When you're told "You're Such a SMART Kid, but such a BAD Student" (ft. Twice Exceptional)

How To ADHD you've hit the nail on the head again. Best thing I ever did for my ADHD was admitting that I needed accommodations in college and going to talk to the folks at UT who told me what I already knew, I was taking too many classes and trying to take them too early in the morning. They pointed out that otherwise in the rest of my classes I was doing very well. For someone who works better when distractions are minimized, late night study sessions are a wonderful tool, but don't pair well with 8am classes. They gave me not only the permission I thought I needed to change those things, but encouraged me to see that I should trust myself and feel good about doing what I already knew was the logical course of action. Hearing that it was okay and smart to actually adapt things to work with how I worked best and who I am and not try to be someone else was revolutionary to me and took me from struggling to keep up to doing great. They showed me I didn't need to fix myself, I wasn't broken, I just needed to shift my expectations to being myself and not someone else. That's a struggle not easy to actually accomplish still today but it's really helpful to have those people along your path that remind you that you are actually worthwhile just as you are. They also offered to call and tell my parents they were wrong and I was right, which led my parents to back off and stop requiring me to do things their way. My parents said they'd happily do whatever just so long as they didn't have to take that call. Hah.

Abigail Joffrain

This one hits very close to home...as someone that grew up in the 70's on military bases I was never properly diagnosed. Instead I was constantly tested by a ton of different people, only to be told each time and repeated by parents "your smart enough, we know because of the tests, why don't you want to do well or why don't you just apply yourself."

Mike Gulley

Too close to home on this one. :) I'm newly diagnosed, through my son's diagnosis during Pandemic. So, you nailed my schooling perfectly.. Now I'm trying to figure out how to fix it for my son, but I really don't know how. but I'm doing my best.

Badger

I did the same thing with my backpack! I turned in so many papers that were crumpled and almost torn because I often didn't put them in my binder. 😅 - Harley

How to ADHD

I've not been diagnosed but have my suspicions, and gosh, this hit way too close to home. Not only the "very smart, but lazy" - I had that since primary school, always commended for how smart I was, while always being reprimanded for how lazy I was at the same time. But what really hit a nerve was the "Smart is everything I have." bit. I teared up a bit. I was adrift for a while back throughout middle and high school, and even somewhat at uni, and it boiled down to exactly that: I had no further plans, no great goals, but I just knew: I have to make it to uni, have to study, because smart is everything I have going for me. In a way, it still is.

Thomas 'Kranodor' Hahn

Glad it can help <3 - Harley

How to ADHD

I was just diagnosed with ADHD and 2e yesterday, oddly enough. A lot of this rang true.

Siena Costanzo

THIS

Molly Skyfire

You've been describing my life since I found your channel but this was such a YES! moment because you articulated precisely the double issue I had and I will use this to support my students by educating my colleagues. Thank you!

Edward Pickering-Symes

Parents: "You're not even trying!" Me: "They're not even trying to make it interesting, so how can I? Why should I?" Narrator's voice: "He actually was trying really really hard."

Yup --- that was me, too, except my school provided support for college applications, pretty much as as part of the curriculum.

"You're Such a SMART Kid, but such a BAD Student" -- Just reading the title brought tears to my eyes. In grade school and high school I was told to "apply myself better" so many times... I wanted to make everyone (teachers/parents/coaches) happy (and get them off my case) and I couldn't. I was called "daydreamer" and "lazy" and "unprepared". You know those classic "standing at the chalk board with no clue" moments? That was me in math class when I hadn't done the home work. Other classes were slightly easier if the teacher was asking questions I would figure out an answer in class and raise my hand, then try to be invisible the rest of the time. College: tried three times in order to answer the "Why aren't you in college?" questions. Dropped out three times.

Matthew Snow

Smart kid, good student - but only by sheer force of will.

Slam Duncan

Okay to quote me. Kevin from Kansas. I was often unprepared for class. And I kept everything in my backpack for all classes, and not organized in folders. I also hated taking notes, because the act of writing them was too distracting. I had an excellent visual and aural memory, and I loved learning, so I retained information better by closely paying attention without a notebook in front of me. And I never did any homework I found boring unless it was absolutely necessary, and I always procrastinated that.

Kevin EarthSoul

This hit so close to home. Somehow you always have the right topic at the right time <3

Patrick C.

Now that you say that, while I’ve never been told that. That is what I do. How could we do this better, work out a way and then log do it 😂.

Laura MacAlpine

“Adrian’s such a smart kid, but he’s more interested in finding new ways to solve the problem than actually solving it”. A result of me finding the original task simple and boring. Luckily in junior high I got to take some advanced classes and did a lot better at school. The irony of passing a basic class only because the teachers know I understand the subject and then acing an advanced one a year later…

Adrian Grøndahl