High IQ Is No Help for Those With ADHD
From: Yale University – Health & Medicine
New Haven, Conn. — Superior intelligence is no defense against the effects of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, Yale researchers have found.
About three of four ADHD individuals with an IQ of more than 120 – a score that ranks them in the top nine percent of the U.S. population – showed significant impairments in memory and cognitive tests when compared to people with similar IQ’s who do not suffer from the disorder, according to the researchers.
The report, to be published in the September print edition of the Journal of Attention Disorders, is now available online: http://jad.sagepub.com/pap.dtl
Sometimes I heard (especially at work), “You can’t do this? But I thought you were smart.” It was awful in school to get bad grades because I just couldn’t focus long enough to be productive. The world was a fog partly due to defending myself from too much input. Occasionally I would experience moments of clarity. I remember them clearly.
So a mix of inattention and a lack of willingness to ask for help lead to general slowness at learning. So when I was called a slow learner by someone, I tended to agree with it. The ADHD and autism are meshed together tightly, as well.
Here is a picture of kittens:
Saying that high IQ is no help is a generalization. What the study included was very limited. As a person with severe ADD and a high IQ, I can agree with it as far as it goes. My short term memory is very poor and I have a number of cognitive disabilities. But my intelligence has helped me analyze these problems and figure out ways to work around them. That’s something that a person with an average IQ might not be able to do. I have also identified my strengths, including what I call contextual memory. My mental processing is slow, but it constructs contexts that allow me to make connections that most people can’t make. We have to remember that memory and cognition take many forms, and tests that take only a few of them into account may give the impression that people are more disabled than they really are. High IQ does help–if you know how to use it.
Thank you for posting this information! It makes sense and explains a lot of things for me. Rather than being discouraging, I gain encouragement from learning this and don’t dislike myself as much as I once did.
I also love the look your blog has! It’s design is colorful, but yet using those which are not uneasy on the eyes. Plus, the larger font makes reading what you’ve got here pleasant.
Hello Catana – I think I understand what you mean by contextual memory. I have noticed that as I become more self-aware, this type of memory is easier to use and I can be quick in making connections. So I think that the study may apply more to people who have yet to learn how to use their IQ to their advantage, as you have said.
Hello Sheila – Thank you for your comment. I am very glad you like yourself more now.
And I am flattered that you like my blog. I did alter the font size to make it bigger so it is nice to know it is appreciated.
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