Joey is a bright, happy, healthy, and somewhat excitable 10 year old boy. He has been identified as gifted and has an IQ of about 165. He has also been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). He is receiving Special Education services at his school for what has been labeled an Emotional Disability. He has a hard time maintaining friendship with children his own age and sometimes keeps to himself and refuses to interact with the children in his class. He has a difficult time expressing his emotion in appropriate ways and finds it difficult to maintain appropriate boundaries when it comes to relationships with other people. In this paper we will discuss whether emotional disabilities, like Joey’s, could be because of ADHD, if it has more to do with the gifted label and high IQ, or if it could be a combination of both, and how common this really is. Are children with high IQ’s more likely to have a difficult time maintaining friendships and finding appropriate ways to express emotions? Too often parents, teachers, and others put too much focus on a gifted child’s academic achievement and not enough on their emotional wellbeing (Bailey, 2011). Maybe we just spend too much time focusing on how they perform academically and we do not really understand the emotions that these children deal with. Or, perhaps there is a relationship between ADHD and having a high IQ that has not been fully examined yet. ADHD is a cognitive developmental disorder that affects approximately 3-7% of school aged children in the United States (Gupta & Kar, 2010). It is usually described as high activity, increased impulsivity, and attention problems that affect the child in more than ... ... middle of paper ... .... Exceptionality, 10(2), 77-91. Bell, Allison S. (2010). A Critical Review of ADHD Diagnostic Criteria: What to Address in the DSM-V. Journal of Attention Disorders, 15(1),3-10. Gupta, Rashmi & Kar, Bhoomika (2010). Specific Cognitive Deficits in ADHD: A Diagnostic Concern in Differential Diagnosis. Journal of Child and Family Study, 19,778-786. Hartnett, D. Niall, Nelson, Jason M., & Rinn, Anne N. (2004). Gifted or ADHD? The Possibilities of Misdiagnosis. Roeper Review, 26(2), 73-76. Kuss, Kathleen D. (2007). Smart Kids With Learning Difficulties. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30(3),396-403. Reis, Sally M. & Renzulli, Joseph S. (2009). Myth 1: The Gifted and Talented Constitute One Single Homogeneous Group and Giftedness Is a Way of Being That Stays in the Person Over Time and Experiences. Gifted Child Quarterly, 53,233-235.
In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (pp. 201-216). New York: Cambridge University Press. Runco, M. A. (2005). Creative giftedness. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (pp. 295-311).
diagnosis entails more than this simple explanation. ADHD is a condition that must be evaluated
“Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).” Tish Davidson, AM., Teresa G. Odle., and Laura Jean Cataldo, RN, Ed.D. The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders. 3rd Edition. 2010.
Sciutto MJ, Eisenberg M. Evaluating the evidence for and against the overdiagnosis of ADHD. J Atten Disord. 2007;11:106-113.
Chandler, C. (2011). The Science of ADHD: A Guide for Parents and Professionals. New York:
Adolescents. VanTassel-Baska, J.L., Cross, T. L. & Olenchak, F. R. (Eds.). Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students (pp. 133-151). Prufrock Press Inc. Waco, Texas.
While the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association) put forth a list of behaviors which predominantly fall in the category of ADD and/or ADHD, many researchers still maintain that there is no set way to diagnosis or develop a treatment program to these disorders which will be guaranteed to work. At the same time there is another set of researchers who maintain that these disorders actually do not exist at all. However, in the real world, parents and educators still continue to struggle with the task of coping with children who are hyperactive and who have very low attention span and whose behavior often interferes with schooling and family life. [Armstrong, 1997]
ADHD is a disorder that has been on the rise for several years now. The disorder is one that can cause many impairments to a child’s attention span, making it difficult to concentrate and to keep on task, especially on schoolwork. (Graham, 2007) The statistics have been growing ...
Kinman, T. (2012). ADHD and ADD: Differences, Types, Symptoms, and Severity. Healthline. Retrieved on December 3, 2013, from
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), once called hyperkinesis or minimal brain dysfunction, is one of the most common mental disorders among children. (Elia, Ambrosini, Rapoport, 1999) It affects 3 to 5 percent of all children, with approximately 60% to 80% of these children experiencing persistence of symptoms into adolescence and adulthood, causing a lifetime of frustrated dreams and emotional pain. There are two types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an inattentive type and a combined type. The symptoms of ADHD can be classified into three categories: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. This behaviour stops ADHD sufferers from focussing deliberately on organising and completing a specific task that they may not enjoy, learning new skills or information is proved to be impossible. An example of such behaviour is recognised by the report written by the National Institute of Mental Health where one of the subjects under study was unable to pass schooling examinations due to her inattentive behaviour. Such behaviour can damage the person's relationships with others in addition to disrupting their daily life, consuming energy, and diminishing self-esteem. (National Institute of Mental Health 1999) There are also secondary symptoms which are associated with ADHD, such as learning disorders, anxiety, depression and other mood disorders, tic disorders, and conduct disorders. (Spencer, Biederman, and Wilens 1999 in Monastra V, Monastra D, George, 2002)
In 1902, a physician by the name of Sir George F. published a series of lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in England in which he described a group of impulsive children with significant behavioral problems, caused by a genetic dysfunction and not by poor child rearing?children who today would be easily recognized as having ADHD (NIMH 1). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and an inability to remain focused on tasks or activities. ADHD afflicts an estimated 3-9% of children, with symptoms usually appearing by the age of seven. Some key characteristics of the disorder include a person who:
MEC 7501 Professional Article Review. Article Critique: Perceptions of Children with ADHD. Maddy La Voe Wilmington University Abstract This paper examines and analyzes the article “Exasperating or Exceptional”?
The existence and diagnosis of ADHD has subjective nature because, as our book says, “No valid, independent test for ADHD exists.” The diagnosis for ADHD is quantified by doctors and psychiatrists who rely upon the observations and opinions of the people who care for the child being “evaluated”. Observations and opinions themselves are subjective because each person inevitably has their own personal biases and unique viewpoints which will lead them to define a child’s characteristics or behaviors in a certain way.
Lovecky, D. V. (1995). Highly Gifted Children and Peer Relationships. Counseling and Guidance Newsletter. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://print.ditd.org/floater=74.html.
The identification and definition of giftedness have been controversial for many, many decades. Originally, IQ test scores were the only way of determining giftedness. An IQ test would be given and some number score, such as 12-, would be the point of cut-off (Cook, Elliott, Kratochwill, & Travers, 2000). More recently, intellectual giftedness is usually identified and defined by the specific school systems’ ideas and perspectives. There is no generally accepted definition of giftedness, but the Javits Gifted and Talented Education Act defines it as: