Tall Poppies magazine

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Gifted/ADD? Or Gifted/Learning Disabled?
Removing the mask of frustration

by Carole Bruzzano-Ricci

With the interpersonal challenges gifted individuals face, it is understandable how a gifted child with or without a learning disability is misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). A gifted person experiencing frustrations in the academic setting exhibits similar characteristics to the ADD/ADHD child. Built-up frustrations negatively expressed and the ìnormalî asynchronous development of the gifted often misleads educators and counsellors who lack specialised training in gifted development. A misdiagnosis leaves the child facing an adulthood of social, emotional and academic challenges beyond the difficulties associated with asynchronous development of the gifted.

The unique interpersonal challenges gifted individuals encounter during their lifespan include:

• Learning to interact in the mainstream world.
• Managing expectations and pressures to fit the norm.
• Defusing unconscious hostility, resentment, antagonism and sabotage directed at them because they are perceived as intellectually, creatively or personally advantaged.
• Setting appropriate boundaries for the utilisation of their abilities.
• Collaborating with others and managing the daily dilemmas of giftedness involving relatives, bosses, co-workers, neighbours, counsellors, teachers and other members of the community (Azpeitia and Rocamora, 1994).

A gifted/learning disabled child may be able to compensate for an unrecognised learning disability by sacrificing the gift, and never receive remedial services or accelerated classes. If they are unable to compensate, most times the learning disability is recognised along with a misdiagnosed behavioural disorder created by unmet needs in the nurturing of the gift. However, it is the highly gifted individual who exhibits the greatest intensity and levels of emotional, imaginational, intellectual, sensual and psychomotor excitability. This is often perceived as evidence of a mental disturbance because most of the population lacks accurate information about the special characteristics of gifted individuals (Bratter, 1995). These are the children who appear to have attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder or another emotional/behavioural disorder. The greater intensity and overexcitabilities of the highly gifted may result in episodes of intense emotional displays, which research shows are normal in the gifted (see Dabrowskiís overexcitabilities for more on over-emotionality). These frequent intense displays of emotion in the academic setting, along with off-task behaviour, lead to a label of ADD/ADHD.

Academic settings increasing these behaviours fail to address the needs of the gifted child. Such settings include those that:

• Do not address a childís interests or support curious questioning.
• Inhibit self-expression.
• Lack consistency in structure.
• Use lower level thinking skills too much.
• Lack opportunities for critical thinking and evaluation.

With an undetected learning disability as well as a gift, these frustrations multiply as the lack of appropriate opportunities for remediation as well as challenges further increases the behaviours associated with ADD/ADHD, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. The gifted/LD child draws attention to misbehaviours while avoiding attention to a deficit which is usually in an area of language processing.

Situations requiring listening to directions or lectures, taking notes, writing reports or assignments within a given time, reading for comprehension, speaking to explain procedures, recalling factual information or specific strategies; any situation that requires the child to use skills he or she is deficient in, may increase the childís frustrations. Furthermore, frequent exposure to this type of setting may trigger episodic memory; that is, memory that is recalled each time the child is in the setting associated with utilising these weaker skills leading to negative behaviours, regardless of the tasks presented.

The strong sense of self and over-emotionality are destined to become the gifted childís weakness in either situation, when, in fact, these are characteristics of a gifted child. This truth is expressed in the words of a misdiagnosed adult reflecting on his experience:

"While my difficulties were arguably the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, the facts prove that this and other labels simply conceal the real issue of nonconformity and the gifted child. They neatly place a wide range of misunderstandings into a classifiable disorder, thus representing giftedness in the classroom as a 'treatable disease'."

"I can tell you from experience that there was much more to my troubles than specialists ever seemed to grasp. Then as now, the main thrust of educators and psychologists is to make every child perform on a standardized, and often inferior, level. And while it is true that many schools now provide special programmes for gifted students, their outdated criterions fail to address the needs of the underachievers who make up the silent majority of this group." (Gleaves, 1997)

A parent of a gifted/learning disabled child further describes the struggles and causes of frustrations:

"For my son who is gifted and mildly dyslexic, it means being bored to tears in math and science classes because they are too easy, while struggling to read grade-level books. It means not being able to read books that discuss science and other topics at his level of understanding. It means finding reading class books challenging, but the classroom discussions excruciatingly boring."

"For my son, who is gifted and has dysgraphia (extreme difficulties with writing), being gifted/special needs means having his hands get cramped and tired after only one page of writing. It means being unable to write and think at the same time, so that his written work doesn't come anywhere near reflecting the depth of his thoughts. It means he is thinking about math concepts that his teachers don't understand, but having trouble writing them down."(Singer, 2000)

The misdiagnosis

The results of misdiagnosis can range from neglect to inappropriate counselling strategies that invalidate the complex inner process of the gifted. Prescribed medication can also inhibit the giftedness by increasing the childís tolerance of situations that do not meet his or her needs. But needing more immediate attention than the consequences of misdiagnosis is how to correctly diagnose these children to avoid these serious, often life-long consequences that interfere with emotional, social and intellectual development. How do we identify the gifted child, and gifted/learning disabled child expressing frustrations from unmet needs from the actual ADD/ADHD child who is not able to sustain concentration in any situation?

And a question that has yet to be answered: is it possible for a child to be both ADD and gifted when the very characteristics involving attention are contradictory? Research continues arguing the latter, but has found that the elements addressed earlier in the academic setting promote ADD/ADHD behaviours in gifted and gifted/learning disabled children. To further this explanation, research also found that in the classroom, a gifted child's perceived inability to stay on task is likely to be related to boredom, curriculum, mismatched learning style or other environmental factors (Webb, 2000). It is also important to note that a large proportion of gifted children are highly active too. As many as one-quarter may require less sleep; however, their activity is generally focused and directed (Clark, 1992; Webb, Meckstroth, & Tolan, 1982), in contrast to the behaviour of children with ADHD. As with attention span, children with ADHD have a high activity level, but this activity level is often found across situations (Barkley, 1990).

The intensity of a gifted childís concentration often allows long periods of time and much energy focusing on whatever truly interests them, yet specific interests may not coincide with the desires and expectations of teachers or parents. This is where understanding of asynchronous development is the least understood and the most threatening to the overall development of the gifted child. The strong sense of self and desire for inquiry on interests may be discouraged, leading to negative behaviours and a resistance to learn in the academic setting.

In the undiagnosed gifted/learning disabled child, a lack of challenging opportunities, as well as the lack of needed remediation, increases frustrations leading to ADD-like behaviours. If the child is diagnosed with the learning disability, chances are the gift will continue to go unrecognised without specialists on gifted development to intervene. As the gift continues to go unnoticed, a lack of appropriate opportunties for challenges increases frustrations. Intellectual frustration and demotivation (stunting the realisation of giftedness as talent); isolation, loneliness and social rejection when gifted students are given little access to children of similar interests, abilities and maturity; underachievement, in an effort to attain peer acceptance, and de-motivation; learning ìnot to learnî; ìÖ behavioural problems; psychological distress, Ö often culminating in dire circumstances in later lifeì (Gough, 2001).

ADD/ADHD or gifted, learning disabled: a fine line

The following questions can provide insight into the causes of a childís behaviour in accurately diagnosing a child exhibiting ADD/ADHD behaviours: Does the distraction occur because there is insufficient intellectual stimulation? What causes the disruptions? Are there realistic explanations for behaviour patterns or does it appear the adolescent is out of control? Does doing multiple tasks challenge or frustrate? And a valid test for ADHD: Can the student concentrate for more than a half hour without being distracted in any activity (Bratter, 1995)? This would disprove ADD. Is the behaviour observable only when certain skills are required in performing a task: sustained reading, comprehending what is read, writing, focusing on spelling and grammar accuracy, reading aloud, or another task that brings about negative behaviour? This may indicate a weakness relating to a learning disability. Is the childís focus maintained during certain activities other than computers: researching a topic, using hands-on activities, using visual-spatial abilities to complete a task, giving oral presentations, evaluating situations? Also, is the child initiating and completing projects at home, yet failing to maintain attention at school in any of the above, or other, specific situations, for example, on projects, problem-solving or other higher-level tasks? (A contrast in school performance and home performance is a characteristic of the misdiagnosed gifted/learning disabled child.)

Stephanie Tolan, co-author of Guiding the Gifted Child, writes about the similarities between ADD/ADHD and the gifted :

"I used to say my son functioned like a short-circuit because he was sparking all the time. It's web thinking; it's connected thinking. You take two steps down a path and you see a junction, and you may end up very far from where you intended. And it may be a wonderful place to be, but it isn't what you intended, and if you're in an environment like a school that says you must attend to these things, in this order, then a highly creative, a highly gifted person is going to have difficulty with that."(Excerpt from interview with Stephanie S. Tolan, by Douglas Eby.)

Programmes for the gifted/LD child

In evaluating programmes, research has found the ideal academic setting for the gifted child with a learning disability is placement with others with the same diagnosis and a lead teacher aware of asynchronous development, including academic, social, and psychological needs of the child. Some schools have developed special classes: all day self-contained classes or pull-out classes where gifted/LD students are with others with the same diagnosis.

Another example is a school in Hawaii - ASSETS. It is for students who are "gifted/at risk, dyslexic/learning disabled, and gifted/dyslexic" (Clements et al, 1994). This school uses an interdisciplinary approach to instruction in self-contained classrooms. It also offers accelerated and enrichment courses to provide the challenges gifted children require while building the students' basic skills with the needed remediation. (For other programme models and/or programmatic ideas for separate programmes for gifted students with learning disabilities, see Baldwin & Gargiulo, 1983, Baum et al, 1991, Udall & Maker, 1983, and Whitmore, 1980.)

In the general education classroom

As previously mentioned, a gifted child performs better when placed with peers with similar abilities and an educator aware of gifted development. As for the gifted/learning disabled, the gift may go unrecognised, causing a misdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD along with a learning disability, leaving this child to receive remedial services, yet remain in settings that fail to utilise the gift. Yet with the varied instructional strategies used in many classrooms today, these twice exceptional students have a better chance at avoiding the negative results of not being diagnosed at all Yet because differentiated instruction alone does not necessarily meet the needs of gifted/learning disabled children, it is necessary for educators to know what to look for in order to identify these students. And once identified, educators need specific instructional strategies to address the needs of these children if special services are not yet available. Until then, research suggests the following in the general education classroom:

• Incorporating visual and tactile-kinesthetic formats.
• Teaching concepts before content (holistic approach) followed with details.
• Teaching short-term goal setting.
• Emphasising past learning to connect to new learning.
• Utilising all senses in instruction.
• Providing specific organisational techniques. (Elements suggested by Susan Winebrenner, a consultant to districts throughout the United States and other countries on educating the twice exceptional student, 2003).

Not leaving it to chance

In the several visits Iíve made to alternative programmes for emotionally disturbed, learning disabled children, one veteran principal left a lasting impression. I realised how alone she felt in facing her challenge in guiding her students. She illuminated what some of us silently question, what the forum of the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children has discussed and what parents quietly struggle with when their child is diagnosed with a behavioural disorder, yet displays contradictory behaviours at home and school: there is something more to this that everyone seems to be missing. Without specialised training in gifted development and the gifted with specific learning disabilities, the larger population will continue missing it. Students will continue being misdiagnosed with ADD/ADHD determined by the extent to which he or she can blend into the general education population. And for the gifted/learning disabled fortunate enough to have their gift recognised before the disability, how well they can attract attention to misbehaviours to avoid tasks associated with a processing deficiency; these tasks that are as difficult for these twice exceptional students as recalling words and using correct grammar was for Albert Einstein in his elementary years.

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The two sides of the twice exceptional

Asynchronous development of the gifted child

"Gifted children are on a developmental trajectory that is outside of norms from infancy onward. They reach recognised milestones of development on a schedule that is unique to them, putting them out of sync with society's expectations. In addition, they may be out of sync internally, with cognitive, social and emotional development on separate and sometimes quite different timetables... The young gifted child may appear to be many ages at once. He may be 8 (his chronological age) when riding a bicycle, 12 when playing chess, 15 when studying algebra, 10 when collecting fossils and 2 when asked to share his chocolate chip cookie with his sister. This variability in behaviour and perception is difficult for parents and schools to handle and difficult for the child as well. It is hard to 'fit in' consistently when so much of the child's environment is structured by chronological age, an age which may be for the gifted child the least relevant aspect of his development."(Tolan, 2003)

Specific learning disability

A specific learning disability is defined as: difficulties in one of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language - spoken or written - and manifests itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. The detection of a specific learning disability before recognition of the gift increases ADD/?ADHD behaviours.

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Characteristics of a twice exceptional (LD/gifted) child:

• Ability to find creative solutions to complex problems.
• Strong abstract-thinking abilities.
• Complexity of emotions, often expressed negatively if needs aren’t met.
• Difficulty with easier tasks and success with difficult ones.
• Basic skills less developed than abstract-reasoning abilities.
• Forgetfulness of simple strategies, causing a decrease in quality of work. (When reminded of strategies, does work of outstanding quality)
• Strong verbal abilities contrast with poor spelling, writing or handwriting.
• High level of interests at home.

Additional characteristics:

• Keen visual memory, spatial skills
• Sophisticated sense of humour.
• Imaginative and creative.
• Insightful.
• Exceptional ability in geometry, science, arts, or music.
• Good problem-finding and solving skills.
• Difficulty with memorisation, computation, phonics and/or spelling.
• Distractibility and/or disorganisation.
• Supersensitivity.
• Perfectionism.
• Grasp of metaphors, analogies, satire.
• Comprehension of complex systems.
• Unreasonable self-expectations.
• Often fails to complete assignments.
• Difficulties with sequential tasks.
• Wide variety of interests.
  (Baum,Owen & Dixon, 1991; Silverman 1989)

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Characteristics associated with giftedness as well as ADD/ADHD
Behaviours associated with ADHD (Barkley, 1990)

1. Poorly sustained attention in almost all situations.
2. Diminished persistence on tasks not having immediate consequences.
3. Impulsivity, poor delay of gratification.
4. Impaired adherence to commands to regulate or inhibit behaviour in social contexts.
5. More active, restless than normal children.
6. Difficulty adhering to rules and regulations.

Behaviours associated with giftedness (Webb, 1993)

1. Poor attention, boredom, daydreaming in specific situations.
2. Low tolerance for persistence on tasks that seem irrelevant.
3. Judgement lags behind development of intellect.
4. Intensity may lead to power struggles with authorities.
5. High activity level, may need less sleep.
6. Questions rules, customs and traditions.

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Positive and negative characteristics of children with gifts/learning disabilities

Positives

• Adept at thinking abstractly.
• Good at problem-solving skills.
• Superior in mathematical reasoning ability.
• Easily able to recognise relationships.
• Highly creative.
• Good communication skills.
• Productive and motivated.
• Intellectual curiosity.
• Wide range of interests.
• Ability to work on their own.
• Sophisticated sense of humor.
• Unusual and active imagination.
• Keen visual memory.
• Artistic, mechanical, or musical aptitude.
• Grasps metaphors, satire, and analogies.

Negatives

• Aggressive.
• Careless: forgets when assignments are due, loses papers, does not complete assignments.
• Easily frustrated.
• Learning problems, especially in: language, spatial conception, memory and sequencing abilities.
• Poor or completely phonetic-based spelling.
• Poor handwriting.
• Often disruptive.
• Daydreams.
• Doodles instead of listens.
• Complains of head and stomach aches.
• Difficulty with rote memorisation.
• Acts first, thinks later.
• Performs poorly on timed tests.
• Has difficulty with computation.
• Does not respond well to auditory instructions/information.
  (Fetzer, 2000)

Nordby (October, 1994) clarifies some of the similarities:

• Unlike gifted children, those with ADHD exhibit problem behaviour in virtually all settings.
• Gifted students will concentrate on what interests them regardless of desires of parents and teachers, but ADHD students have brief attention spans in virtually all situations.
• Both ADHD and gifted students may question rules, but gifted students may create their own complex rules and expect others to follow them.
• Gifted students perform well with teachers or subjects they like, while ADHD students are inconsistent in virtually all areas of performance.

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References
Azpeitia, L. & Rocamora, M.(1994), Misdiagnosis of the Gifted, Mensa Bulletin
Baldwin, L. J. & Gargiulo, D. A. (1983), A Model Programme for Elementary Age Learning Disabled/Gifted Youngsters, in L. H. Fox, L. Brody, & D. Tobin (eds), Learning Disabled/Gifted Children: Identification and Programming, 207ñ221. Austin, TX
Barkley, R.A. (1990), ADHD. A Handbook For Diagnosis And Treatment, Guilford Press
Baum, S., Owen, S.V. & Dixon, J. (1991), To Be Gifted And Learning Disabled, From Identification To Practical Intervention Strategies, Creative Learning Press, Mansfield Center, CT
Bratter, T.E. (1995), ADHD or Gifted, Barrington, Massachusetts, Woodbury Reports Inc. - "Schools and Program Visits" (1995). #33
Clark, B. (1992). Growing Up Gifted, Prentice Hall, Canada. Golangelo, N. & Davis, G.A.(eds)
Clements, C., Lundell, F. & Hishinumu, E.S. (1994), Serving The Gifted-Dyslexic & Gifted-At-Risk, Gifted Child Today Magazine, 17(4)
Fetzer, E. (2000), The Gifted Learning Disabled Child: A Guide For Teachers and Parents, Prufrock Pressóin partnership with Gale Group
Gleaves, M. (1997), On Creativity, NFGCC for Red Alert's Education Circle of Hope forum
Gough, in Commonwealth of Australia, 2001, p.13, adapted from Commonwealth of Australia, 2001; Gross, 1993, from Including Gifted Children in Equal Educational Opportunities
Neuwirth, S. (1997) Learning Disabilities, Henry Tyndale School Association
Renzulli, J. S. (1999), What is This Thing Called Giftedness, and How do we Develop it? A Twenty-Five Year Perspective, Journal for the Education of the Gifted. 23(1), 3-54
Silverman, L.K. (1989), Invisible Gifts, Invisible Handicaps, Roeper Review.12, 37-42
Silverman, L. (1992), How Parents Can Support Gifted Children, ERIC EC Digest #E515
Singer, L. (2000), If Gifted=Asynchronous Development, then Gifted/Special Needs=Asynchrony Squared, from Uniquely Gifted: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Twice Exceptional, Kiesa Kay (ed), Avocus Publishing (www.avocus.com): Gilsum, NH
Udall, A.J. & Maker, J. (1983), Giftedness and Learning Disabilities, National Institute of Education, US Department of Education
Webb, J. & Latimer, D., excerpt from ADHD and Children Who Are Gifted, ERIC Digest #522, Council for Exceptional Children, Reston, Va; ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Reston, Va
Whitmore, J. R. (1980), Giftedness, Conflict, and Underachievement, Boston: Allyn & Bacon
Winebrenner, S. (2003), Teaching Strategies for Twice Exceptional Students, Intervention In School and Clinic, pp113ñ137

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Web resources

Who's In Who's Out, Issues of Inclusion and Exclusion in Education, various authors

www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/EPM/EPSSbook/contents.htm, in Including Gifted Children in Equal Educational Opportunities, Gough, C.

www.talentdevelop.com/Page62.html

Nordby, S. (1994, Oct). Problems in Identification and Assessment of Attention Deficit Disorder, members.aol.com/svennord/ed/adhd.htm

Tolan, S., Giftedness As Asynchronous Development, www.stephanietolan.com/gt_as_asynch.htm

The 'Lectric Law Library's Lexicon on Children with Specific Learning Disabilities http://www.lectlaw.com/def/c176.htm

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Carole Bruzzano-Ricci has taught elementary school, eighth grade literacy, and under-graduate English and humanities courses and has served as vice principal at an alternative school for emotional/behavioural disordered, LD students.

Carole Bruzzano-Ricci
48 Montgomery Place
Belleville, NJ 07109
USA
(973) 450-1495
Bruzzano@aol.com