Gifted Children with ADHD: How Are They Different from Non-gifted Children with ADHD?

Abstract

The present study focused on inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity differences of gifted children with and without attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Based on clinical assessment utilizing the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children (ADISC-IV) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition, attendees of a public outpatient child service (boys = 359, girls = 148), with mean age 10.60 years (SD = 3.08 years), were allocated into four groups: ADHD (N = 350), gifted (N = 15), gifted/ADHD (N = 18), and clinical controls (N = 124). The Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD-Symptoms and Normal Behavior Scale dimensionally assessed inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity variations. Compared to the gifted/ADHD group, the ADHD group had higher scores for inattention and comparable scores for hyperactivity/impulsivity. For most symptoms, the ADHD groups (gifted or not) rated higher than the non-ADHD groups (control and gifted without ADHD). Findings appeared to indicate that (i) ADHD is a valid diagnosis among children who are gifted, (ii) gifted children might tend to be less inattentive than non-gifted ADHD children, and (iii) ADHD-gifted children appear to differ from the non-ADHD-gifted children with regard to specific hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. The practical implication of these findings is that clinicians may wish to focus on these symptoms when diagnosing ADHD among children with high intelligence.

Three recommendations based on a comparison of the reliability and validity of the predominant models used in research on the empirical structure of psychopathology.

“…Other work has called for greater consideration of model interpretability (e.g., the strength, sign, and precision of factor loadings; Eid et al, 2017;Waldman et al, 2017;Watts et al, 2019) and the reporting of model-based reliability indices (Rodriguez et al, 2016a(Rodriguez et al, , 2016bWatts et al, 2019). Psychopathology research has begun making important inroads into this issue-for example, comparing a subset of models (e.g., bifactor, correlated factors model) on the basis of model-based reliability indices recommended by Rodriguez et al (2016b;see Conway et al, 2019;Gomez et al, 2019;Watts et al, 2019). These recent developments in the literature have highlighted diverging levels of interpretability and factor reliability among structural models of psychopathology (e.g., occasionally weak or negative specific factor loadings in a bifactor model that are at odds with the interpretation of the corresponding factor in a correlated factor model, and greater reliability for correlated factors compared to specific factors from a bifactor model; Eid et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2019;Watts et al, 2019).…”

High-Ability Influencers?

“…However, this might not be true, especially if gifted students suffer from emotional, behavioral or social problems and disrupt the classroom. Evidence that psychological disorders such as ADHD negatively impact the academic performance, increase the tendency to underachieve and impair executive functioning of gifted individuals as much as nongifted individuals is well-documented (Antshel et al, 2008;Brown, Reichel, and Quinlan, 2009;Gomez et al, 2019;Mahone et al, 2002). 21 It is therefore important to distinguish between gifted children who, by their disruptive behavior, are less likely to be seen as exemplary students by their peers, and gifted students who are more likely to foster productivity and generate positive externalities in the classroom.…”

High-Ability Influencers? The Heterogeneous Effects of Gifted Classmates

“…However, this might not be true, especially if gifted students suffer from emotional, behavioral or social problems and disrupt the classroom. Evidence that psychological disorders such as ADHD negatively impact the academic performance, increase the tendency to underachieve and impair executive functioning of gifted individuals as much as non-gifted individuals is well-documented (Antshel et al, 2008(Antshel et al, , 2007Brown, Reichel, and Quinlan, 2009;Gomez et al, 2019;Mahone et al, 2002). 18 It is therefore important to distinguish between gifted children who, by their disruptive behavior, are less likely to be seen as exemplary students by their peers, and gifted students who are more likely to foster productivity and generate positive externalities in the classroom.…”