A Worried Parent asks:
"My 6yo daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD and is currently taking a certain stimulant whose name starts with R. I don't like it, but for the moment her happiness has improved, as opposed to when she's not medicated where she appears unhappy and frustrated with her inability to find her way in the world. She's sat through an IQ test, and the result was 147, which means she's better at doing IQ tests than 99.9% of 6 year olds. I wasn't that surprised but her teachers were, she's very clever but has difficulty following instructions - which is kind of a requirement in a classroom environment. If she's in a group of kids being given instructions she'll be looking at something else, playing with the grass, singing quietly to herself, etc. She'll suddenly become aware of all the kids wandering off to follow said instructions and then panic because she wasn't paying attention. In a group of people her attention just sort of switches off. I don't think this is something she can change. Any thoughts on how to help? Don't bother quoting the books on this one, i'm after first hand experiences. (i've read enough books :p)"
"Whatever the cause, she is quite different than most kids her age. I was much the same at her age and it was a pretty difficult way to grow up. I'd like to do what i can to make things easier for her.
Given that the Slashdot audience appears to mostly belong to the geekier end of the curve, is there any advice you can impart on parenting the geeky child... whether it comes from what did and didn't work for you as a kid, or what does and doesn't work for you as a parent of an obviously 'different' child.
Discipline is a bit of a problem but nothing that can't be handled. My biggest concern is that she'll grow up resenting her intelligence and being generally unhappy with who she is. The statistics are fairly clear on what happens to kids who grow up unhappy and with a low self esteem. Especially for a girl, in whom geekiness is seen as less socially acceptable.
Any advice?
Slashdot Mirror
My parents put me on a low sugar diet when I was a kid (very ADHD) for me it helped my attention span but I didn't run around like a normal kid anymore, so they eventually quit without bothering to try and find a good balance. My step-child on the otherhand was very ADHD also when I entered the picture, we dropped the sugar level significantly and she was very sluggesh at first but as her body adgusted she got more energy but wasn't completly herself so we increased her carbs till she had energy but could still pay attention. It really helped a lot.
It depends on the IQ test being used. According to Mensa, an IQ of 132 on some tests qualifies the person for membership. To join U.S. Mensa (which accepts the top 2 percentile, check this page for acceptable test scores.)
For more information on genius in general, check out Estimated IQs of Greatest Geniuses.
I think this is something that has largely been ignored in the world at large. Remember that the IQ is a bell curve. An IQ of 130 is as rare as an IQ of 70. An IQ of 147 is as rare as an IQ of 53. (According to the Estimated IQs site, an IQ of 147 is equivalent to 99.83 percentile. Your child is "smarter" than 99.83 percent of the world.)If you think about how rare it is that a person has an IQ of 53, you begin to appreciate how special your daughter really is.
Personally, my biggest problem was motivation to work hard. All the way up throgh Sophmore year of college, I didn't have to work hard to get good grades, relying on just my memory, I could do very well. But when college got harder, I didn't have the patience to work through harder problems.
I think that you have to push your child so that they never become intellectually lazy. The problem you get is burn-out.
ADHD does exist, but I think it is rarer than is actually diagnosed. An incredibly gifted child may be labled ADHD merely because she is bored with what is, to her, very easy school work. Get a second opinion.