ADHD in a Gifted Child

Gifted Education Digests, Gifted Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Author: Maureen Neihart, October 2003

I have run into kids who are gifted with ADHD in my classes and clubs so I want to learn some methods to work with these kids. This article is short but it sums up some of the issues.

Gifted children are often harder to diagnose with ADHD, those who are diagnosed in average have more severe ADHD than their age peers. This seems consistent with the lesser cases of ADHD in gifted children going undiagnosed and only the more severe cases are found. Unfortunately, ADHD in gifted children can result in very strong setbacks when compared to their ability level without the disorder. Underachievement in gifted children is very prevalent. The research says that we should not assume that conventional interventions will work with gifted children. For example since gifted children tend to prefer complexity, shortening work time and simplifying tasks may increase their frustration.