If the game is more interesting, they will stop learning about elephants and start wasting their time, not learning anything.

Could it be that the key to being a genius child with AD/HD is to be raised thinking that learning is more fun than games? I myself have visual processing disorder which renders most games too difficult for me and the frustration makes me stop playing them. I happen to be knowledgeable about what interests me.

I'm not saying that video games are the only thing that takes up potential learning time, but it is surely one of them for most kids.

In fact, likewise with sport. If they are brought up kicking a ball around the backyard, they may find themselves unable to concentrate on a video game but on soccer and before you know it they could become a soccer star!

Just a thought.

Quite possibly. Interesting theory.

Thankyou.

IQ and ADHD have been studied a lot. In general, having adhd lowers your overall IQ by 15 points or more.

People with ADHD tend to have a higher verbal IQ than performance IQ. Basically it means that people with ADHD are smarter than they seem to be.

If you factor out the dip in performance Iq, the IQ span of people with ADHD will be about the same as the general population. Basically, this means that there is no correlation between IQ and ADHD other than the fact that having ADHD does tend to lower your performance IQ a little.

If there were a strong correlation between ADHD and IQ you would probably see a strong preference toward a specific range(s) of IQ.... adhd really has nothing to do with IQ.

The notion that ADDers are high IQ is a myth. The fact that so many ADDers are very innovative and outside the box thinkers has more to do with lateral thinking style than IQ... but certainly a high IQ would help a lot.


ME :D

People with ADHD tend to have a higher verbal IQ than performance IQ.
This is definetley true in my case, my verbal IQ is in the 99th percentile of kids my age....
a verbal IQ of 125,

That outher thing is 120, and at about the 70th percentile of kids my age,

According to the sample test my theripist gave me,

My IQ scores are extremely variable and can bounce anywhere between 100 to 160. The last IQ test I took was the WAIS. Interestingly enough, the examiner (looking very perplexed/surprised) told me that on all the untimed portions of the test, I got perfect scores on everything. And then on all the timed portions, I performed only at a slightly above average level. Which I kind anticipated to happen since whenever I know I'm being tested on time, I get wracked with anxiety, my brain goes into a fuzzy gridlock state and my working memory goes all to hell. So the result was a huge disparity between Verbal IQ and Performance IQ.

ADHD lowers your IQ by 15. I'm assuming they found this out by having compared the average IQ to that of the general population? In this case my theory is still valid. They just haven't been taught right. School is bad for most of us, it is up to us alone really as to how knowledgeable we become.

I should have been more succinct in my statement. Stating that ADHD lowers the IQ by 15 points for everyone with ADHD is a bit arbitrary.. But 15 points is a very typical value.


A lower performance IQ decreases the overall IQ, that is all it really means. It might be 15 points, it might be 20 points. It depends on the individual.

For example you could have a verbal IQ of 137 and a performance IQ of 117 and your overall IQ might drop to 128.... etc.. I don't know the calculations for it, so don't hold me to those numbers.


Me :D

IQ is not what matters anyway about this. It is just that my idea is if students with AD/HD keep focusing on things that are more interesting than what they should be learning, of course they can't become as knowledgeable as they should be. Unless of course they are interested in programming, psychology, biology, mathematics, etc. Surely this is dependant on their upbringing.

I think that ADD means that not all of your systems are supporting you fully. This can happen to very intellegent people, and to less intellegent people. No matter how smart you are, your hearing, tactility, vision, proprioception, and especially your vestibular functions may not be working optimally, or systems that need to work together may not be doing so efficiently.

The solution is to gently strengthen the weak systems, and to better integrate co-dependant systems. There's a really good explanation of it at www.handle.org (http://www.handle.org/), under Disorders, then ADD/ADHD.

My daughter is very bright, and can do many things well, but then other things are completely impossible, like changing her vision from near-point to far-point and back again (she cannot copy something from the blackboard, for example). The teachers didn't understand that she couldn't do this, and thought she was just deciding not to cooperate. She used to not be able to sit still for long, and they didn't understand that this too was out of her control. Fortunately, she's been doing her HANDLE program for 5 months and now she has no problem sitting at a desk. Her visual problems are not resolved yet, but I think that will change as we continue to do her program.

I think it can be especially hard for the really bright kids. Everyone assumes they have all the tools they need to do all the tasks we ask of them. But the truth is that being bright does not ensure that one is well neurologically organized, and even if a kid appears healthy and capable, there may be systems that are not working efficiently and need to be strengthened.

WOW! That is very much like me! I have visual problems as well (visual processing disorder, severely poor visual memory and poor visual spatial intelligence, along with other things) AD/HD and I'm gifted. People think "gifted.. school should be easy for you. You are perfect!". Not the case! Being gifted makes school harder. I don't fit in and I get bored too easily, etc. Will check this out.

I am with Speedo on this one

ADD is a problem with consciously controlling your direction of focus and length of attention . . . . .

Intelligence is a separate, we have the same degree and ranges of intelligence as the general population


Our scores may be lower due to our inability to "will " our selves to pay attention to the test process. So the 15 point over all difference is more than likely reflective of ADDers interest in IQ test having little or nothing to do with the actual intelligence ranges of the ADD population.