Intelligence & ADHD

While children and adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often stereotyped as lazy or unintelligent, some have presented the idea that perhaps the opposite is true. In fact, medical information site Organized Wisdom points out that persons with ADHD actually tend not only to score highly on IQ tests, but also to be more gifted on the creative end of the spectrum.

Misconceptions

• Organized Wisdom points out that the difficulty focusing that is often associated with ADHD can make a person look less intelligent, even though the opposite is true. Born to Explore, a site geared toward equipping persons with ADHD, confirms that this quality--and even absentmindedness--can both be indicators of a gifted individual.

Considerations

• Born to Explore states that situations that people of average intelligence find at least marginally stimulating may actually cause boredom and restless fidgeting in gifted persons.

Theories/Speculation

• The fact that, as Organized Wisdom points out, most intelligence tests are not designed to be geared toward the ADHD mind, along with the fact that many persons with ADHD are tactile learners, is reason to believe that conventional learning methods are not the most effective for the ADHD student.

Types

• The University of Louisiana Lafayette Counseling & Testing Center highlights three different types of ADHD: Inattentive, hyperactive/impulsive and combination. For all three types, it recommends a strong outward organizational structure as a means of helping to regulate the disorganization that comes along with ADHD.

Significance

• Steve Driskill points out in his Autism and ADHD resource site that many people hailed by history as geniuses--people including Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison--had ADHD characteristics; suggesting that perhaps the "problem" of ADHD has more to do with societal and educational structure than learning disability.