ADHD, IQ, and Giftedness
Summary
TLDRIn this commentary, Russ Barkley explores the relationship between ADHD and intelligence, dispelling myths that individuals with ADHD are more likely to be gifted or highly intelligent. He presents research showing a slight negative correlation between ADHD severity and intelligence levels, with untreated individuals scoring about 7-10 points lower on average. Barkley also addresses the claim that gifted individuals may exhibit more ADHD symptoms due to boredom, finding little evidence to support this. He concludes that while ADHD and giftedness can coexist, they are distinct and do not significantly overlap.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The relationship between ADHD and intelligence has been a topic of discussion for over 30 years, with claims that individuals with ADHD may be more likely to be gifted or have high intelligence levels.
- 📉 There is a negative correlation between the severity of ADHD symptoms and intelligence, with individuals with ADHD scoring on average 7 to 10 points lower on IQ tests compared to the general population.
- 📚 The bell curve of intelligence in the general population shows that most people fall within the average range, but there are also those who are significantly above or below the norm.
- 💡 People with ADHD span the entire range of intelligence, from intellectually disabled to gifted, but on average, untreated individuals with ADHD tend to score slightly below the norm.
- 🤔 One theory suggests that individuals with ADHD may not perform well on IQ tests due to their symptoms interfering with test-taking behavior.
- 💊 Studies have shown that medication can improve test-taking behavior in individuals with ADHD, accounting for some of the IQ score differences.
- 🧠 Another theory is that ADHD may affect executive functioning, which is a significant component of IQ, thus impacting intelligence scores.
- 🔍 Research has also considered the possibility that some individuals with ADHD may have acquired brain injuries that could contribute to lower intelligence levels.
- 🙅♂️ Contrary to some claims, the evidence does not support the idea that people with ADHD are more likely to be gifted or have higher intelligence than others.
- 🎓 A study in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction found that the disorder of ADHD is the same in both gifted and non-gifted individuals with ADHD, but gifted individuals tend to have milder symptoms.
- 🤷♂️ The claim that gifted individuals are more likely to be misdiagnosed with ADHD due to boredom in the classroom lacks substantial evidence and is considered unlikely.
Q & A
What is the main topic of Russ Barkley's commentary?
-The main topic of Russ Barkley's commentary is the relationship between ADHD, intelligence, and giftedness, addressing claims about the likelihood of individuals with ADHD being gifted or having high intelligence levels.
What is the bell curve used to represent in the script?
-The bell curve is used to represent the distribution of intelligence in the general population, with most people falling within the average range and others at either end of the spectrum, being either intellectually gifted or deficient.
What is the correlation between the severity of ADHD symptoms and intelligence level as mentioned in the script?
-The script mentions a negative correlation of about 0.3 between the severity of ADHD symptoms and intelligence level, indicating that individuals with more severe ADHD symptoms tend to score slightly lower on intelligence tests.
How much lower on average are the IQ scores of individuals with untreated ADHD compared to the general population?
-On average, untreated individuals with ADHD score about seven to ten points lower on IQ tests compared to the general population.
What are some reasons suggested in the script for the lower IQ scores observed in individuals with ADHD?
-The script suggests reasons such as difficulties in test-taking due to ADHD symptoms, interference with executive functioning, and the possibility of some individuals with ADHD having acquired brain injuries that could affect intellectual capacity.
What was found in studies comparing gifted individuals with and without ADHD?
-Studies found that gifted individuals with ADHD have ADHD symptoms that are still significant but slightly less severe than those in the general population with ADHD, and that gifted individuals without ADHD are less likely to have ADHD symptoms.
What does the script suggest about the overlap between giftedness and ADHD?
-The script suggests that giftedness and ADHD are distinct and do not overlap significantly. When they do coexist, one is not explaining the other, and the presence of ADHD does not necessarily imply giftedness or vice versa.
What is the claim made in some circles about gifted individuals being more likely to have ADHD due to boredom in the classroom?
-The claim is that gifted individuals, who may be unchallenged and bored in the classroom, are more likely to exhibit ADHD symptoms and thus be diagnosed with ADHD.
What does the script conclude about the validity of the claim that gifted individuals are more likely to have ADHD?
-The script concludes that the claim lacks evidence and is not supported by research. In fact, gifted individuals are found to be less likely to show symptoms of ADHD.
What attributes of gifted individuals were discussed in the script, and how do they relate to ADHD?
-The script discussed attributes such as learning characteristics, creativity, motivational characteristics, and leadership traits of gifted individuals. It concludes that these attributes do not overlap with ADHD and in many cases are opposite to the symptoms of ADHD.
What is the final conclusion of the script regarding the relationship between ADHD and giftedness or high intelligence?
-The final conclusion of the script is that the claims made over the past 30 years about individuals with ADHD being more likely to be gifted or have high intelligence levels are not true. People with ADHD have the same range of intelligence as the general population, with a slightly negative average difference in IQ points.
Outlines
🧠 ADHD and Intelligence: Myths and Realities
Russ Barkley discusses the relationship between ADHD and intelligence, debunking the myth that individuals with ADHD are more likely to be gifted or highly intelligent. He explains that while people with ADHD can range from intellectually disabled to gifted, on average, they score slightly lower on IQ tests. This slight decrease is attributed to the negative correlation between ADHD severity and intelligence level, with untreated individuals typically scoring about 7 to 10 points lower than the norm. Barkley also considers the impact of ADHD on executive functioning and test-taking behavior, which may contribute to the observed differences in IQ scores.
🤔 Giftedness Among Those with ADHD: Misconceptions Addressed
The script addresses the misconception that gifted individuals are more likely to have ADHD due to boredom in the classroom. Barkley refutes this claim by citing research that shows no significant evidence supporting it. Studies have found that gifted individuals with ADHD have milder symptoms compared to those with ADHD who are not gifted. The narrative emphasizes that giftedness and ADHD are distinct and do not overlap significantly, and while they can coexist, the presence of one does not explain the other.
📚 Attributes of Gifted Individuals vs. ADHD: A Clear Distinction
This paragraph delves into the attributes of gifted individuals and contrasts them with the symptoms of ADHD, highlighting that they are not the same and often oppose each other. Barkley cites an article from the journal Apex that examines the characteristics of gifted individuals, such as self-motivation, persistence, and the ability to work independently, which are not symptoms of ADHD and in some cases are the opposite. The paragraph concludes that while people with ADHD can be gifted, the attributes of giftedness are distinct from those of ADHD, and the two conditions can coexist without one causing the other.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ADHD
💡Intelligence
💡Giftedness
💡Bell Curve
💡IQ
💡Correlation
💡Executive Functioning
💡Misdiagnosis
💡Brain Injury
💡Acquired ADHD
💡Self-Motivation
Highlights
Russ Barkley discusses the relationship between ADHD and intelligence, specifically addressing the claim that individuals with ADHD may be more likely to be gifted.
There is a negative correlation between the severity of ADHD and level of intelligence, with an average IQ difference of 7-10 points lower in untreated individuals with ADHD compared to the general population.
People with ADHD span the entire range of intelligence, from intellectually disabled to gifted, but on average, untreated individuals with ADHD have a slightly lower IQ.
The possibility that ADHD symptoms interfere with test-taking behavior, potentially contributing to the observed lower IQ scores.
ADHD may have a direct effect on IQ due to its adverse impact on executive functioning, which is a significant component of IQ tests.
Some individuals with ADHD may have acquired brain injuries that could explain some of the lower intelligence levels observed.
Contrary to a claim made over 30 years ago, people with ADHD are not more likely to be gifted or have higher levels of intelligence.
A study in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction compared children with ADHD who are gifted to those who are not, finding that ADHD symptoms are milder in gifted individuals.
Gifted individuals with ADHD are found to have less severe symptoms compared to those with ADHD who are not gifted.
Giftedness and ADHD are distinct and do not overlap significantly; when they coexist, one does not explain the other.
The claim that gifted children are more likely to be misdiagnosed with ADHD due to boredom in the classroom is not supported by evidence.
An article in the journal Apex finds that gifted individuals are less likely to show symptoms of ADHD.
Attributes of gifted individuals, such as high self-motivation and independence, are often the opposite of what is observed in ADHD.
The one attribute of gifted individuals that overlaps with ADHD is the tendency to be easily bored with routine tasks.
Barkley concludes that the claims made over the past 30 years about the intelligence and giftedness of individuals with ADHD are not true; they are just like the typical population.
Individuals with ADHD can be gifted, and gifted people can have ADHD, but these conditions do not inherently correlate.
Transcripts
hi everyone Russ Barkley here and in
today's commentary I want to speak with
you about the relationship of ADHD to
intelligence in general and specifically
to giftedness claims have been made
going back some 30 or more years now
that people with ADHD particularly
adults may be more likely to be gifted
than other individuals or certainly of
high levels of intelligence we've also
heard the reverse claim the possibility
that gifted individuals may be more
likely to have ADHD and manifested in
the classroom primarily because they're
bored I'm going to look at both sides of
that argument but let's begin with this
Association of ADHD with intelligence
and I'm going to use this particular
friend of ours the old bell curve and
here we see the bell curve of
intelligence in the general population
and most people place here within the
average range but we also have
individuals who are way up here about
two standard deviations above the norm
the norm being about an IQ of a hundred
plus or minus 15 and this being IQs of
about 130 or higher depending on how you
want to Define giftedness and then of
course there's a group of individuals
who place at the lower end of the bell
curve and we would consider these
individuals to be intellectually
deficient and what used to be called
mental retardation but obviously that ID
diagnosis is based on other things
besides IQ but the point is here's our
range of intelligence in the population
what do we see in research on ADHD first
we see that there is a negative
correlation between severity of ADHD and
level of intelligence correlation is
about 0.3 means that the 2 two traits
share about nine percent variation and
the higher your ADHD symptoms are you're
going to be slightly below the norm
average about seven to ten points lower
than individuals in the typical
population so it's a very small
difference people with ADHD span the
whole range of intelligence from
intellectually disabled all the way up
to gifted but on average as a group
untreated individuals with ADHD Place
slightly lower than the typical
population they would have a bell curve
and its peak would be somewhere right
about here in other words the two curves
would overlap substantially
that's my point people with ADHD span
the entire range of typical
people but their Peak IQ would be
somewhere right around it here again
about seven to ten points lower than
average that's been found in hundreds of
studies meta-analyzes of measures of
intelligence and executive functioning
and so on so it's a fact in the bag it's
not disputable
on the other hand why does that occur
one possibility is that people with ADHD
don't take IQ tests very well their
symptoms interfere with test taking
makes perfect sense there have been
studies that have looked at that and
they've put some individuals with ADHD
on medication and other individuals not
they've also tested people on and off
their medication and what they find is
that yes test taking Behavior does
account for a few points in this seven
to ten point difference
so correct test taking could be part of
the problem in other words there's not
as much of a difference between ADHD and
typical people other than in test taking
the second possibility is that ADHD
interferes with executive functioning
we've talked about that in many of my
lectures here
about 40 percent of your IQ is executive
functioning roughly we can see that
because some of the subtests on IQ tests
are things like working memory among
other executive functions so it's
possible that there is a direct effect
of ADHD on IQ because of its adverse
effect on the executive function so that
could explain a few percentage points
here and Studies have been done that
have controlled for executive
functioning and looked at these IQ
differences and indeed
some of the IQ difference is related to
Executive functioning deficits but not
all of it
so there's a few percentage points left
that is not explained by test taking or
by executive functioning it's possible
that those few points lower an IQ are
the result of some people with ADHD have
acquired their ADHD it's resulted in
brain injury and that brain injury would
explain some of the lower intellect in
those individuals upwards of about 25 to
35 percent of people with ADHD acquired
it they didn't inherit it it's not
genetic it's the result of injuries to
the brain either prenatally during brain
development or in early childhood such
as traumatic brain injury or later in
adulthood for a variety of causes so
that might explain some of the residual
differences again people with ADHD span
the same range of intelligence as people
without ADHD but overall on average
there's slightly lower levels of
intelligence for various reasons what
does that mean
are people with ADHD therefore more
likely than typical people to be gifted
absolutely not if anything all of this
evidence suggests the opposite there's a
slightly lower percentage
of giftedness among those with ADHD it's
probably very small you'd have to have
huge studies samples that is to find it
but the point is all this evidence gives
the lie to the claim that was started
more than 30 years ago that people with
ADHD are more likely to be gifted or of
higher levels of intelligence
than other individuals they're not
they're just like the rest of us they
span the entire range of intelligence so
there you have it people with ADHD are
not more likely to be gifted now let's
move on to a couple of papers here that
I want to talk about
let's take a look at our people who have
ADHD and are gifted
different from other people who are
gifted or different from people with
ADHD who aren't gifted this is a study
of children there are several like this
I'm just going to illustrate this one
that's in the international Journal of
mental health and addiction and they
compared children at all three of those
groups typical but gifted
ADHD and gifted and just ADHD average
not gifted what did they find what they
found is that the disorder of ADHD is
the same
in the gifted and non-gifted ADHD group
but the gifted individuals had slightly
less severe symptoms still met the
criteria but milder symptoms and we've
seen this as I said in other studies so
if anything what we see is that gifted
individuals are slightly less likely to
have ADHD and if they do have ADHD it's
somewhat less severe than the typical
population but the differences are
pretty minor if we compare gifted people
with ADHD to gifted people without ADHD
we of course see that the gifted with
ADHD have massive symptoms of ADHD after
all they met the diagnostic criteria for
it
but what does all of this mean in these
comparisons it means that giftedness and
ADHD are two distinct things and they
don't overlap very much at all
and when they do overlap you're gifted
and your ADHD you can have both of these
conditions it's not like one is
masquerading as the other it's not as if
the gifted people are more likely to
have ADHD or ADHD people are more likely
to be gifted the two conditions can
coexist and probably do so at about the
same rate in the population maybe a
little bit less likely to be ADHD among
the gifted now let's look at the reverse
claim and that is that kids who are
gifted let me go to the top here are
more likely to be called ADHD and to
have ADHD after all if they're
unchallenged in the classroom and
they're bored the claim is that they're
going to show a lot of ADHD type
symptoms first of all I find this going
to be ridiculous just being bored
doesn't put you in the clinical range of
ADHD or where you've got at least six to
twelve
of the symptoms of ADHD to a significant
clinical degree that just doesn't make
any sense so yeah you might be a little
bored and a little inattentive but I
don't find that particularly compelling
so where did this idea come from
well this article examines the
background for this claim and finds that
there's very little of any evidence for
the idea that gifted people are more
likely to have ADHD
this is in the journal Apex and as you
can see here excuse me it's by Kylie
Edwards but if we go on down here what
we find is that gifted individuals are
less likely to show symptoms of ADHD
which we found in those other research
papers not more likely to have the
symptoms of ADHD and what this article
does is to go through and call pull
together the
comments of experts teachers and others
on what are the attributes of gifted
individuals and are those attributes in
any way overlapping with ADHD and we can
see here multiple attributes in the area
of learning characteristics the gifted
demonstrate a variety
of Behavioral and cognitive attributes
that are different from typical
individuals but if you'll scan down this
list none of these overlap with ADHD in
fact if anything people with ADHD would
be less likely to demonstrate some of
these particular learning attributes
such as independently seeks to discover
why and how things happen and formulates
ideas with evidence and so on I mean
people with ADH are likely to do that
too but that's not part of their ADHD
certainly not a DSM symptom in the area
of creativity if we look down this list
none of these symptoms of giftedness if
we can call them that attributes of
giftedness overlap with ADHD again if
anything they go in the opposite
direction
that's especially true here when we look
at the motivational characteristics of
gifted individuals self-directed High
self-motivation very persistent very
committed reliable and so on and prefer
to work independently these are almost
the Opposites of the complaints we hear
from people with ADHD because of their
self-motivational and executive and
self-regulatory deficits and then
finally down here look at leadership
characteristics and you'll see that none
of these are symptoms of ADHD in any way
and if we go and take a look at that
self-determination set of
characteristics again we see little if
any overlap with symptoms of ADHD often
the opposite except One symptom that
I've highlighted here is easily bored
with routine tasks that's it
so
based on this we can say that the
attributes of gifted people are not the
attributes of ADHD in many cases they're
the opposite of that
we can also conclude that people with
ADHD can be gifted
and gifted people come out ADHD and when
we see the two together both occur
together one isn't explaining the other
and as I've said we've already shown
that people with ADHD span the entire
range of typical population IQ they're
just like us if there's a small
difference it's slightly negative a few
IQ points lower on average
but individuals with ADHD can span the
whole range from intellectually disabled
all the way up to gifted as I've said
before so I think we can say that these
claims that were made over the past 30
years of people with ADHD being highly
intelligent people with ADHD being more
likely to be gifted and also the
opposite gifted people being more likely
to be ADHD are not true
people with ADHD are just like the
typical population in these attributes
so thanks for joining me for this
commentary and I hope you see around
this Channel with other commentaries and
news on recent research
pick here and be well
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