School grades ?

[pladaros]

Hello, it is necessary for someone who has adhd to have bad grades at school?

I mean, if he takes good degrees but struggle for them many many hours, more than everyone else, that means he doesnt have adhd? for example, learning by heart one page of history can take 3 or 4 hours, because of  daydreaming , but he pushes himself and somehow learn it  because he has to satisfy his parents.

In other words, all kids with adhd have bad grades?

 

 

 

 

 

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[blackdog]

The answer to that question is a resounding NO!

Many kids with ADHD do just fine in school. Some even excel, graduating at the top of their class.

Where the difference really shows is in HOW they get those grades. Struggling for many hours, taking longer than the others to learn something is very common for people with ADHD. We often have to work twice as hard just to keep up.

Procrastinating and finishing assignments at the very last minute is also common. I was famous for it and still do things that way every day.

If you suspect ADHD in the child you are talking about you should see about getting some tests done.  Struggling that hard to learn is an indication that something is wrong, and it’s no fun to have to spend 3 or 4 hours just trying to get through one page.

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[bigchi]

I just started using this app on my phone that has helped some. It is called “Chimer”. I have it chime every 15 minutes. It reminds me to get back to what I’m doing. I’ve only used it a couple of days, so we’ll see how it goes.

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[pladaros]

–Hi again ,thanks a lot for answering you’re being very helpful, sorry i didnt mention it but the kid i was referring to is me in the past.Im about 27 years old now.Im just recalling memories.

I m very sure i have it, ive read everything i google-found about it and watched interviews of other people that have it and everything seems to fit perfect.However i recently visited a psychiatrist,who among a few other questions,  he asked me about my school grades and from that he decided i that dont have ADHD  because “by definition ADHD kids have low grades”, as he said.He seemed to me from the way he said that ,that he hadnt  have an in person experience  with people ,or at least adults ,that have ADHD, but only theoritical knowledge.  I actually visited two different psychologists, both seemed to have the same idea about grades.

Very few other things besides my grades were asked about my past,not daydreaming or constant movement  when i was a kid, nothing similar was asked and almost none of the the so many questions ive found on  adhd quizes.Like the one question about my school grades was the critical one to determine if i have it or not.Thats why i posted this question here and why your answer was so helpfull

I also have this question: I read that its quite common for someone to have adhd and due to all the effects in life, especially in the case of a late diagnosis, to later start having what they call bipolar disorder. So my question is, if someone is hyperkinetic by nature and also later have bipolar, do you think that  somehow the last one could “double” or “cover” some similar symptoms like the hyperkinetic, the concentration problem etc and make the adhd diagnosis it a bit more challenging?

–Thanks for the Chimer app idea but i think it will drive me crazy after a while, plus if the alarm hits a few times at the moment that you happen to be concentrated, which it will ,i think it will soon become  disastrous …. 🙂

–And one more: Im from Greece, and in a few days or weeks ill probably have the opportunity to visit new york to see some relatives. Do you happen to know some, free if possible, adhd center there to also get an opinion from them?

 

 

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[pladaros]

now that i see it posted i realize its too big, sorry if im tiring you too much

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[blackdog]

Oh, I hate those psychiatrists. I saw one of them a few months ago myself. He said  I can’t have ADD because I graduated from high school.

But then I went to one who specializes in ADHD and he asked the same question. My mom was there and she told him I always got good grades.  I cringed a little thinking here it comes…..But then he turned to me and said: “How did you get those grades?”

And that is the important question.

There are a lot of other disorders that are common in adults with ADHD. I don’t know if there is a higher rate of bipolar disorder in particular. Personally, I have major depressive disorder and general anxiety disorder. Or at least I think i do. Now that I am being treated for ADHD it might turn out that I don’t.  Doctors often mistake adult ADHD for something else.

But to answer you question, yes, there would be some overlap of symptoms. But just being hyperkinetic is not the same thing as being manic. If you have ever had a manic episode, you would know it.

I’m in Canada so I can’t answer your question about New York services. But as a general rule, nothing is free in the US.

No need to worry about how much you say. We all do it. As long as you break it into paragraphs it’s not too hard to read. 🙂

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[blackdog]

@bigchi That’s a great tip. What kind of app is it? What phones does it work with?

I usually just use an ordinary kitchen timer when I want to time myself. Sometimes I set the timer on my iPad. But then I have to reset it every 10 or 15 minutes. The chimera app would be good for when I want to do it for long periods of time.

@pladaros I can see your point about the chime interrupting you when you want to concentrate. But you could try setting a timer for a longer period- maybe 30 minutes- just as a little jolt to make sure you are staying on task. A lot of people do 30 minutes of work followed by a 10 minute break, then another 30 minutes of work. It can help to improve your focus if you take that little break to relax and give your brain a rest.

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[pladaros]

Oh so the chimer app is to remind you to take breaks.Yes that is a great tip indeed ,i thought it was to keep you from daydreaming while you re doing something, which seems to be torturous…

If its ok to ask whats your age ,are you younger or older than me? Because i was researching that stuff (depressive disorder ,etc) some time ago for myself, not too much time and i want to compare.

And also if its ok to ask, how’s your treatment going? You feel better? You have less thoughts?Same amount of thoughts but not depressing ones?

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[shutterbug55]

My answer to the question is “Depends”.

If the information is presented to me in the right way, I have a near eidetic memory. If that information is not presented the right way, I have near zero memory.

The moral to the story, is I have found which combinations of lecture, notes, and course work are needed to give me a 4.0. And that was when I was un-medicated. I am planning to “retire” soon and get a PhD and teach a class or two at the local Community College.

 

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[blackdog]

@shutterbug55 That is a very good point. If you want to teach me something, you have to get my attention first. One of the managers at my last job drove me crazy because she would just show me something really fast once and then walk out the door and I’d be left scratching my head trying to remember what it was I was supposed to do. And she would tell me things when I was busy doing something else and it would go in one ear and out the other. I always try to explain to people that they have to make sure I’m paying attention and go over things with me to be sure I got it but they don’t listen.

 

@pladaros I am older than you. I was first diagnosed at about 30 years of age but it wasn’t a really definite diagnosis ans I was never really treated for ADHD. At that time there was still a lot of debate about whether it was real or not and it wasn’t really considered to be an official disability.

I recently met someone else who has ADHD and we became friends. It was through talking to her that I started to learn more about it and started to suspect that I really do have it. Then I found Totally ADD and as soon as I started reading the comments here there was no doubt.

I have had a few episodes of major depression and still have some days when I’m not too good. So the depression diagnosis was also correct. It’s the anxiety disorder I believe I may not have. I think the anxiety is caused by the ADHD becuse I am always so disorganized and rushing around trying to get things done and getting frustrated because I can’t.

It is too soon to tell if the medication is working. Today is only day 3 and I am on the lowest dosage right now.  I am finding it a little easier to remember what I need to do and I feel a little more calm and focused. But today I have been a little hyper and had trouble staying on task. I still feel good though and when I do set out to do something I get it done quickly. I just have to learn how to stick with it. Which is why I am going to stop typing now and go put my Christmas lights up before it gets dark. 🙂

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[allan wallace]

Very interesting! I’m not sure about the correlation between shitty school results and ADHD, but what would I know, eh? I’m a high school dropout distinguished and defined by a CV that would make a retard blush…currently unemployed, but as I’m now beginning to mature at the age of 47 I’m beginning to figure out what I’d like to be when I grow up: Unemployed! *smirk*

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[blackdog]

“I’m beginning to figure out what I’d like to be when I grow up: Unemployed!”

LOL me too! Its my favourite occupation. 🙂

The only problem is it doesn’t pay very well.

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[lsdcat]

I was told also that it was doubtful that I had ADHD because I excelled in reading, and read obsessively, something, they said, that people with ADHD, did not do.  I also did reasonably well with spelling.  The fact that I failed every other subject was completely ignored.  I can’t add 2+2 without a calculator. I know that Bangkok is not on the American continent, but just where it is I can’t tell you.  Don’t really care where it is at the moment.  In the third grade when we were being introduced to the school library, I was banned from using the library, because I did nothing else but read. Even when I was recently tested with results showing that I had almost every ADHD symptom, the psychologist who did the testing expressed doubt because I read and enjoyed it.

In high school, I did well in those subjects that captured my attention, and interested me.  Unfortunately, I was banned from taking those classes because my grades were poor.  Why educators think taking that tactic is helpful in one raising their overall grades, I don’t know.

When I was in grade school, no one had ever heard of ADHD  (I guess nobody had made it up yet), and I was labeled naughty, show off, attention seeking, lazy and my medication was the strap. I was the only girl to be strapped with the boys. The girls were rapped on the knuckles with a ruler. Sorry, my point is that I do not have the documented history required for the ADHD diagnosis, so the reluctantly gave me the dx of ADHD, NOS (Not Otherwise Specified).  Huh?

Well, sorry, I’ve forgotten my overall point here, and yes, I’m on medication, darn it.  It’s occurred to me that  ADHD thinking is like those free association tests and the association is related, but probably not relevant.

 

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[sdwa]

Definitely not.

I was always good at reading and writing. Still am.

I also got A’s in school most of the time.

But it took me an entire day once to memorize a single unfamiliar phrase.

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[blackdog]

It’s unbelievable how misinformed people, and especially doctors, are on this subject.

I also read almost obsessively as a child, albeit slowly, and never the books I was supposed to read for school. At one time I had a little gym bag just for the books I was reading, because I liked to read more than one at a time, switching back and forth between them, and would carry up to 8 of them with me. I did most of my reading at night before I went to sleep, or when I couldn’t sleep. Reading tires me out so it helps to settle me down at night.

Now that I’m older I find reading tires me even more. I often can’t get through more than 2 or 3 pages before I start to nod off.  Like right now.

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[Author]

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