I have an ADHD question?

Question

My son was diagnosed with it 1 1/2 yrs ago.(he's 11) He went in for a mental evaluation,he passed up the Doctor on every question.For instance"what's 12-5" he said"you can't take 12 from 5 cause you'd be heading into integers,but 5 from 12 is 7" or mentally moving faster than the doc. Is this another indicator for hyperactivity?or is he advanced?

he was diagnosed 1 1/2 yrs ago. The mental eval. was done today.All I'm asking is mental speed a part of it. Don't come down on me if ya don't know me.

Answer 1

I'm not sure I follow that. All the numbers in that statement (12, 5, and 7) are integers, so "going into integers" is not a logical explanation of why you "can't" subtract 12 from 5. Also, the question already specifies that you're subtracting 5 from 12, so he shouldn't need to explain why it "can't" go the other way. More than that, you CAN subtract the big number from the small number, you just get a negative number. I already knew about negative numbers in 1st grade. At that point I was ahead, but by probably about 4th grade, most kids understand that you can subtract a big number from a small number, so if anything thinking that you can't subtract 12 from 5 would probably put him behind, depending what they've covered in his math class so far, but it definitely doesn't mean that he's advanced for his age.

What you described sounds more like he was thinking out loud about how to solve the problem, rather than keeping his mouth shut until he had the answer like most people would. That is very much a symptom of ADHD. There's nothing in what you said to suggest that he was thinking "fast," just that he was thinking out loud, and maybe a bit bellow grade level. Answering before the question is finished can also be typical of people with ADHD, but it's more that they aren't patient enough to wait until it's their turn to talk than that they are actually processing it faster than 'normal.'

Fast processing speed isn't particularly a symptom of ADHD. Nor is it necessarily correlated with overall intellegence, or being "advanced." It's just one component of cognitive function, and doesn't mean a whole lot on its own. But the point I was trying to make is that from what you said there's nothing to suggest that your son was thinking unusually fast, but rather that he spends less time thinking before he started talking (as in, he started talking before he was done thinking whereas most people who don't have ADHD would wait until they had the answer to start talking). That's very similar to how people with ADHD will tend to hurry through things, and move on to the next thing before they finish the one before it.

Answer 2

I grew up with ADHD before it was even considered a disorder. I was also in all of the advanced classes in grammar school. Do the two coincide? I don't really think so, but I do know that many of the faster minds and more creative people seem to show symptoms as well. My son also has the affliction, but isn't functioning at the same high thought levels. He's more impulsive and easily distracted, but not all that quick with math and reading. Your description seems more to show classic symptoms of ADHD than a level of being really advanced. Your son definitely seems to have the ability to work the problem out, but the question that was asked was "what's 12-5". The question wasn't "what's 5-12?". So, he really didn't need to go into the abstraction.
If your son seems to have trouble sitting still in appropriate settings, and easily gets distracted, then the diagnosis is dead on and you should consider some of the medications that are now available to help your son.
Good luck.

Answer 3

You're seeking a diagnosis here? Yeah...this bunch is more credible than a physician.

Answer 4

he is one smart cookie
:]