Sorry! These are the traits of Gifted/Creative kids!

Traits of Gifted/Creative Kids (From the National Foundation for the Gifted and Creative)

  1. High sensitivity
  2. Excessive amounts of energy.
  3. Bores easily and may appear to have a short attention span.
  4. Requires emotionally stable and secure adults around him/her.
  5. Will resist authority if it not democratically oriented.
  6. Have preferred ways of learning; particularly in reading and mathematics.
  7. May become easily frustrated because of his/her big ideas and not having the resources or people to assist him/her in carrying these tasks to fruition.
  8. Learns from an exploratory level and resists rote memory and just being a listener.
  9. Cannot sit still unless absorbed in something of his/her own interest.
  10. Very compassionate and has many fears such as death and loss of loved ones.
  11. If they experience failure early, may give up and develop permanent learning blocks.

According to conventional wisdom, the traits of attention deficit disorder (ADD and ADHD) are an error of nature. But was Thomas Edison the world's most famous inventor in spite of his hyperactivity, inattention and impulsiveness or because of it?

Many people diagnosed as ADD are "gifted."    The definition of giftedness is somewhat arbitrary, and there are probably many kids out there who are not quite gifted but still smarter than most of their peers.   "Bright" kids may display the same behavioral traits as gifted kids, which are strikingly similar to ADD traits.

There are various definitions of giftedness out there, but in general a person is considered gifted by meeting one of the following characteristics:


1. An IQ of 130 or over.


2. Aptitude or achievement in a particular subject, such as math (generally being in the 97th percentile).


3. Creative and productive thinking.  ADDers are more likely to be gifted in this area than others.  Characteristics include openness to experience, setting personal standards for evaluation, ability to play with ideas, willingness to take risks, preference for complexity, tolerance for ambiguity, positive self-image, and the ability to become submerged in a task.  Students may be identified through tests like the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking or through demonstrated creative performance.


4. Leadership ability. 


5. Visual and performing arts.   ADDers may be over-represented in this category.


6. Psychomotor ability (seldom used).


The link between ADD traits and IQ might be explained by the presence of Over-Excitabilities (OEs). Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration suggested that people with OEs have a higher level of potential development than others. Later research verified that OEs are related to intelligence. Over-excitabilities include physical, imaginational, and cognitive excitabilities, all of which would lead someone down the path to an ADD diagnosis.

Many proponents of the Gifted will say that a child with an IQ of 130 is not ADD, rather, they are Gifted.  However, the DSM IV diagnostic criteria for ADD do not exclude people who meet the criteria due to giftedness, and gifted ADDers can experience the same problems as non-gifted ADDers.  For example, they are often underachievers and have social difficulties. 

From: http://borntoexplore.org/addexp~1.htm

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