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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Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub
Eating seeds as a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, of our city
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder? Disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
More wood for their fires, loud neighbors
Flashlight reveries caught in the headlights of a truck
Eating seeds as a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, of our city
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder? Disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder?
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
When I became the sun
I shone life into the man’s hearts
When I became the sun
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To say things like this are overprescribed is an understatement. Especially when it comes to boys.
Case in point: When I was about four years old (75yo now), my grandmother told me she would give me a dollar if I could sit still for one minute. I never saw that buck. :)
If you have a medical condition in a school the Federal Government pays extra. Surprise , surprise, surprise! Things that were never considered a medical condition start appearing out of nowhere and the money flows in!
If I had been a young child today instead of back in the Sixties, they would have had me on Ritalin so fast it would have made the head swim.
I have all my report cards, and consistently from Kindergarten up to about the 8th or 9th grade, I was disruptive, wouldn’t pay attention in class, spent time drawing and reading non-classroom materials, or just looking out the window.
I think when I got into High School, I just shut up and retreated into a shell, but before then...
I got paddled a few times, and even lit a firecracker in French class in 7th grade and threw it under the seat of the kid in front of me.
Hell, they wouldn’t have given me Ritalin. They would have probably sent me to a special school.
Sit down and study. 😂
Considering that America became inhabited by a bunch of risk takers, I think it’s pretty widespread in our gene pool, and we would be foolish to think of ADHD only according to the negatives, and not the positives. The positives greatly outweigh the negatives. IMHO.
Sigh. I have always thought all this ADHD stuff was just little boys being little boys. Some mothers seem to agree with that and understand it...my mom was one of them, I think.
Not saying there aren’t really extreme kids out there like that, just saying I think there are a lot of ADHD boys who are just...boys.
LOL...we told our son at ages 4-8 or so that we’d pay him a buck on family car trips if he could keep quiet for a minute. We never paid him, either.
We also gave the two older girls and our sons about $5 in quarters at the start of the trip. If they asked “Are we there yet?” or “How much longer” they would have to pay us $0.25. The girls always arrived with all $5 and our son was broke.
I’ve always sort of figured ADD, later ADHD, was heavily pushed by big pharma and cooperating doctors as a drug selling scam.
Another War on manhood and men in general.
ADHD is by and large a scam. It’s all about defrauding the feds. You have ADHD and you can get a check from Social security for being disabled, and these freak shrinks often urge you in that direction. Schools get extra bucks they spend on BS from the feds for “special needs” children, which exist but these kids with “ADHD” get lumped in.
it’s doing what democrats do best, labeling humans and trying to dehumanize them with labels.
(I was once upon a time diagnosed with the damn thing at like 8 years old, FWIW.)
There is no one type of intelligence. There are many types, and to declare one “normative” and another “deficient” is rigid and lazy thinking. I’m ADHD. I prefer the term “neurodivergent”, but even that’s a loaded word. “Divergent” from what? What’s the baseline? All I really know is My way of looking at and dealing with the world is different from most peoples. Some of it isn’t so good. Some of it gives me an advantage that other people don’t have.
CC
If you have a medical condition in a school the Federal Government pays extra. Surprise , surprise, surprise! Things that were never considered a medical condition start appearing out of nowhere and the money flows in!
———————————————————————
BINGO!!!
Schools push chemical lobotomy because it gets them more $$. Doctors prescribe ADHD drugs for kids because it gets them more $$$. Remove the $$$$$ from this equation and 90% of ADHD will disappear.
You can talk about it, but you can’t understand it until you have lived as one who hasn’t beem shown how to recognize and accept it as one’s own born makeup.
btt
Been there, went there, and Navy still took me and sent me to sea. LOL in all seriousness I have a similar disorder called Central Auditory Processing Disorder or disorders. My sensory processing both auditory and optical has been life long. Allergies may have done the damage who knows.
I can only use one eye at a time and have to hear things often repeated to me. I ended up 7th and 8th grade in a rehab school to learn to adapt to it. In 1994 it became disabling. For the years after that I searched for a clinical name and the only one I found was Myoclonic Seizures. Onset was sudden. Certain optical and /or auditory stimulation caused me to spasm violently in my upper torso namely my shoulders and head.
So about 2 years ago I start developing a tremor in my right hand at first was mild then became more prevalent. I was sent to a Neurologist and she put the pieces of the puzzle together and I had guessed right. I have Functional Myoclonus. Then came the other part. I have Parkinson now to go with it. That was actually the reason I was sent to the Neurologist. My primary care doc wanted me checked for Parkinson. Two movement disorders both triggering involuntary movements.
It is a huge scam years of expensive testing meds private tutoring and stressed parents end up costing $100 K’s for just K-12th grade.By college they age out of the meds and do fine getting a Master’s degree in a subject that interests them.
ADHD is an imaginary disorder invented for the benefit of stupid teachers who are unable to keep up with their brightest students. I shudder to think of all the children who should be recognized and encouraged as potential geniuses but instead are medicated into a stupor for the convenience of the public education system.
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