A cool guide for Signs of ADHD that were Missed in our Childhood - eviltoast
  • cobysev@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    So smart, but struggles to keep up with homework

    I just stopped doing homework altogether. It stressed me out, so I avoided it completely. Besides, I learned a subject by reading about it in our textbook, or studying it in class. I felt like homework was just busy work, hammering in concepts I had already learned in school.

    I aced all my tests, but lost tons of points for never turning in homework, so I graduated high school with about a C average. It didn’t matter; I got a great IT job in the military, got an excellent pension and full medical/dental benefits for life, and fully retired as of 38 years old. Who needs homework?

    • Today@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Same. By 10th grade I learned to make a deal with my teachers to base my grade solely on my final exam or paper. Most were surprisingly willing to agree to it.

  • PineRune@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    ADHD can also have tie-in with minor symptoms of ASD, which could negate the overly-emotional part. Or at least the outward expression of it.

    • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one
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      5 months ago

      Since you never said what your acronym for ASD is, I’ll just tell everyone that PineRune is referring to Anal Stimulation Disease.

      • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        But…does ADHD = smart? People that like to talk about having ADHD sure seem to think so. I’ve known some attention deficit, super hyper kids that were not at all smart. These people seem to think the diagnosis is a straight shot to MENSA.

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          But…does ADHD = smart?

          Yeah definitely not.

          Bad school success /problems behaving at school is one of the hallmarks of a diagnosis for ADHD. Well, used to be at least, before it came whatever the diagnosis process is today…

          A kid with an attention deficit and a hyperactivity disorder is definitely not a model student nor some misunderstood genius.

        • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          No. That’s the problem with memes that offer a limited set of symptoms with no nuance or context. There’s a lot missing from the infographic, along with ADHD being a spectrum. Not all people have classic symptoms, don’t have all symptoms, and have varying degrees of difficulty.

          ADHD people can also be people that give up on doing much anything and don’t try in school, getting bad grades, because they can’t hold and organize information the way normative people do. They’re not dumb, they just have a really hard time absorbing information in traditional ways taught at schools, along with having a hard time focusing on that info.

          • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Of course. And I don’t mean I knew ADHD people that were dumb because they did bad in school. Maybe it was due to their upbringing (they were all pretty much nepo babies and all went on to work at their dads companies). I mean, in talking to them and knowing them more as friends…they were just not that smart. Some of them were dumb. Some of them were of normal intelligence. Actually, none of the ADHD kids I knew were anything more than of normal intelligence. Attention span problems and hyperactivity do not equate to intelligence.

            Can and does ADHD develop in people who are smart? Of course. But I don’t think, contrary to what internet ADHD communities like to say, that it’s a sign of untapped or unrecognized intelligence. It’s just as likely across the IQ spectrum. It doesn’t bunch up on either the lower nor the higher side. Now, do traditional standardized tests accurately account for people with ADHD? Of course not. Standardized testing is nonsense. “Standardizing” anything in terms of teaching kids is incredibly stupid. It’s there for the government and the schools. ADHD kids will of course struggle, but they’re one of many groups that do. Because that form of testing is inherently flawed. So, yes, people with ADHD are not accurately represented by standardized test scores. But that is true for almost everyone outside of a specific type of learner.

            And maybe if we managed to test everyone, regardless of symptoms, for ADHD, we’d see a more accurate picture. But, from my understanding, it has zero relation to intelligence.

            • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              I don’t know where you’re getting anyone saying ADHD is some “untapped intelligence”. That sounds like some TikTok bullshit “science”. Nobody I know with ADHD thinks this, and everyone I know with ADHD would prefer not to have it.

              • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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                5 months ago

                Lemmy, mostly. And, look at this meme. ADHD=“so smart but bad at homework.” And so many lemmy adhd memes when I browse all definitely seem to imply the same thing. I mean, it makes sense. For people who’ve struggled with tasks, it’s comforting to say things to other people with the same problem that imply, “yeah, we’re smart. We just can’t show it.”

                I’m not saying this is all people. I’m saying this is internet adhd tumblr culture. Where people list their mental disorders under their profile name. It’s the same internet persona self aggrandizement/unique-ifying that’s been prevalent since I was a kid. But it was mostly in middle schoolers struggling for identity. But our culture and self-esteem and youth has deteriorated since then, so that period just seems to continue into 20s/30s.

                It’s not people with adhd that are causing this problem. It’s society, the internet, tech companies encouraging this alternate persona crafting for the sake of their bottom line, late stage capitalism’s deterioration of our mental health and identity for value. We’ve been robbed of our personhood. So people are acting out in weird ways vis the new methods we live increasing amounts of our life through. It’s a widespread, cross-subgroup phenomenon. I’m just saying, it happens in the ADHD online circles too, mainly in this form.

          • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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            5 months ago

            they just have a really hard time absorbing information in traditional ways taught at schools

            Poke virtually any subject that tends to make the rounds in Western society, and I will be able to provide at least a layman’s understanding of it, if not deeper.

            But aside from a really small amount of math, physics, chemistry and history, almost none of that came from formal education. I’m like a Hoover when it comes to random factoids… but only on my own terms. Try to intentionally cram data into me, and it’ll impotently leak out all over the floor.

        • Jank@literature.cafe
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          5 months ago

          It often appears that way in children, but obviously isn’t an actual indicator of intelligence.

          ADD discussions are full of the self diagnosed and people who are in wildly different positions on the ADD scale. Naturally a lot of people look for identity and it’s a thing to latch onto.

          So you were told you were smart constantly as a kid, or you have some ADD features and get the whole “ADD is my super power” people.

          Some with ADD also get that impulsivity issue around other people and make themselves look like bigger jackasses than they generally are.

        • Mkengine@feddit.de
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          5 months ago

          I have ADHD and don’t know if I am smart, I am just really good at the stuff that interests me and struggle really hard with everything else. Fortunately my jobs interests me and I now know how to get into the flow. But other stuff like paper work is still incredibly hard for me. Now that I have it more or less under control I would not want to change, as I love the occasional fixation on new ideas in and outside of work.

          For example on the one hand I did a PhD in my field of interest and it went really smooth, but on the other hand I struggle to brush my teeth every day…

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          5 months ago

          No, it’s just that something like doing well on tests but forgetting to do homework is an indicator. It doesn’t mean people with ADHD are inherently good at tests or anything.

  • Tobberone@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    Childhood? Still fit most of those!

    What would have been the biggest difference had you known back then?

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    Years later, I was finally able to accurately describe jobs I didn’t want to do as a child - such as homework - as grey lumps of goo piled up as a supremely undesirable blob on my desk, while everything else was a technicolour kaleidoscope of distractions.

    At the time, however, I just didn’t have any way to pass on this impression to others, so they could understand.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I like how the always felt like the weird kid has red hair. Thats me as well as the rest.

  • Tantheiel@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Can we talk about that headline

    It took effort to read that damn thing and I had to look at it logically instead of what my eyes were telling me

      • trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Or if you’re not lucky, they learned to mask very well after getting abused for it in their childhood and do the same thing to you!

        Edit: Not sure why I’m getting down voted for talking about my own experience.

  • meseek #2982@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    I remember our dad always making jello for desert. Always. He went on like a jello tirade for like 3 months. I loved it. My sis loved it. We both loved jello. Then one day he brought it out and I couldn’t eat it anymore. Since that day I’ve probably had jello twice voluntarily and still didn’t like it. It’s been 30 years and I still hate jello lol

  • x4740N@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    Some of these can also be ASD symptoms or caused by ASD symptoms

    I feel like I’ve experienced some but not all of these or a variation of it as an autistic person