Examination of the Relationship between Giftedness and ADHD Symptoms during Educational Processes

Abstract

When compared to their peers, gifted children have more advanced skills in terms of intelligence, creativity, and leadership. Those gifted children need to be supported by special programs that will improve their skills. When the relevant literature is analyzed, it is seen that several symptoms of gifted children are also the symptoms of the children who have Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD). Thus, the possibility of occurrence of confusion between these two during the diagnosis is indicated. Still, there are some findings which show that a child who has ADHD can be a gifted child; and yet children having ADHD would not use their talents in an efficient way. For this reason, they need to be supported with special services. From this standpoint, the aim of this study is to determine the gifted students and revealing the relation between mentioned talents and ADHD. In connection with this, during the research on high school students, The Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scale is used for determination of the superior talents; and to determine whether the students have any symptoms of ADHD or not Wender Utah Rating Scale is used. The data collected from the analysis suggested that there is a connection between mathematical intelligence and ADHD symptoms.

Keywords: Gifted Children, ADHD, Education, Mathematical Intelligence, Multiple Intelligence