Illustration by Lumi Liu
Posted on 03/10/2026 8:40:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Isaac’s energy level, enthusiasm, and talkativeness were too much—at least for a traditional classroom.
He had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); one psychologist explained that he had a high IQ but low maturity.
Illustration by Lumi Liu
It wasn’t until Heather Rodden began homeschooling him in fifth grade that she realized what years of frustrated teachers couldn’t put their fingers on—what looked like a liability in one setting can flourish in another.
Like Rodden, other parents, researchers, and professionals are moving away from treating ADHD purely as a disorder that 1 in 10 kids have.
The word “deficit” in ADHD, they argue, obscures strengths—such as creativity, hyperfocus, and cognitive flexibility—that often accompany the condition.
“‘Different wiring’ isn’t automatically bad,” Dr. Daniel G. Amen, a psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics, brain-body clinics that use imaging instead of checklists for mental health issues, told The Epoch Times in an email. “Sometimes it’s simply diversity in how people think and create. ADHD isn’t a character flaw—it’s a brain pattern.”
At the heart of the matter is finding where and how people with ADHD will thrive.
One frustration for people with ADHD is that it’s rarely lack of knowledge that holds them back. It is that their brains don’t consistently concentrate.
Focus requires a coordinated effort between the brain’s frontal control system, which helps you stay organized and resist distractions, the basal ganglia, which regulates motivation by using the reward chemical dopamine, and the cerebellum, which coordinates timing and attention. In ADHD brains, that coordination is inconsistent—not absent—but unreliable under demand.
“That helps explain inconsistent performance,” Amen said. “It’s called a disorder because it can disrupt performance at school, work, and home.”
While most research focuses on the deficits of ADHD, some studies suggest that many who have symptoms also have specific strengths.
Those with ADHD outperformed others in divergent thinking, particularly in fluency (generating many ideas quickly) and flexibility (combining concepts in unexpected ways), according to findings reported in Frontiers in Psychiatry.
A study published in Comprehensive Psychiatry found small to moderate positive correlations among ADHD traits of hyperfocus, sensory processing sensitivity, and cognitive flexibility (the ability to rapidly switch tasks, behaviors, or perspectives).
Hyperfocus is becoming absorbed in a task, sometimes to the point of losing track of time and surroundings—called flow in someone who doesn’t have ADHD, Claire Sira, a neuropsychologist who specializes in coaching adults with ADHD, told The Epoch Times.
Sensory processing sensitivity is typically thought of as a low sensory threshold—being overwhelmed by stimuli such as light, sound, and smell. However, in the study, sensory processing sensitivity was defined differently—a sensory appreciation for aesthetics, nature, or architecture, for example.
Another study of adults with ADHD published in Frontiers in Psychiatry noted that impulsivity and hyperactivity are seen as positive by some people with an ADHD diagnosis.
In an analysis published in BMJ Open, adults with ADHD reported dual benefits in weakness traits. A 30-year-old woman noted that being overly active allows her to do more than her peers in less time: “Then I get to experience more.” Another woman reported that her inattention has led to overhearing “amusing conversations.”
Traits such as impulsivity and hyperactivity can become strengths, rather than liabilities, by focusing on neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to form new neural connections—possibly even after injury and later in life, Amen noted. Meditation, breathing exercises, physical activity, and learning new skills are all associated with improved neuroplasticity.
“Focusing only on deficits misses the point,” he added. “The real goal is to help people build a better brain so they can access their strengths consistently—especially when life demands concentration and follow-through.”
Life’s demands, however, may partially explain the prevalence of ADHD, which some argue may be more of an environmental problem than a brain disorder.
An article published in BJPsych Advances noted that children of generations past were not expected to sit rigidly and concentrate on academics for several hours a day.
“My feeling has been for a long time that we make ADHD into a disease state or abnormality that really runs along a continuum in different directions,” retired pediatric neurologist Dr. Andrew Zimmerman told The Epoch Times.
“And we tend to see it as abnormal because we want to see children sit still in class and do their schoolwork.”
Adjusting schools and workplaces will not only lift the stigma and shame of ADHD but also benefit everyone by making space for the skills and talents those with ADHD bring, according to psychiatrist and researcher Annie Swanepoel. “We need to recognize that variations are the spice of life,” she wrote in an article published in Clinical Neuropsychiatry.
Everyone would likely benefit from school and workplace adjustments aimed at improving focus, Sira said. Yet there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, she added.
For some, working in an open, busy office environment can offer accountability and motivation. For others, the visual distractions and noise can make work too challenging. They may need to work from home or behind an office door, Sira said.
“It would be way better if we could match the environment to the person.”
Zimmerman noted that children suspected of ADHD deserve a thorough evaluation, because in some cases, inattention and hyperactivity have underlying causes such as fetal alcohol syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and premature birth that are not always identified in schools.
However, in most cases, he said, ADHD is overdiagnosed and overtreated, when the real solution could be a different style of schooling altogether.
“If I had a child in that situation nowadays, I would certainly look for [an alternative school] where they could express themselves,” he said. “So much of what is important is relationships—it’s social development, to have kids learn fairness, and how to get along—all maybe more important than calculus.”
In less than two decades, the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses among children increased from 6.1 to 10.2 percent. Today, it’s 11.4 percent of children aged 3 to 17. Adult ADHD diagnoses—though they represent about 1 percent of the population—nearly doubled from 2007 to 2016.
Zimmerman has reviewed studies recently that show overlap of symptoms between clearly defined ADHD patients and typical children. He added that even children with typical brain patterns have shown to have improved focus and less hyperactivity on medication.
Such overlap blurs the line of certainty when it comes to who has ADHD and who doesn’t, he said. “It’s a question of: Are we unfairly treating the kids? Are we penalizing them, in a sense, by making them take medication? It makes the kids look better, but it doesn’t necessarily make them perform better or certainly not feel better.”
One reason for the uptick in ADHD, Sira said, is simply the expansive demands on attention in the modern world, including screen usage, larger classrooms, and physical and emotional distractions that make it harder to stay focused.
The key is to teach the brain to shift into focus mode when needed, Amen said. “The problem comes when the focus-and-follow-through network—especially the prefrontal cortex and its partners—doesn’t reliably come online when it’s needed.”
The brain can be supported with a healthy diet, good sleep, and regular exercise, Sira said. “If you wanted to actively build your ability to regulate your own attention, meditation practices do this because that’s literally what meditation is—learning to recognize when your attention has wandered and bring it back—whatever is happening with sensory awareness and mindful movement.”
For children, martial arts and dance can teach discipline with mindful movement and improve attention. Adults can also grow those skills and should, she said, as neuroplasticity should be a lifelong goal.
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I worked in a boys group home once. I’ve seen up close what some of these drugs they prescribed for boys does to them. All this misery just so they can con more money out of taxpayers.
You sound a lot like my wife. She’s told me stories of actually throwing up on the way to school she was so stressed. She eventually was able to conquer most of her fears and get through pharmacy school, but it was long painful trip. Glad to hear you seem to have worked it out.
Been saying this for years, I was like this. They used to call it hyperactive.
Doctors gave me drugs to calm down and turned me into a zombie. Two weeks of that and my parents took me off the drugs and let me be me.
My parents used to do that with me on road trips and they payed me when I could do it. Took me years to figure out what was going on.
Been saying this for years, I was like this. They used to call it hyperactive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmGxh1FhtxE
Every year of school except for the 12th grade, I sat next to the teacher in at least one class.
Hahahahaha...was that because of your last name, the teacher forced you to, or...you wanted to???
I feel like my entire life I had a sword hanging over my head...except for my four year hitch in the Navy! (There, the sword was always hanging over someone else’s head, I just took the orders and ran with them...:)
Every day is gravy for me...:)
I got out of school...best day of my life.
I got out of college...best day of my life.
I finally retired and got out of stressful work with deadlines and projects...best day of my life!
Like I said-it’s ALL gravy now, FRiend!
After reading through the thread, and seeing many comments regarding how the medical community capitalized on ADHD, it is straightforward to assume that it is an asset. This depends, of course, on whether or not you a part of the medical community.
I wear my Navy ball cap every single day to remind me the debt that I owe to my country, who gave that gift to me by allowing me to serve.
The Navy was real good for me also. I remember about 15 or so years ago I went to VA to get hearing aids. I was put on hearing conservation in 1977 on the ship and thankfully still had the letter. I had to go see a VA Doc before a referal to Audiology clinic. The doctor checked me over real good and looked at my history and had a question "How in the world did you get into the armed forces?" I said I didn't know I couldn't and I was serious. I said the Navy took me 76-80 and the Army NG took me 84-85 on a prior service try it to see if you like it the Guard's had going then. They stuck me in a Howitzer Battery. That got the rest of my hearing LOL.
Holy smokes, you have a very interesting history in light of where you ended up in life. You sound like things worked out well for you, and they must have to get back in the NG.
Hahahaha...then you got into a Howitzer Battery!
Frikking ears! Right now both of mine are singing away at me in unison, each with three different tones! I admit, I am just glad to have anything left there to hear with.
ADD is real. People who actually have it have brains that are wired differently. Those who actually have ADD and take Adderall can become focused with it.
An ADD person who does not take Adderall can become so hyper focused that don’t even want to go against them in any argument or confrontation.
Huh. It makes me wonder if I have ADD. I get hyper-focused to the point of tunnel vision. Now, when you major in Physics and pursue an engineering career this can be an enormous asset, but when it comes to your personal life it’s debilitating.
All I know is that I bet I’m a trip to talk to.
You ask me what the weather is and the next thing you know you’re getting a crazy lecture on Celtic mythology which suddenly derails into Appalachian folklore and/or dialect and somehow relevant discourse on the meaning/techniques of cave art.
For no apparent reason I’ll swerve into telling you about some bug/animal/tree I saw recently and be super excited by that
And there’s probably gonna be a side quest about dogs, too but a lot of it will be sprinkled with song lyrics and obscure movie references because why not.
If your luck runs out, I’ll tell you why blue and yellow doesn’t necessarily make green.
Wooohooo!
( I really should be fitted for a strait jacket, tbh)
😁
Hahahaha...then you got into a Howitzer Battery!
Frikking ears! Right now both of mine are singing away at me in unison, each with three different tones! I admit, I am just glad to have anything left there to hear with.
I ended up medically retired as a maintenance mechanic at age 36. I was working at a 200 bed 5 story nursing home which had a boiler and chiller. I was also the electrician. Plus a 50 acre retirement home complex. I would not have made it 20 years in the Navy especially as a MM.
But The Lord had another path for me to take. Blessed with two loving wives the first one passed at age 24 of a massive heart attack after I had left for work one morning.. My second wife we made it 30 years she went home in 2015. When she went quad the doctors gave her 5 yrs to live tops. It's believed she had a mild case of undetected at the time Polio as a young child and it came back on her at 35. She became a C5/C6 level quadriplegic while we were dating. So the timing of my retirement was a blessing because it allowed me to be home full time with her.
BTW them ears can mean a check. I got 40% VA Disability based on hearing loss that got me 30% and Tinnitus aka ringing and other assorted unending noises got me 10%. I filed on that about 3 years ago after my son in law stayed on me about it. It made a big difference in income I needed. Neurologist told me something else would likely take me before Parkinsons. Probably the ticker with a Right Bundle Branch Block.
The good part if you can call it that to my hearing loss is my seizures are less frequent.
OH BTW I almost got booted out on medical on my 77-78 MED. The medivaced me from Naples with intention of processing me out on a medical as my Inner Ear was pitching a fit. The ENT Doc at ROTA gave me nasal spray and orders back to meet the ship in Naples. The Inner Ear and the portion of the brain which processes it is damaged. That triggers the seizures. I had to figure it out myself. Dern Docs about killed me with antidepressants. I've been on Xanax 4x a day since 1993 but at .5mg a small dose and keep it consistent in my blood stream.
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