Attention Deficit Disorder Misdiagnose

Hunters, Explorers and Dreamers... Different Ways to View Your ADD Traits

Attention Deficit Disorder is ultimately a descriptive label that focuses on a narrow set of negative traits. Over the last few years, a growing number of experts,as well as parents who discover they would have been labeled ADD if they were a child in the 1990's, have identified a string of positive qualities associated with the label. When the positive traits are focused on, an image of an alternative of type of learner, thinker and doer emerges.

To combat the negative ADD label, several people have come up with alternative models like "Hunter" and "Explorer," which are described below.

• Hunters
• Explorers
• Spatial/Visual Thinker (or "Right-Brained")
• Creative
• Gifted

Hunters
The Hunter concept was created and popularized by Thom Hartmann in the 1993 book "ADD - A Different Perception" and the follow-up book "Beyond ADD." In his book, Hartmann theorized that ADDers were essentially left over hunters in a farmer's world. 10,000 years ago, most people would have had Hunter traits. These traits, such as constantly scanning the environment (for prey), the ability fall into a dream-like state for long periods (during down periods) combined with the ability to become suddenly hyperfocused and thrive on danger and excitement (the hunt), helped these people survive. There was no need to remain focused on boring tasks. Until the agricultural revolution, that is, during which the farmer types outcompeted the hunter types, to the near extinction of the Hunters. Agricultural populations wiped out Hunter populations. Farmers needed to plan ahead and to tend their fields with care. They needed a different sort of temperament; more of a worker-bee personality. Hunters would forget to weed, forget to plant. Hartmann cited evidence that hunter-gatherer populations left on the planet appear to have a very high rate of ADD traits while populations which have been long agriculturilized, like China, have low levels of ADD traits. Hartmann's book was very radical for its time, but was well received by many ADDers as well as some experts in the field of ADD.

In the 1990's, the Hunter isn't looking for an actual Caribou to slay. Instead, he or she is hunting in a metaphorical sense. Hunting for excitement. Hunting for the prize: the cure for cancer or the truth in the theory of global warming. Hunting for the mental or physical stimulation to mimic the hunt of our ancestors. Entrepreneurs are a good example. Schools are designed by and for Farmers, and Hunters have a very difficult time since they are genetically designed to Hunt.

Explorers
The Explorer concept is my creation. In this model, a minority of our population has "exploration" genes because it makes our population more fit. Social species require a variety of temperaments within a population, for example, not everyone can have the traits of a leader, nor a follower, because our social structure would fall apart. These are not obsolete relic genes, but continue to be selected for in the modern world, although they may have been far more prevalent in the past, as Hartmann suggests. A parallel in the animal world is the honey bee, where 95% of the population are Worker Bees and 5% are Streaker Bees. The Streaker Bees normally don't do much of anything, but become essential when it's time to find a new nesting site. Both "temperaments" need each other, and both are normal but very different from each other. Diversity is key to the survival of a population.

Explorers are constantly seeking to find something new in either a physical or cerebral sense. Columbus was an Explorer; he was looking for new travel routes. Einstein was exploring physics and looking for answers to unsolvable questions. Edison explored the world of inventions, and Mozart explored new ideas in music. None were satisfied to accept what they were taught; each forged ahead with their own ideas because they were compulsively driven to explore. The drive for independence, enthusiasm, imagination, originality and the need to discover something new goes hand-in-hand with creativity and ADD.

Spatial/Visual Thinkers (or "Right-Brained")
Many ADDers, in turns out, are visual thinkers, as were some of the most important scientists and artists of history. Along with visual thinking are other traits associated with right-brain thinking such as intuitive and holistic thinking styles (bad with details); good puzzles solving abilities; strong visual memories but poor verbal memories; poor handwriting or being generally uncoordinated; relative difficulties with reading, listening or writing (compared with spatial skills); problems with sequential thinking; disorganization; and being highly creative. In extreme cases visual thinkers may be very dyslexic, can't tell left from right, and may have incredible spatial abilities. As children, visual thinkers may have difficulties in school, although smart, moderately visual people may do fine. The book "Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child" is written by a teacher of ADD children who has found methods to help the visual thinker. I took a test in the book and came out a "moderate" visual thinker. The methods and observations described by the author made sense to me (and explains why my reading comprehension is better when I read faster).

In his book "In The Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People With Dyslexia and Other Learning Difficulties, Computer Images and the Ironies of Creativity", Thomas G. West argues that visual thinking is much better at picking up patterns and concepts out of apparent chaos and is in some ways superior to verbal thinking. He profiles people like Einstein, Edison, Faraday and Yeats who had vivid visual modes of thought. This is a great book for anyone who is a visual thinker.

Gifted & Talented
Many people diagnosed as ADD are "gifted." The definition of giftedness is somewhat arbitrary, and there are probably many kids out there who are not quite gifted but still smarter than most of their peers. "Bright" kids may display the same behavioral traits as gifted kids, which are strikingly similar to ADD traits (see below).

Traits of Gifted/Creative Kids (From the National Foundation for the Gifted and Creative)

• A. High sensitivity
• B. Excessive amounts of energy.
• C. Bores easily and may appear to have a short attention span.
• D. Requires emotionally stable and secure adults around him/her.
• E. Will resist authority if it not democratically oriented.
• F. Have preferred ways of learning; particularly in reading and mathematics.
• G. May become easily frustrated because of his/her big ideas and not having the resources or people to assist him/her in carrying these tasks to fruition.
• H. Learns from an exploratory level and resists rote memory and just being a listener.
• I. Cannot sit still unless absorbed in something of his/her own interest.
• J. Very compassionate and has many fears such as death and loss of loved ones.
• K. If they experience failure early, may give up and develop permanent learning blocks.

There are various definitions of giftedness out there, but in general a person is considered gifted by meeting one of the following characteristics:

1. An IQ of 130 or over.
2. Aptitude or achievement in a particular subject, such as math (generally being in the 97th percentile).
3. Creative and productive thinking. ADDers are more likely to be gifted in this area than others. Characteristics include openness to experience, setting personal standards for evaluation, ability to play with ideas, willingness to take risks, preference for complexity, tolerance for ambiguity, positive self-image, and the ability to become submerged in a task. Students may be identified through tests like the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking or through demonstrated creative performance.
4. Leadership ability.
5. Visual and performing arts. ADDers may be over-represented in this category.
6. Psychomotor ability (seldom used).

The link between ADD traits and IQ might be explained by the presence of Over-Excitabilities (OEs). Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration suggested that people with OEs have a higher level of potential development than others. Later research verified that OEs are related to intelligence. Over-excitabilities include physical, imaginational, and cognitive excitabilities, all of which would lead someone down the path to an ADD diagnosis.

Many proponents of the Gifted will say that a child with an IQ of 130 is not ADD, rather, they are Gifted. However, the DSM IV diagnostic criteria for ADD do not exclude people who meet the criteria due to giftedness, and gifted ADDers can experience the same problems as non-gifted ADDers. For example, they are often underachievers and have social difficulties.

Creative
Creativity (a subcategory of Gifted) has been studied for some time now. Researchers have tried to define the traits of people who are creatively gifted for years. The list of creative traits is amazingly similar to the traits of ADD, and to some extent, Giftedness. At the same time, ADD experts began to see that people diagnosed with ADD often were very creative. Eventually, the two lines of research were compared and Dr. Bonnie Cramond wrote a paper called "The Coincidence of ADHD and Creativity." People who score high in tests of creativity also show more hyperactivity than other children. And children diagnosed with ADHD score higher on tests of creativity. There is obviously a very large overlap between what we call ADD and creativity.

"Creative" or "Creatively Gifted" are labels applied to people who exhibit a high levels of creativity, either through obvious talent (e.g. painting) or by testing. The Torrance Test is often used for testing creativity. Creative people often have high IQs, but not all test in the Gifted range. Interestingly, above IQs of 125, there is no correlation between IQ and creativity when such tests are given. In the book "Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy," the author Robert Jourdain is surprised that famous classical musicians had IQs less than one might think. While famous geniuses like Goethe and John Stuart Mill had estimated IQs of about 200, historic musicians were estimated to have IQs in a relatively lower range. Mozart was the highest at 155, Mendelssohn was 150, Handel 145, Beethoven 135, Bach 125, Haydn 120 and Gluck 110. Note that under this study, Bach, Haydn and Gluck would not have even been considered "Gifted." They were, however, quite obviously creative. Moreover, research on thousands of musicians has shown that IQ is almost irrelevant to musical ability beyond a certain base level.

The ramification is that a child may possess unrealized creative talents which are not picked up by IQ tests. Only tests of creativity might pick up an instinct for creative thinking, and even these tests can fail to pick up a potential Bach or Haydn. Creativity is used in many endeavors, not just art.

The National Foundation for the Gifted and Creative have championed Creative kids for years. The founder, Marie Friedel, says she doesn't believe in ADD. "I absolutely do not accept it... You see, gifted children haven't been taken care of, and the creatively gifted have been neglected even more. And they may not exhibit a high IQ. The Torrance Tests are the ones you have to use, because those discover the child's learning preference."

The Foundation lists several creative traits which present problems for the Gifted/Creative child. I personally identified more with this list than ADD lists.

• Theoretical and abstract (Ignores stressed data in assignments. Hands in sloppy work.)
• Independent, Inventive, Non-Conforming (Resists teacher chosen assignments)
• Sensitive (Withdraws because of strong goal orientation, peer group criticism and rejection)
• Alert, Eager (Resents periods of classroom inactivity)
• Intuitive (Sees conclusions without displaying knowledge of sequential concepts)
• Daydreaming (Inattentive to teacher's or classmate's comments and class discussions)
• Aesthetically oriented (Resists participation of active team sports)