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You said what I bolded, of your quote. You linked ADD directly to intelligence. There is no link between ADD and intelligence. You inferred that people with ADD can't be of -less- intelligence. That was your claim, to the OP, who claimed that people with ADD are less intelligence. Your answer implied that he's wrong, that people with ADD are -not- less intelligent.
Your answer is incorrect.
People with ADD can be of average, or above average, or below average intelligence, because ADD has no link to intelligence at all.
You know, I believe that what you say is true or should be, and certainly I have worked with lots of special ed kids and most of them have AD/HD so we get them at all IQ levels. However, what I have noticed in my personal experience is that very few of the kids with very low IQs actually have it, and it seems to be more associated with the kids with LD, who by definition have IQ's that are normal or above and a performance that doesn't match their IQ. The prevailing "wisdom" among sped teachers is that kids with AD/HD have an average 10 points higher IQ--I suspect that what they mean is that the kids have a 10 point higher IQ than it would seem in dealing with them, b/c people with AD/HD are often mis-underestimated [sic].
w99w--I'm sure an IQ test was not the only test they used to dx you and if it was, I'd suspect the dx.
There is a fabulous book about the subject of learning disabilities and intelligence and the author discusses the lives of famous creative thinkers and their LD in detail--it's a classic and on its 15th printing. In the Mind's Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics, and the Rise of Visual Technologies by Thomas G. West I have found myself fascinated by this topic and I'm sick about the waste of human potential, but society is not evolved enough yet to figure out how to make proper use of visual thinkers.
You said what I bolded, of your quote. You linked ADD directly to intelligence. There is no link between ADD and intelligence. You inferred that people with ADD can't be of -less- intelligence. That was your claim, to the OP, who claimed that people with ADD are less intelligence. Your answer implied that he's wrong, that people with ADD are -not- less intelligent.
Your answer is incorrect.
People with ADD can be of average, or above average, or below average intelligence, because ADD has no link to intelligence at all.
No. You misunderstood what I was saying. I didn't link ADD to intelligence the OP did that. My CLAIM to the original poster is that people with ADD or any other mental health problem are not 'super brains,' any more than the average person. They are average intelligence or above intelligence or even below average intelligence (which I did not mention b/c I figured that my point was obvious enough already). Not being able to do the things the OP mentioned isn't an indicator of intelligence either. My point again: people with ADD are no MORE OR LESS intelligent than the average person simply because they have ADD.
No. You misunderstood what I was saying. I didn't link ADD to intelligence the OP did that. My CLAIM to the original poster is that people with ADD or any other mental health problem are not 'super brains,' any more than the average person. They are average intelligence or above intelligence or even below average intelligence (which I did not mention b/c I figured that my point was obvious enough already). Not being able to do the things the OP mentioned isn't an indicator of intelligence either. My point again: people with ADD are no MORE OR LESS intelligent than the average person simply because they have ADD.
ADD or other conditions. The capability the OP defines is an indication of two things, method and interest. I took close notes in history with far more detail than I needed just so I could read them over and drink it in, but seldom had to read them over. I'm one who learns by listening. Listening backed up by interesting reading helps. Listening backed up by standard textbook writing the text was a chore and didn't register. Now move onto science classes, and I have the interest but not the intuitive grasp. The notes mattered and were studied. And it was more hands on, less boring reading. Math I was and am hopeless at, partly because I discovered I am dysclexic with numbers, and I really never saw any point in proving something was a triangle.
I privately diagnosed myself as bp in high school and kept it to myself, but my attention span has a direct relation to if its interesting. Normally interesting, I can plow through it. Really a passion (history/english/writing) I just submerge myself. Math, the business law class, stuff like that, I skimmed the surface and don't remember any of it now. I'm capable of using my intelligence on any subject, but without interest, I can't push into boring. The hyperconcentration on the things that connect is part of the way I'm made, but means I use my intelligence in picky ways.
I have a friend who has ADD. There is nothing wrong with his mind, intelligence wise. He keeps it up, but due to his behavioral problems (not really fixed by anything you swallow) he'll never persue the ideas he has.
IQ is a measured capacity to look beyond. Many who are more than low average are also out of the box thinkers, who see beyond normal constraints as well. Some get to use it and some just get thought weird or someone who won't fit into the cookie cutter business world. But some of the most interesting conversations I've had with people are those who are the 'misfits', who haven't and won't be 'successful' but have found their OWN version inside themselves.
If we look at IQ as potential, then its up to the individual how much, and how they want to use it, but the potential still exists.
if a person with ADD wants to think he is intelligent, fine. but if they have nothing to show for their alleged intelligence, then how is their "intelligence" intelligence in the traditional sense of the word?
I privately diagnosed myself as bp in high school and kept it to myself, but my attention span has a direct relation to if its interesting. Normally interesting, I can plow through it. Really a passion (history/english/writing) I just submerge myself. Math, the business law class, stuff like that, I skimmed the surface and don't remember any of it now. I'm capable of using my intelligence on any subject, but without interest, I can't push into boring. The hyperconcentration on the things that connect is part of the way I'm made, but means I use my intelligence in picky ways.
First bolded--that's true of all people who have ADD--not saying you have it, b/c I have no idea, but we can concentrate, even hyper concentrate on things that interest us--it's almost impossible for us to concentrate on things that don't.
Second bolded--no comment except that I love the way that you phrased that and I'm stealing it, lol. Yes, I use my intelligence in picky ways. Love it.
if a person with ADD wants to think he is intelligent, fine. but if they have nothing to show for their alleged intelligence, then how is their "intelligence" intelligence in the traditional sense of the word?
I was a brainiac when it came to english, grammar, sentence structure, and literature. I wailed on Shakespeare in Jr. High, and was taking advanced literature (Hemingway, Thoreau) in 5th grade.
I couldn't complete the standard IQ tests, because I couldn't focus on them. The questions were boring, I was constantly distracted by the sound of my own breathing and the teacher's purple dress (it was my favorite color when I was a kid), and the birds chirping outside the window. So my IQ measurement was, officially, "incomplete."
And yet, I've aced every English/Literature class I've taken since the 3rd grade, including all 4 years of college. I took advanced grammar in high school and aced that too, just because it was interesting and was one of the few subjects that could hold my attention longer than 20 minutes.
To this day, while everyone else is playing World of Warcraft or watching TV, I play muds and read. While I couldn't get better than a D in math classes during grade school, I excelled in probability/statistics in college and 20 years later took computer programming for fun - and totally understood the point of algebra - something my teachers in grade school couldn't pound into my skull.
Yes, I am very intelligent. I -also- have ADD. But put me in front of a timed test, and you'll see how profoundly stupid I can be, when I am under pressure to perform simple tasks or solve simple puzzles.
edited to add: oh yeah - I'm also absent-minded. Absent-mindedness is one possible symptom of genius. I'll probably forget I said that in a week though
First bolded--that's true of all people who have ADD--not saying you have it, b/c I have no idea, but we can concentrate, even hyper concentrate on things that interest us--it's almost impossible for us to concentrate on things that don't.
Second bolded--no comment except that I love the way that you phrased that and I'm stealing it, lol. Yes, I use my intelligence in picky ways. Love it.
Thank you, I love when the words are just right. Very happy to lend it. Words are important to me and when I beta (edit) a story I warn that I do a full job of it but its up to the writer to use any or all.
I've been dxed bp2, but off meds its not nearly so dramatic as with. I manage by using the things I know will kill a mood or help it and do much better. But something which fascinates me, like history or writing I think kicks me into a mild hypomania where I can concentrate more than normal on the chosen subject, and all else gets shut out. I can see and hear my characters, taste the wind and feel their life. Once I woke up with every word of a very hard to do point of view story (where the main character is always seen by a 'first person' subordinate one) and changed two words after writing it. I haven't been able to do that pov when I tried to at all. I can go beyond the facts and words of history to something almost visual. Meds just make a perminant manic state, not borderline, which is not good. And messed up my health so I manage without them now.
Math actually interested me, but the dylexia with numbers got frustrating especially not knowing it was there and it got to where I struggled. I think without that it might have been different. I actually liked accounting with all the calm and peaceful balance in it, if that makes any sense. But no way with the number problem.
Like another person who replied, geomotry was utterly lost on me, but I worked as a programmer, and the logic was absolutely clear. I used to call it my whitespace. I'm making most of my furnature, and just think on what it needs to do and will wake up with a perfect idea of how. I woke up a few days ago with an idea of a simple way to keep the door to the bathroom open so cats could get in and not dogs. Don't know where it came from but was there when I woke up.
My goal today is to be left alone, not be told I must be more social (I'm a loner and always have been) or that I should be/do this or that way. I'm quite okay with my different than most self. Frustration comes when I think of what I could do, if the world would accept that we're all not the same pod people and not waste the huge talents that the differently wired possess.
Well, the first flaw in this entire hypothesis, regarding lack of intelligence in people who have ADD is how and what type of intelligence is measured. I have a friend with ADD, he is a chef, he runs his kitchen with 50 different things going on at one time. He is a culinary genius, and accomplished artisian in Tex-Mex fusion.
Anyone who eats his food raves that he is a "genius".
I don't know how he does it, it would drive me crazy to be doing that many things at one time. I tend to focus on one task, and move on to the next one.
I have ADD--I have a high IQ, (I'm not a genius), but I'm comfortable with my IQ and like others here testing is difficult for me because of focus but my father was my school teacher in a one room school in a very rural area and he gave us our IQ tests so I know the results. No, it's not easy having ADD but you learn to "use" it and work with it. I was one of the best in speed-reading--fit right in there! I worked well in the movie industry while going to college because it was a fast moving always changing job! I carried 17-19 units each semester at college and did well because I was busy but being in one room for more then an hour drove me crazy--still does! An office job will never work for me. Oh I'm smart enough--just can't focus that long and get bored unless I find something I am really interested in and then I hyperfocus and you can't drag me away until I am ready to go. When we learned my sister had Myasthenia Gravis I spent hours, months and am even now, years later, researching it and talking with Dr's from around the world to learn more about it. I need to know so I'm hyperfocused on that. Honestly I don't thnk having ADD makes someone more or less intelligent--you are born with your intelligence and sometimes you are born with other differences but that has nothing to do with your intelligence. Infact just reading some of these posts from others here with ADD tells me there are some very smart people out there with ADD. I was diagnosed at 16 years old--before they really knew about ADD and I am a grandmother now! I studied it in college because I wanted to educate myself about it. Yes, you either learn to live with it and make the best of it--use it-- or fight it and give up. Personally I think there are more positives with having ADD then negetives so I work with that thinking! It's a blessing in disguise for me.
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