Gifted and talented kids.

[gingib]

Like others I am not doctor and didn't have these issues growing up. I will say I had a lot of friends that ADHD Meds and I can say that just about every one of them turned into pot smokers in middle/high school and beyond. I don't know if there is a medical connection to this but it happened too much to be a coincidence in my mind.

i had legit ADD growing up. I was hyper, a little **** and took Ritalin/adderall for most of my childhood. I have never touched a drug in my life and never will.

When competing in sports after HS, Adderall is a great performance enhancer!!

On a side note, don't try to get hard on it lol. If you do you will last a LONG time.

[91cavgt]

My wife is the queen of multitasking while I sometimes have problems doing just 1 thing, HAVE to have a list of tasks that I need to do written down, and I get distracted easily. Our 6 year old daughter took after me on this aspect. But she is smarter than what I was at her age. She is reading at a 3rd grade level and understands what she is reading, in math she is picking up multiplication and division pretty quickly. She loves science and has started wanting me to show her more science related things that are way beyond what is taught to 1st graders.

But when things get hard for her she shuts down. She loves building huge things with Legos and making elaborate race tracks with her Hot Wheels cars, but frustration gets the best of her a lot. Despite her being very smart, she has a LOT of unfounded fears. She has not done any kind of self harm, but we are always watching her closely for any signs of this starting.

Right now, we are trying to teach her coping skills and teaching her that it is ok if things are not easy. She acts so much older than a typical 6 year old, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that she is still 6 and thus, she is still a child that is going to make bad childish choices at times.

[tigerscowboy]

I was ADHD and diagnosed quickly by the elementary school system. Symptoms were to the point as defined other than organization and attention to details that I deemed critical.

Mom put me on the meds provided in the late '70's and took me off them. She says they changed who I was and it was as though I was "stoned all day".

Diet was a trigger for behavior and attention challenges. Sugar and caffeine were cut out entirely. If I negotiated a chocolate milk at the school lunch, I was in the principle's office within an hour. Lots of activities were Mom's key. If I wasn't involved in something structured, I was going to find something unapproved.

I didn't "grow out of it" until I was about 22 yrs old. (I did mature much later than my peers)

[glen]

Every kid and person are different. Medications work differently. My son was put on medication for a few years. We tried everything first. I would look at diet. Start cutting certain foods and see if it improves. Try caffeine also. Plenty of things to try. Also medications are not all the same. My kid was able to find one that worked perfectly for him. He was still the same kid- still funny- but he was able to get through school as well with this medication. Your kid may take same medication and totally different results. What happens is one side of his brain is in a sprint and the other is jogging (redneck terms). Once he can get them running same speed he will be much happier and successful

[Randy]

Is is possible that your son is somewhere on the autism spectrum?

That's exactly what I am thinking..

This post describes my son perfectly. He is a literal card carrying genius with aspergers syndrome. I have my very own 14 year old Sheldon Cooper.

[twistedmidnite]

Revisiting this. We didn't put my son on any medication and he's gotten better on his own. He still has the self harm episodes occasionally but not anything like they were. We've added more responsibilities to him and I believe this has helped with the problems also. He's a good kid and doesn't give us much trouble but it's a work in progress.

[Hoggslayer]

We are going through this with our 14 year old daughter now. Same thing, super smart but can remember to tie her shoes sometimes. (figuratively) Med seam to help. We started off with very light dose and worked up until we saw improvement. We keeping a close eye on it.

[TX_Hoghunter]

Revisiting this. We didn't put my son on any medication and he's gotten better on his own. He still has the self harm episodes occasionally but not anything like they were. We've added more responsibilities to him and I believe this has helped with the problems also. He's a good kid and doesn't give us much trouble but it's a work in progress.

Very glad to see that it is getting better. We keep out fingers crossed that it continues to do so.

-john

[warrington]

testing

I would have him tested at least. THis way the schools will understand any condition that he has. sometimes there are instructional teachers that help the kids with differetn tactics to help them with that specific condition. Start with that before medication. Alot of super smart kids struggle with focusing.

[Outback]

His teacher (advanced class and gt) said that he finishes what they're working on and then zones out.

^I realize that this is an older post and that your son is doing better. Just wanted to share that this was me. In elementary school, I frustrated my teachers because I did the assignment while they were explaining how to do it so I always had time on my hands waiting for others to finish. My teachers would meet with my mother to complain about me but my mother, also a school teacher, would have none of it. She told them, challenge him, give him more to do or ask him to help in some way.

My son had the same issue and his 3rd grade teacher called to complain to me that he would finish the assignment before she could explain it and he would begin to read his Harry Potter quietly. I listened to her and told her I would talk with him. That convo went like this. "Brian, your teacher called to complain. I need you to understand that your teacher isn't that bright but she's in charge. So, finish your work. Wait to turn it in until someone else turns theirs in then you can read quietly if she says it's ok otherwise take a nap".

ADHD is a gift and just needs to be harnessed not medicated. We take a little effort, time, attention and understanding early on to learn how to manage our gift. Lists have really helped me. Challenging me to do the impossible (really just something others have been unable to do) has been effective for my managers at work. And, minimizing sugars and caffeine is still helpful to me. Proper nutrition, minimal processed/fast foods and high fiber will likely help too. I think more clearly when I follow my own advice!

Good luck!

[ThisLadyHunts]

Oh he gets his share of whoopings. He's not overly active i wouldn't say. He'll play by him for hours building things, drawing, reading, or playing outside. When he can't figure stuff out or get something built the way he wants then that's when he goes to the stuff I said above. We used to whoop him for it but now we just leave him alone. The problem lies when he does it at school. His teacher (advanced class and gt) said that he finishes what they're working on and then zones out. Then when he comes back to reality he's behind and freaks out. We just need him to focus lol

I am not a medical professional, but this does not sound like usual ADD or ADHD behavior because, in essence, it is self-harm.

I think there are many things to consider when deciding whether or not to put your child on medication and the most important is whether or not he can be functional and productive in his world. His teachers indicate that he is not, so the initial question is this: will this work itself out or will it impede his ability to perform academically or professionally if it goes unchecked? Nobody really knows at this point. Given this, my next question would be, is it worth the potential risk to his future to simply take a guess or take the advice of those of us without a medical background?

My answer is multi-fold and is entirely my opinion. First of all, most ADD/ADHD medications are stimulants and, although I believe stimulants affect kids with attention disorders differently than they do the rest of us (to be specific, stimulants don't seem to "amp them up" like they do the rest of us), I don't believe I've ever seen one become a zombie, or a completely different person, for that matter.

Your son's propensity for self-harm is a little unusual (if, in fact, that's what it is...I may be overanalyzing this, of course). To me, it may be a sign that is another disorder at play here.

There are other treatment modalities out there besides a medication-only therapy. What comes to my mind first is cognitive behavioral therapy. Unlike many other psychological therapies for other diagnoses, I've seen cognitive behavioral therapy work more often than not. I've also seen instances where a combination of medication and cognitive behavioral therapy is prescribed and I've seen positive outcomes from this as well.

From my perspective, I think you're in a really good position to explore this with a medical professional due to his age. Waiting to address this situation until he hits puberty could be very problematic, in my opinion. Puberty changes them; sometimes they grow out of these issues but sometimes it makes them worse. At seven years old, his brain is still developing the "executive functions", if I remember correctly. Executive functions are developed in childhood, before puberty. When I went to the internet to find a more succinct way to describe EF, I came across this article that does it far better than I could, and, ironically, specifically addresses working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory (self) control, the very three things you've described your son as struggling with. The link is below should you be interested in reading it.

And finally, I don't believe that medical treatment should take the place of the "old fashioned way" of treating a disorder that also happens to impact his behavior. The "old fashioned way" also has it uses--and it's successes, I imagine--but neither should it take the place of medical treatment. In other words, there's a place for both and, in my observations, parents who allow medicine to take the placement of discipline do their child a disservice.

All in all, I believe seeking the input of a professional would be important at this point, not necessarily to "medicate him,' but perhaps even for the confirmation that he will eventually grow out of this (and the peace of mind this offers mom and dad). If intervention is called for, doing it during the development of executive function development could mean not have to "undo" any negative coping mechanisms he may have developed in order to be functional.

As for seeking a medical professional, you may have to "kiss a lot of frogs" before you find one you feel good about. In my view, treating psychologic (psychological?) or psychiatric disorders is even more subjective than treating physical disorders, and the potential for a skewed perspective based on the doctor's own psych background may have the potential to distort things.

Anyway, for what it's worth, this is how I'd approach it. Your son's neuro, behavioral, and cognitive development is too important to guess at.

Best of luck to you and your wife, sir. I'm sure this has caused you more than a few sleepless nights. (If not you, I know it has for your wife!)

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/what-is-executive-function

[txrhodes]

I am no doctor either, but I do know ADHD symptoms are basically identical to overtiredness. Something like 75% of people with a ADHD diagnosis have trouble sleeping and most have a breathing issue while sleeping. I read where kids with a sleep disorder were 40 to 100 times more likely to be exhibit ADHD symptoms. Of course, if they get mis-diagnosed, they are put on common adhd medicine which can cause insomnia so it actually makes it worse.

Anyways, just a thought. There is a ton of research out there about it.

[ThisLadyHunts]

I am no doctor either, but I do know ADHD symptoms are basically identical to overtiredness. Something like 75% of people with a ADHD diagnosis have trouble sleeping and most have a breathing issue while sleeping. I read where kids with a sleep disorder were 40 to 100 times more likely to be exhibit ADHD symptoms. Of course, if they get mis-diagnosed, they are put on common adhd medicine which can cause insomnia so it actually makes it worse.

Anyways, just a thought. There is a ton of research out there about it.

Very interesting. What you say makes sense. It’s certainly worth exploring.


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[The4Cs]

Let me start off by saying that my son is very smart, he tested higher than 99% of kids his age on some test the school gives now lol. Anyway, he struggles with basic directions badly. We can give him a chore to do and before he gets it completed hes forgot what he was supposed to do. He can't focus on one task at one time. I read thru the old thread about the add and adhd kids. Lots said that medicine helped them focus. So should we have our son tested and possibly put on medication?

I would not recommend ADHD “medicine”. There’s some not really great data coming out about the long term effects of them. There’s natural herbs and remedies that can help. My middle son is very intelligent but has a very hard time staying on task as well. My wife got him these herbs and his teacher wanted to know what it was because he was like a completely different student, she said.

https://vervitaproducts.com/products/kalmz

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