ADHD Misdiagnosis

KUTV, a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, recently ran a story on their Parent-to-Parent segment of their news program about the misdiagnosis of gifted children. Many of us involved with gifted children have been pointing out that gifted children are often misdiagnosed with ADHD because the behavior of a bored, gifted child is quite similar to the behavior of an child with ADHD. It was gratifying to see that a journalist found the story worth exploring and a television station found it worth airing. If only this problem got this kind of attention all across the country! Perhaps we'd see fewer gifted children drugged rather than challenged.

Watch the segment, read up on gifted kids and ADHD, and take a poll to let us know if you've ever been told your child has ADHD:

• ADHD Mistakenly Applied To Gifted Kids (KUTV news story)
• Guidelines for Diagnosing ADHD
• Before referring a gifted child for ADD/ADHD evaluation
  (This article provides a checklist to help parents and others distinguish ADHD from gifted behaviors.
• Poll: Have you ever been told your child has ADHD?