Friday, July 29, 2016

ADHD & Gifted

I'm feeling all kinds of anxiousness and euphoria right now, my mind racing, so I want to write this down while my feelings are still fresh.
My 6 (almost 7)-yr old has ADHD. I started getting complaints from his teacher when he was in kindergarten about his lack of concentration, hyperactivity, and "hyperimagination" (her words, not mine). It was a hard pill to swallow and I wasn't necessarily in agreement, mainly because it's such a subjective diagnosis. No tests were done other than questionnaires filled out by myself and his teacher. Yes he's active, fidgety, hyper, and he has a great imagination...but surely these aren't "bad" things. Frankly, they're what make him pretty damn awesome. AND he was only 5 at the time and I know that children develop at different rates, and despite his seeming lack of concentration he was still doing pretty well academically, so (for me personally) to medicate him for being what I consider to be a normal, active, smart child was out of the question.
Despite being told by several professionals that medication was usually the best course of action for ADHD, and being told by his behavioral therapy countless anecdotal of children doing amazingly well after being medicated, I decided that, in our case, the pros simply didn't outweigh the cons.
I'm only mentioning this because I assume if you are reading this, you may have a child with ADHD, or are at least being told that they should be evaluated for ADHD. Maybe you decide that medication is the best course of action, and that's fine. I just want to let you know that in my experience, the doctors may say "oh, your child has ADHD, the course of action is medication" with any second look at your individual child's situation. SO KNOW THAT THE CHOICE IS YOURS. DO NOT FEEL PRESSURED. I cried thinking maybe I was making the wrong decision is being so hard headed, but the fact is my child was having some difficulty but he wasn't STRUGGLING to the point that his social and academic progress was being stunted. So my decision was to see how he'd do with behavioral therapy and go from there.
This past school year we struggled to get adjusted for a couple of months in the beginning of the school year, started to do exceptionally well, and then struggled again to get readjusted after the winter break. His impulsivity and intense emotions resulted in some behavioral problems and several school meetings. --I am such an anxious person in general; I get "white coat hypertension" going to the doctor, or any place where the outcome is unknown, so you can imagine how I feel going to meetings involving my child, where any decision I make can potentially affect him for the rest of his life. As a parent, I know you can relate. Oh the worries we deal with.--  At that time I met with his school to get 504 accommodations for him: extra time to complete assignments, tests, breaks between assignments, redirection, etc. His teacher has been great and he ended the school year loving his class, classmates, teacher, and doing exceptionally well academically.
Because of the fact that he was doing so well despite his ADHD his teacher referred him for Gifted testing, and the school psychologist agreed that from what the teacher, the school counselor and myself had to say, some of his behaviors are characteristic of a Gifted child.
This morning I attended the meeting to go over his scores. He scored high on the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales and is eligible for the gifted program, which his school does not currently have. While having a gifted child presents it's own challenges, I am hoping that having a teacher who is trained and has experience with gifted children will better know how to deal with, encourage, and challenge him. Unfortunately, his school doesn't currently have a gifted program, but told me they'd be implementing one for the following school year.
If your child is having difficulty in school and you are being told (or it is being heavily insinuated) that your child may have ADHD, I suggest you fill out a quick gifted checklist. It is possible that you're child simply isn't being challenged enough, or they learn differently and the current classroom environment (being expected to sit still throughout the school day without sufficient breaks) isn't conducive for your child. Of course your child could be Gifted AND have ADHD. In either case, I feel that having your child evaluated couldn't hurt and, in fact, getting a diagnosis could open a lot of doors as far as getting your child the resources he/she may need to thrive. For example, if they're diagnosed they may be eligible for accommodations, if they have accommodations they're eligible for the John McKay Scholarship.
It's a lot of information to sift through, and a lot of hours staying awake worrying about what's best for your child, talking to other parents, asking questions in forums, etc. Not every child is the same, not every parent is the same; I hope this post reaches someone who is going mad researching and not finding a story that quite sounds like their child. I hope you feel somewhat relieved reading this story and feeling you can finally relate. I am here for you and will be happy to answer any questions you might have. I know how stressful it can be.

Below are some links I found helpful.
I am located in Miami, so some of the resources I have here may not be valid for you, but feel free to write me if you have any questions and I'd be happy to find comparable resources in your city.
http://sengifted.org/archives/articles/before-referring-a-gifted-child-for-addadhd-evaluation
https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/my-child-gifted
https://www.verywell.com/social-and-emotional-problems-affecting-gifted-children-1449336
If you are located in Miami, Parent to Parent of Miami has been a great help for me, and provided me with the information I needed to adequately advocate for my son and helped me through the process of requesting accommodations.

4 comments:

  1. ¿Y como debemos comportarnos los abuelos?

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    1. Este libro suena interestante. Es un guia para los abuelos de ninos gifted (y tambien habla un poco sobre ninos gifted que tambien tienen ADHD). Aqui te mando un preview: https://books.google.com/books?id=wBohArbacs4C&pg=PR25&lpg=PR25&dq=what+can+grandparents+do+Gifted+children+with+ADHD&source=bl&ots=PQ-uRed7gT&sig=lm5Ijekjao1XrVKjtokgIZeE5co&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZ-c_aw5vOAhVLKh4KHYvLBNYQ6AEIeTAH#v=onepage&q=what%20can%20grandparents%20do%20Gifted%20children%20with%20ADHD&f=false

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  2. Tati, as a National Board Certified teacher with 23 years of experience, I have to tell you that I think you are doing the right thing. Trust your gut! Don't let anyone push you into medicating your son if your instincts tell you not to do it. Check out "The Diseasing of America's Children" by John Rosemond. <3

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    1. Thanks, Ms. Buckley <3 I'll check it out. It's very disheartening to have professionals who are supposed to "know", cite research studies that say that behavioral therapy only works in conjunction with medication, and feel like maybe I'm just being oppositional and refusing to see that my child may need to be medicated. His old behavioral therapist spent more time talking to me about other children who "became a different person" when medicated, than spending any actual time with Sebastian. She'd also go on about the psychiatrist's education and experience, as well as her own, going so far as to say that "3 professionals couldn't be wrong". I had no idea what to expect from behavioral therapy, and simply didn't know if what she was doing/saying was the norm. I finally put my foot down and called her out on it, telling her that from the very first day I told her I wasn't considering medication at this time and that I'd appreciate it if she'd actually do activities with him to help him focus. I've since switched to another organization and my son loves his new behavioral therapist. The right people make a huge difference <3

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