What if You're Gifted and You Have ADHD? #shorts #adhd

[Bendilin]

Being "gifted" and having ADHD is one of the most crippling things when it comes to education, especially around the high school level. We may excel in elementary school but by high school, we are faking it until we barely make it, and by post-secondary we have failed to learn basic learning skills.

[Roguefem]

"Twice exceptional" sounds a whole lot better than "smart but lazy" like my mother and teachers always called me. Yay for boomer childrearing. 🙄

[samanthawycoff]

Being gifted is one of several reasons I slipped through the cracks as a child. To this day, a family friend of ours who is a doctor doesn't believe that I have ADHD because I was so successful in school. In reality, my giftedness masked a lot of my impairments until high school and I got really good at masking impairments not related to school while I wasn't at home.

[insertcheesypunhere]

i have autism, adhd, and am gifted. *thrice exceptional.*

[LatonyaB]

Was in gifted, graduated HS with a 4.0+. Barely finished first undergraduate degree with a 2.7gpa. Diagnosed at age 38. Currently finishing doctorate degree at age 47, medicated, with 4.0.

[CoryHuff]

I finished HS with a 3.6 GPA without learning how to study. I failed a math class in college and really, really struggled. This made a lot more sense after I was diagnosed at 40.

[lyssajrod]

i got diagnosed on tuesday and my biggest fear going into that appointment was that i was going to be told that i was dumb and my dr started off with “did you know that you’re actually very smart! you’re a smart cookie!” and i almost cried right then and there. this whole journey to get to this point has been so hard for me but especially bc i believed for so long that i’m just dumb. i really appreciated the reassurance that i’m not from my dr. just haven’t had the right support, awareness, and accommodations for my condition!

[granoblasticman]

"Twice exceptional" and I wasn't diagnosed until I was 22. My whole life, my parents and teachers constantly told me how much "potential" I had, but I just needed to "apply myself." Instead of getting a diagnosis and help, I was just told I wasn't trying hard enough, so I started to believe it.

Yeah, still trying to untangle the psychological mess that made.

[thecrazydisneyparksfanatic]

I’ve always been smart and intelligent, but I’ve always had trouble paying attention in school and was falling behind most days, but I don’t think anyone in my family ever thought that I could possibly have ADHD because I wasn’t ever hyper enough or didn’t seem like I had it to what people thought of it 20-30 years ago, and was always told that my inability to do stuff was always because I was just “too lazy” and a lot of that persists to this day

[MiriamMillen]

This works for learning disabilities as well. My daughter is gifted and does really well in school, but she has dyscalculia and really struggles in math. The sad part is that when I tried to get a 504 for her, they basically said that her grades were good and she was doing well and therefore it obviously wasn't a problem. The bottom line is, she was doing well, but at what cost. She told me how upset she was later that her issues weren't recognized because they were masked by being gifted.

[Crazt]

In middle school (some late 90s) one of my teachers called me a freak because I was able to match the testing capabilities of his most aggressive students, who openly spent hours ensuring they could Ace tests. Where as I made no attempt at school, openly slept through class, but some how continued to score no less than upper 80s on tests.
I'm beginning to believe this was an untreated ADHD that's started to dangerously effect my adult life.

[Kris-wopj]

That might have been my issue in high school. I never learned actual study habits cuz I was smart enough to get straight As or atleast Bs by sleeping or reading through class. It made college extremely difficult.

[StygianEmperor]

i better identify with the term “idiot-savant”

[Alexrider]

Story of my life. It wasn't until I was an adult that I finally found out I have ADHD. As a kid, I just felt like a failing gifted student who was always pushing myself to my limits to work as hard as I could and still coming up with C's in most classes.

[marykubasak]

This meant I was 50 before I was diagnosed with ADHD, the next decade has been amazing…

[Claycat]

I made the top 10% in high school in spite of being ADHD. I told my husband, "If I had really applied myself, think what I might have accomplished." Sigh...

[ProfZ.]

Twice exceptional is beautiful language for this. I didn’t get diagnosed until after I earned tenure as a professor, and even when I told my loving dad about my diagnosis he said “but you’re so smart!” I so wish I could have been diagnosed as a kid instead of being seen as someone who refused to live up to their potential

[turbonium]

It really shows with missing assignments or not doing well on them but when tests come, marks are great!

[jacob]

This is why I slipped through the cracks in the educational system. 6th grade I was in special Ed. I did so well that uear they thought i didn't need it anymore. Struggled the rest of my school years, classes were easy and I got bored. Ended up dropping out and just walked in and aced the GED without studying.

[TomBeardshaw]

This is me. ADHD remained undetected until my 50s when I was killing myself through Substance Abuse and the diagnosis has probably saved my life