Secrets of Your ADHD Brain

44 Comments: Secrets of Your ADHD Brain

1. Corrected: I didn’t review the last sentence: “I am so appreciative of this knowledge and can’t wait for what no research reveals!”

   I meant “I am so appreciative of this knowledge and can’t wait for what NEW research reveals!”

2. I just read the article in 2022 and it made me cry. I was never on-board with the “Attention Deficit” label, since:

   a.) this only applies in activites I am being externally compelled to complete and I can’t sense their importance on that very internal level that Dr. Dodson describes so accurately.

   b.)the implications of a attention deficit label are that I’m still under-developed and lacking in some aspect of both my character, morality and maturity. The world can be a very unkind place to those of us who are considered irresponsible, inconsiderate and rude or snobbish, especially when you know you had no intention of being any of those things.

   I am so appreciative of this knowledge and can’t wait for what no research reveals!

3. Overall, I loved this article and particularly the writers theory on what motivates the ADHD nervous system. This certainly lines up with my own experience. Diagnosed late in life (47) I grew up being told I was bright but lazy, or ‘just creative’ or ‘bad at time management.’Procrastination was something I believed was just innate to my personality (Being Libran contributed to confirming this was out of my control really.)

   A young brain has the processing capacity to navigate rapidly and find waymarkers in life and work that can compensate – and being good at cramming for exams, or pulling off extreme work stints to make deadlines was common. As I grew older, the procrastination/do or die behaviours became more and more pronounced, perhaps as my brain was not able to take in as much, process as quickly. It became severely disruptive and this led me to seek a definitive answer to why it took me 3 hours to do something that someone else would do in 30 minutes.

   The ADHD conclusion has helped me better understand what and why I am hardwired for some things, flexibly wired for others and have shonky connections in other areas of how I behave and work. This article provided another set of insights that have further contributed to that self awareness, and is helping me to develop my Owners Manual, to better articulate to others the benefits I bring to the table, and the countermeasures that can be put in place to limit frustrations for peers and colleagues. This is essential to removing myths and miscomprehensions.

   I accept this article is itself somewhat conceptual and posits some theory that may or not resonate for everyone that has ADHD. We are all made up of numerous contributing factors that shape the way we have learned to navigate to our strengths and compensate for those things that we can do, but that exhaust us more rapidly and for longer. It is vital to share our own lived experiences, theories on why, and what and how come. ADHD is one part of what comprises our psyche, ways of working, relating and engaging in the world. Its clearly not the only one. I’ve had fun in developing an Owners Manual that also calls on my Myers Briggs results, PRISM neuroscience brain mapping, DISC profiles, Big 5 personality results, Predictive Index results and even my star sign! All of it provides part of the puzzle, and after all the biggest mystery of them all and the most exciting, challenging one to try and master is deep understanding of self and of others; what drives, motivates, inspires, saps, hurts or demoralizes – to be a better human being, full stop. So I thank the author for helping provide yet another lens through which I can consider these questions, and continue to advance, and hopefully, help others do the same in future.

4. I have read a few of these articles about ADHD. My mind is so blown!
   My husband has been dealing with anxiety issues, or so we thought. Anxiety/depression medicine hasn’t helped him feel “normal” at all.
   He has been going into more detail of how he feels and struggles with day to day things. After reading 4 articles I am certain he has had ADHD his entire life and was never diagnosed. These articles explain him to a T. And explains all the issues/problems we have been facing.
   I have always know that he was extremely intelligent and can accomplish so many things so damn well on his own time. Which makes it frustrating for neurotypical individuals. Now I almost completely understand how he thinks.
   Thank you so much for the insight. I am so happy we are finally going to have answers for him and help learn to understand and with his gift 😁🎉🙌

5. This is a great article, thank you! But I find it disappointing that you refer to any person with ADHD consistently as ‘he’ ‘him’. For women reading the article it just feels alienating. For instance: ‘Stimulants improve day-to-day performance for a person with ADHD, helping him get things done.’ Just say ‘For a person with ADHD, helping them get things done’ and then you don’t exclude half the population with your male pronoun choice.

6. I love that there’s a magazine just for adhd and the research for it but you guys need to stop using only he/him/his pronouns for people with adhd. Especially because girls and enby people are so stigmatized already for being adhd. It makes it hard to trust that these studies fully account for women and non-binary. It makes me not want to read these articles.

7. I just wanted to say that in the article you mention that the rest of the 90% of the population is neurotypical, but that is incorrect. ADHD is not the only mental disorder that affects the brain. Therefor, there are many more people in the world that are not neurotypical. So to say that specific sentence was not right. It would have been better to just say something like “for those who are neurotypical…”

8. I think this is a great article for the most part. I love the idea of taking a notebook around and being a scientist regarding your own successes. Yes that can be very helpful. However, for those who have been experiencing their lives falling apart and time blindness – they need to learn tools to enable them to be more organized and be able to work within time. Yes- those tools need to be specialized to the adhd mind – but the tools exist and many people with adhd don’t realize that they can compensate for time blindness and other executive dysfunctions. Looking to their successes will help them thrive in many ways but not in the areas where they struggle in a way that impacts their lives.

9. I’m ADHD, and I’ve never been a procrastinator. I’m also very much a lover of organization. If I’m given adequate time, I can totally organize my stuff, my job assignments, etc. I just need to have adequate time, allowing for frequent breaks. I get bored quickly and need to have breaks to go talk to someone for a minute, or to do a few exercises, or something stimulating – all lasting just a few minutes. Then I can refocus and stay on task for something that my brain thinks is mundane. I love to read, but I had problems in school with classes that required excessive amounts of reading to complete assignments. I always had high grades, but this was a real challenge for me. It helps that I’m a perfectionist. That keeps me motivated to complete tasks. Plus I have a strong sense of satisfaction with completed tasks. I’m very goal oriented, I just have to take many detours to get to my destination, to play with the bunny, to smell flowers, to eat a cookie, etc. 😄

10. A lot of the information in this article resonated with me, but one thing I don’t like is this idea that seems more and more commonplace that ADHD and other conditions aren’t disorders, but are “differences” to be “celebrated.” I have ADHD Inattentive Type (though back when I was diagnosed, it was still called ADD, and I think the name change to ADHD to lump what may in fact be similar but distinct disorders into one was a mistake). I also have Duane Syndrome, a disorder where the nuclei in the brain that become the sixth cranial nerves didn’t form correctly, and as a consequence I cannot move my eyes normally. They can turn inward toward my nose, but can’t turn outward toward my ears. So I see double if I try to look to the side by turning my eyes.

    Obviously something went haywire when my brain was developing in utero for me to have both Duane Syndrome and ADHD. I recognize my Duane Syndrome is a disorder, I accept my inability to move my eyes normally as a deficit, I have no need to reframe it as a “difference” to be “celebrated.” If I had my druthers, I would rather be born with eyes that move normally. It’s the same situation with my ADHD, there is no reason not to acknowledge that it is a disorder, that I have executive functioning deficits. If I had my druthers, I’d rather have developed normal executive functioning skills.

    It’s not like it creates defeatism. Just like I adapted to having Duane Syndrome by turning my head rather than my eyes as a compensatory strategy, I learned compensatory strategies to deal with my ADHD, and have become a reasonably successful person with a graduate degree, a stable career, and a successful marriage. But I accomplished all this in spite of having ADHD. It doesn’t “impart positives”, it’s a disability

    For decades those of us with ADHD were stigmatized and struggled to have our ADHD recognized by schools, etc. as a legitimate condition, because unlike physical conditions (like Duane Syndrome), it couldn’t be seen. Those with ADHD with impulsive/hyperactive type were dismissed as “unruly”, “poorly behaved.” Those like me with inattentive type were called “lazy.” It was a long road for ADHD to finally be recognized as a protected disability under Section 504 of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and yet still there are teachers and employers out there who don’t think ADHD is real, think it is an “excuse.” This politically correct Pollyanna rhetoric of “don’t call it a disorder” is counterproductive, it muddies the waters, feeds into the skeptics’ reasons for not accepted that ADHD is a real thing, and thus undoes decades of work to secure acknowledgement of ADHD as a legitimate disorder whose sufferers are entitled to educational accommodations.

11. Thank you!!!! This formulation of words makes so much sense! The arts thing helps, statistics being outline is go show that there variations in the individuals it outlines it by saying 100 traits can be in other conditions etc rather then thinking they’re hard facts more just and outline. The stepping back is sooo real for me I flukes teaching myself to do this, another example of is the disobedience it’s not that it’s done on purpose it’s a response of not conforming because we hate to lie to ourselves for the sake of a topic of low to no importance, this is why it is I have done the things I’ve always done and taken the time or been able understand my responses or my blunt personality,
    This article is so ingenious because it’s purely written from and observation but so genius because no one I’ve come across has been able to word it so clearly.

    Thanks Doc

12. As someone with ADHD, riding the short bus to school early years being ‘categorized’. At age 5 I was thinking I dumb, and spent educational years trying to not let parents down OR annoying my teacher by staring at the clock. In the business world I flourished. And, always, seen as that guy that solves things, navigating nuance.

    Deficient!

    Big middle finger to you writer.

    Not in a mean way. Just that you’re article reinforces my brain as lesser.
    At the same time, my brain get’s you’re shit done.

    Sit Down!

    1. Why do you think you are not being mean? Quick to judge and make premises without even reading what the author has written. The author actually said that ADHD is different and not deficient.

       I really liked what he said about ADHD people making their own rules to thrive! No wonder, many of them are entrepreneurs or self-employed.

    2. I don’t think the author described your brain as a lesser brain. In fact, I think he was most complimentary to anyone with an ADHD brain and recognized underlying commonalities for people who are not neurotypical. My reaction was one of relief as I read his description. He values the ability to see the world in an atypical way and so do I.

13. This is a great article, until it lumps everyone with ADHD as the same. I have ADHD but am very organized. I don’t need something to be pleasurable before i do it. Everybody is different and has different degrees and properties of ADHD.

14. Your article concerns me — particularly as its been incorporated into google’s definitions. It’s certainly flattering if you have ADHD to think you are then of superior intelligence, however this doesn’t seem to be really research or data based so am wondering how you came to this — see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15495545

    It concerns me that your opinion is being taken as definitive. I found your article tracking back from a definition on google. Yipes. I have ADD, and of course would LOVE to believe these flattering attributes. However, it seems to not be fact based.

    1. On a related note….the sentence, “Despite ADHD’s association with learning disabilities, most people with an ADHD nervous system have significantly higher-than-average IQs,” smacks of ignorance. I liked the article over all. However, this sentence implies that people with LD are all of average or low IQ. There is plenty of evidence showing LD in people with all IQ levels.

       I want to trust this author. I like what he has to say. That one sentence makes me doubt the authority of the whole article. Please, amend the article or explain the intention.

15. Hey Doc, I’m a 32 yr old female having recently been diagnosed with ADHD and this article is by far the best and most informative I’ve ever read on the topic. Ive tried explaining my ADHD to people exactly as you’ve described it and no one ever really believed me because of the stigma it carries. I’m sure there is some truth to the stigma but I think that’s due to misdiagnosing people who display bad behaviour or have loud personalities etc
    I’m studying mental health at the moment and I strongly agree with you regarding nuerotypical education not being suitable for the ADHD brain. I was always considered a distraction to other kids when I went to school, and the teachers constantly separated me from my friends – this ended up just making me hate school and I had no motivation to succeed. Now that I’m attending adult education, I freely work on an assignment while in class and my involvement in class discussions and attentiveness during lectures is astounding.
    Given the right tools, directions and freedom to thrive upon their own set of rules allows the person to exceed beyond their expectations.
    Thanks for sharing your theory, it’s made me feel so much more confident in myself and I now know how to better tackle any future obstacles.
    – Mizzkristabelle

16. This article was a good effort for explaining the secrets of the ADHD brain but after I read “The 90 percent of non-ADHD people in the world are referred to as ‘neurotypical’”, the credibility of the article went downhill from there. It’s never a good sign when early in an article you read something stated as fact that is so obviously wrong. I know that people within that 90% who have ASD without ADHD are definitely not neurotypical. And with further reading I saw a few contradictions and several overgeneralized points the author made about people with ADHD, with which as someone with ADHD, I completely disagree.

17. Dr. Dodson,
    Excellent article- it truly taps into the “real world” of “ADHD/ ADD” and contains the verbage that I attempt to use in my Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatric practice in NYC which has become the focus of my practice!
    I would love to use your article as a guide to give to my patients who still believe that the DSM 5 criteria to define their disorder, which is tragic if you are not opposed.
    Thanks,
    Dan Cohen M.D.
    Danielcohenmd.com

18. Are there peer review studies behind this articles facts? This article did an amazing job of describing the internal struggle and the argument of changing the label of being “Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder”. I do not feel like it is a deficit however the expectation of our Nerotypical society we can feel as if we have shortcomings.

    1. The pleasure of being organized is the feeling that one is in control of their surroundings by eliminating excess clutter from the environment.

       I am also more motivated to stay organized in order to compensate for the excess mental clutter that exists from my ADHD. To me,
       Dr. Dodson is correct because I am essentially still gaining pleasure by performing this type of activity.

19. Dr. Dodson suggests that, “Rather than focus on where you fall short, you need to identify how you get into the zone and function at remarkable levels.” But this brings up a fundamental question: To what extent are non-neurotypical people being encouraged to ‘get in the zone’ so that—as always—they can be able to conform, think, and behave in neurotypical ways, for neurotypical reasons, which are important to neurotypical people, in a neurotypical world?

    1. Hi Jim- I don’t know where you get the impression that Dr. Dodson is suggesting that people with ADHD should conform into neurotypicals.

       Did you not see the section in bold titled “Don’t Turn Individuals with ADHD into Neurotypicals?”
       “The implications of this new understanding are vast. The first thing to do is for coaches, doctors, and professionals to stop trying to turn people with ADHD into neurotypical people.”

20. In his article ‘Secrets of Your ADHD Brain’, Dr. Wiilam Dodson makes the statement that “The 90 percent of non-ADHD people in the world are referred to as ‘neurotypical’.” By definition this means that only 10% of people in the world are considered to have ‘an ADhD nervous system’. Where does this ‘90%’ statistic come from? Just because ‘the world’ is deliberately designed to function in a ‘nerotypical’ way—to include all of the business-, time-, and money-based systems that define the world we all live in (like it or not)—does this necessarily mean that 90% of human beings have a so-called ‘neurotypical’ nervous system and see life and the world around them in a ‘neurotypical’ way? Are people characterized by ADhD really that widely outnumbered by ‘normal’ people? I tend to think not.

21. Thank you so much for this article. I am 29 years old and have been misdiagnosed a number of times, and treated with for anxiety, depression, even mania. Mostly from primary care specialist who weren’t using the right tools to ask me (who doesn’t know the right things to say) the right questions.

    I am now seeing a psychiatrist, who has been able to sort through the clutter, and thinks that the main cause is indeed adhd. This article felt like home, and shines light on every thing I am going through, and have been through.

    Thank you!

22. My son was not diagnosed with ADHD until he was 18. He was always highly intelligent and different. He excelled at school (straight A’s and 1’s) and left to take his place at Cambridge university just after his eighteenth birthday. Unfortunately he did not cope well and was sent home six weeks later, whereupon we had a specialist diagnose his ADHD. It was a further 3 years before Cambridge would accept him back but he then went on to graduate 3 years later with a 1st in Social Anthropology. He does struggle, I became his mum/PA when he returned home but he was lucky to then work for a company that saw his uniqueness as a gift. He was there for a year and was very successful. I just said goodbye to him today as he set off to begin his Masters at the University of Chicago. He is a brilliant, unique and wonderful young man. Socially responsible and I believe his condition is attributable to his many gifts. He also suffers from anxiety and depression and takes medication for all three but he is stable and coping with life. I wholeheartedly support the work you’re doing to provide greater understanding of this condition, which is in no way straightforward or the same for everyone.

23. I just created an account because I found this article very good. It explains some of the things i usually have a hard time explaining to people around me in such a clear way, so thank you so much and I can’t wait to read more articles on this website if they are of the same quality.

    I needed that positivity right now, because although I have found helpful solutions this year (just got diagnosed at 29), I’ve come to the conclusion they’re just not enough yet. I still have a hard time fighting procrastination and I keep failing in the realization of my projects, and then depression inevitably comes back.

    I would also like to know more about the tricks people found because I’m gonna try to write them down as you advise, but I have the feeling the list will be short…

    1. As is mentioned by you Make List make a new list. Now that i am retired i post a list of tomorrows events on the Bathroom Mirror. With times. And yes iam interested in all of them. I use the standard iphone,ipad clock and calendar for alarms a day before and an hour before. Before retirement my assistant became responsible for my calendar and made sure ileft on time and was prepared for all meetings.

24. Thank you for this article, especially how clearly you’ve spelled out our inability to use “importance and rewards to get motivated.” I’m still not sure it will convince other people who consider this a moral concern, but it helps me.

    I have one issue and that is with this sentence: “People with ADHD have a hard time choosing between alternatives, because everything has the same lack of importance.” For me everything has exactly the same importance, not lack of it. Isn’t that the more common ADHD experience? Having everything be shiny and worthy and equally important? Before I was diagnosed I would go grocery shopping by looking at EVERY item in the store and deciding whether I wanted it, because they all deserved a chance! Now I use an app and a list but I still feel sorry for all the important things I’m not choosing. lol.

    1. You got a good point. Well… It’s both i guess. Interesting things are all equally interesting and boring things are all equally boring. Lol.

25. Thank you for this article. It would be helpful if it included examples of what some people put on their list of how they get into the zone – just to provide an idea. Thank you.

26. Thanks so much.. this article totally describes my mind.. The late paragraphs are a great idea, I’m gonna try them! thanks !

27. Thank you very much for trying hard to get to this positive view. I refused to label my son from infancy either as naughty or hyperactive or bad….I just stood my ground with family and friends and said he was a curious and active, and intelligent child. Today he is 9 and is in the school gifted program…..and yes I am facing all the challenges to keep him motivated to get organized and get things done….but he is NOT adhd….I will pray and cheer you on….and will read more closely​ on what you have to say. Thank you. Blessings!!!

    1. I think that it is wonderful that he has a parent who is taking an active interest in his welfare and creating a supportive environment.

       My circumstances: son aged nine diagnosed with ADHD two years ago.

       His dad (me) diagnosed one year ago! I wish my parents had know when I was a child. I went under the radar because I was conscientious – I wanted to do the “right thing” – and bright (in the top couple of percentage points). I went to a boarding school for the last 3 years of secondary school which in hindsight was a blessing. At university, all that structure fell away. Nevertheless I managed to clock up 3 bachelors degrees and a master of laws degree. I have variously been a lawyer an investment banker, partner in a large consulting firm (note the variety…).

       My son’s ADHD is more pronounced. Stimulation medication, however, works wonders. He is also very bright. However he still sufferes from disorganisation and a lack of self control (esp in the morning). It has helped us being able to inform his school/teachers about his ADHD because most of them have received some training about it. They look out for him and communicate with us about his progress. In some cases it is just to ensure we know what is happening at school because he often forgets or forgets to tell us. Or to put it in the terms of the article, his mind is full dealing with other equally important things! Sometimes this disorganisation can be cause for us to have a good laugh, sometimes a cry. His personality is also relevant. He is an “innovator” and a “driver”. His mind generates an idea (promoted by something he has read, seen on TV or learned from another person) and then he acts. Today, a Sunday, it was making a flute from a carrot using an electric drill and a knife. There was limited consultation, planning etc. He seeks forgiveness not permission. Anyway, he had a great time and felt a sense of achievement about what he had created.

       So does a diagnosis matter? Yes it does because it can lead to suitable treatment, understanding and a more supportive environment IF those who are entrusted with the diagnosis are able to respond appropriately. The challenge in my view is identifying those who can and need to be be entrusted with the diagnosis and concealing it from those who might respond to it ignorantly or with malice. The problem is not with the label but the labellers.

    2. Dezdouz, out of curiosity, you seem to make an extreme point of making sure everyone knows your son is “NOT” adhd (quoted capitals)… any special reason? Just saying, I have adhd myself. (Inherited it from my Dad.) But it doesn’t make either of us bad people. “Different” maybe, but not bad.

       If some day you decide your son DOES have adhd, there’s no shame in it. Nothing wrong with labels either, as long as they are accurate.

       Just food for thought: by applying negative stigmas to a thing/person/condition, you further alienate the thing/person/condition from society. Kinda counter-productive, imho, but that’s just me… 🙂

       1. I agree with your comment. My gifted daughter was just diagnosed with ADHD- inattentive type at 19, right after I was at age 54. I can’t read enough about this diagnosis after years of other labels for depression, anxiety etc. My father passed never knowing he had it.

       2. I agree with your comment. My gifted daughter was just diagnosed with ADHD- inattentive type at 19, right after I was at age 54. I can’t read enough about this as I finally was diagnosed after years of other labels for depression, anxiety etc. My father passed never knowing he had it.

       3. Hmmm…it does seem like that…that I don’t want my son labelled as ADHD. I didn’t realize that….

          Here on blogs like this and on adhd websites, its people like me, parents who care, adults with adhd searching for answers who visit these pages.

          The real world especially one that involves school is far less accommodating of ADHD kids. I am 100% sure, if my child started school with an ADHD tag, no one would look beyond his ADHD behavior…..I chose to highlight his intelligence and magnify his abilities, thus turning the teachers to those traits which has led to him testing in the top 2% superior gifted range.
          Similar case, different mum, I would tell her, her kid was very intelligent (so similar to my son)….she would always role her eyes and say he’s a handful, etc, etc …..my son and her’s would play together for hours….so I know what I am talking about….she took him and got him diagonsed as ADHD….and there he is being limited by his ADHD diagnosis in school.

          It was just the difference in two mothers’ perception of their kids.

          Websites and blogs are not the same as the real world.

          I truly believe it takes one person to believe in you to reach great heights, when one is a child that should ideally be a parent who believes in you.

          The world can be selfish at times, and once a tag, always the tag no matter how much you succeed above it.

          There are interesting articles on giftedness and excective functioning and how it can be misdiagnosed as ADHD…(leaving out the giftedness)

          I am empathetic towards little kids I meet who have been already diagnosed as ADHD, They could maybe have been instead ‘gifted with executive functioning not fully developed.’

          See why I am not happy with the ADHD tag, it limits a child…… especially if the parents can’t see beyond that tag….like my friend….she’s found an excuse for his behavior and forgotten about how Intelligent he can really be.

          She goes telling everyone he’s ADHD, I go round telling everyone my son’s gifted….for similar behaviors.
          The reaction/interaction of people is proof of what labels can do.

          Also, in those moments, when I am exasperated with his behavior, it helps a lot to remember just how Intelligent he is.

          50 years ago and still in some other places in the world, kids climb trees, jump walls, splash in muddy puddles, play and fight and play again with friends, and are not ADHD….they energies got used up outside.
          Now here in the US when they are enclosed indoors and they disturb their parents who are busy on WhatsApp or Twitter or Facebook, it eventually becomes diagnosed as ADHD, not everyone, but the rate at which kids are being diagnosed ADHD is alarming.

          In the really real world, ADHD does have a negative tag attached to it…….when instead it should be a way of understanding.

          There are just so many aspects to consider, so many counter arguments, I can’t even begin to elaborate. We would be going back and forth umpteen number of times.

          To sum it up, yes you are right, I don’t want my son labelled ADHD. I want him to be seen as Gifted and then I’ll work along with him and others who care to strengthen his executive functioning skills….and search for studies like this that give me a better insight into helping him out.

          This article about the ADHD brain was so very insightful.

          Thank you for your observations, I should be more mindful.

       4. I was one of those kids who was not diagnosed until adulthood. I remember spending most of my time in high school grounded because I was not making the grades my parents wanted out of me. They were afraid of the ADHD label. The school I went to for elementary school had me evaluated by a councilor, because they saw I was struggling, and out of that my parents were encouraged to have a psychiatrist evaluate me because I was showing signs of ADHD. They did not, and they continued to use the neurotypical rule book on me. They just saw the times I got in the zone, and that I was gifted. When I was 21, I was finally able to get diagnosed. I ended up developing anxiety from the delay, though I will say after 4 years of treating the ADHD, my anxiety is almost gone, just with ADHD meds. With this “label” I have been able to get the help that I need to get through college, and get the grades my parents always knew I could. Sometimes labels can be helpful, it just depends on when they are placed and how much you fight to show people the good in the ADHD, so they see past the label.

       5. It always makes me a bit emotional when I read what good parents say about their gifted/adhd children, because I’m the typical example of a child that wasn’t diagnosed nor helped in any way and fell into depression, anxiety, addictions, etc… and it feels like such a waste because I know I could’ve done great things if only someone had talked about me like you talk about those children and tried to help me that way.

          Those children are lucky to have you as parents/grandparents. 🙂

       6. I would like you to know that you are not alone. I am the same way. I daydream at times what that would have felt like and how my life may have been with that positive upbringing instead of what I felt like was the insignificant child.

       7. You are absolutely correct If the child is gifted. Not all are. My son sufferred with that label throughout school until we were advised out of the blue that his accomplishment level of the baisics was 5 or more years behind his peers. They advised us that he would be transferred to a group of “his peers” in a dead end program in the fall when he was 12. We objected voiciferously ( the last time I did that the school division settled after incurring 250,000 in legal fees, 100, 000 in senior executive overtime and ancillary expenses and the cost to political friends of 750,000 for construction.
          . He was allowed to remain with his peers and would be evaluated at ethe end of the next school year.
          I have discovered at the age of 70 that i am ADHD But fortunately I was gifted. In a way that overcame the typical expelled from school on my 16th birthday solution of that time. I was able to turn savant like skills in math and an IQ in the top 1% into a consulting career. I succeeded beyond any of my goals and was able to earn a mid six figure income consulting and retire comfortablya at age 60. Despite 3 settlements with exxes after age 50. (Untreated ADHD?)
          We enrolled him in Sylvan learning center and re enrolled him 3 times . The result was that he graduated with his peers froma high school with skills and working habits that provide him an excellent job in the aviation business. It was indeed hard work but primarily his. He is a successful world traveller and extremely hard working and caring individual.
          My grandon is also ADHD and gifted and my daughter and her husband worked extremely hard to avoid the “label” in school. Succsessfully.
          One size or solution IMHO doesnt work for all.

          A friend and fellow chorister has a young preschool son who shows many similar behaviors in our church. I have suggested to him that his son appears to have the “Edison” gene. It is what i say to other parents when they mention their childs ADHD to me.

       8. Sorry for all the mispells. This Ipad and my shaky fingers are thinking about a divorce..