Treating ADD increase IQ? | ADHD Information
I don't have the patience for an IQ test.
And no one ever told me what mine was.
I just guessed.
I'll be 280, today, thank you!
How do you find out what your IQ was?
I don't know what my IQ is either. I don't think the meds make us smarter... I just went through a day of neuropshchological testing, on medication, and several days later repeated some of the tests without being medicated. There was "no change in speed or accuracy" in the few tests I repeated, however, I "showed significant problems on a sustained attention task" that I didn't have problems with when on medication. So, for me at least, the meds don't improve my thinking, just my attention! For the shorter tests, I have no problem staying focused, with our without medication. But the sustained attention stuff is a real challenge--no way I can "hyper focus" on a droning computer voice saying "1" or "2" and click the mouse when I'm supposed to for fifteen minutes!
well, i do it on www.iqtest.dk, which is designed by mensa denmark. and several other iq tests showed similiar results.ok
122 while eating, watching tv, & flirting with my gf
It's my understanding that IQ is your potential for learning, not your level of intelligence. I don't believe meds increase your IQ. I do however believe that meds metaphoracley (SP) "clear the fog from your brain." This in turn allows you to be a more effective learner. ( is that a word?) I would say meds can effect the outcome of IQ testing. I know I would score differently on and off of them.
World, I believe your IQ can vary a few points over time but test results can also vary from simply reading the question wrong or answering different than you intended (which us ADDers are known for). I also believe that the tests were designed for the results to not vary through age.
This is not something that I have researched myself but my sister did in college, so if I'm wrong I'll just blame her.
A 140 IQ isn't anything to be concerned about. Hell you can get elected president with a 90 IQ.
why does that even matter. I talked with autism center they do no iq testing at all. It's all in how you teach something in my opinion. I have seen low iq people learn a lot. With people like us the less words the better. Look at the made easy stuff it's the same stuff taught at school but with less wording. Our son makes A's when stuff is taught that way. This center also said if the test is given more than once the scores are invalid. This would be true with Daniel then. The online IQ tests are inflated and not accurate.
Topic: Treating ADD increase IQ?
Hey, let's treat our IQ, and see if it raises our ADD!
You misunderstood me. Actually my son and I have high IQ scores. Coincidentally my husband,my son and I have the exact IQ score number in total. But we have different strenghts and weaknesses.(son and I are both ADHD) I felt like I am bragging, so i didn't mention it. He just said our IQ's would be even higher without ADD.That's all. Mathematics are my weakness.
worldisround39073.5877199074That's interesting to hear a Dr say the opposite of what so many others have said about the ADD mind having a higher IQ. I can certainly understand our ability to focus b etter on the things we'd be bored of easily, but there is that ability that we have to think outside of the box that generally raises IQ levels. Since most IQ tests are more of the outside of the box thinking, and less on your math and other skills. At least my test was. I did have Comprehension, and some Math problems to solve in my head, not allowed to write them down to figure them out... but most of it was puzzle and problem solving types of things.
My doc said our IQs would be higher if we didnt have ADD.But I cant necessarily agree with that.That all depends on circumstance and persona. I think you just may be able to retain things better that bore you.
No, PotatoeI can count to Patato!!!!!
I have known of many kids who's IQ scores went up considerably after being on meds for while. I don't think anyone has ever really figured out why but its not uncommon to see a raise in IQ of 10 points.
I personally think that with the more free passage of information between lobes of the brain, its simply easier and faster for them to figure out things that they could have figured out anyway if given enough time or if they had taken the test when they weren't experiencing as much brain fog.
Anything that improoves my ability to focus my attention 'could' indeed have a positive affect on my IQ. I have no idea of my IQ or whether it has raised any since I started taking meds for ADHD, but another area that was affected positively was my depression. I was on Prozac for nearly 7 years and within 6 months of treatment for ADHD I was off prozac and have had no bouts of depression in 5 years. I believe my inability to focus was the reason for my dropping out of high school and the depression that plauged me in my adult life.
That's an interesting question. The Psych did an IQ test on me while testing for ADHD (and other possible disorders around it). I'm still waiting on the results, however I had mentioned that I have taken an online IQ test before and she laughed and said they're worthless. We'll see if I have ADHD and smart, or just dumb and lazy soon!
Oh... ok I guess I did mis understand you.. but then again, that's not out of the ordinary for me sometimes LOL! Math and I get along like water and oil
I should be hearing back from my Therapist around Jan 9th with my Dx. I cant wait to find out what my IQ is.. well.. then again, maybe I don't want to know!
Actually I was afraid my IQ would be quite low. Because I cant do quite a few things that are quite simple for others . I was often called an airhead or scatterbrains. I have trouble with verbal instructions and I found out I have nerve damage in my ears.I need to speak slowly,otherwise I tend to stutter and mumble.This could be an emotional,residual problem that my father caused with his impatience and bad temper. I got smacked and yelled at if I made one mistake the first time. . worldisround39075.3015046296Hey folks,
I just thought of this idea that probably your IQ will be improved if the med. treatment is succesful for ADD, is that true? anyone experienced before/after result? my iq is 140ish, which i am not very satisifed, what if medical treatment could increase another 20 points, that would be really inspiring thing and worth the med. besides everything else!!!
That's what my doc said. I am satisfied with my IQ.
It has changed over time by a few points ,is that normal or is each test somewhat different ?
worldisround39065.4462962963
I think what gives us ADDers the higher IQ is the same thing that makes us have problems. Kind of like we are "out of the box" thinkers but we can't neccesarily think "in the box" very well.
Unless the box is shiny...
We can design the box, build the box, but we couldn't use the damn box day after day.
My I.Q. score is Potato
I also had the need to teach myself even if itwas simple stuff like swimming, driving a stick shift or playing pool.
It seems noone can teach me anything. i have to teach myself or learn it alone out of a book.
When I learned how to play pool ,people would have to leave the room so I could concentrate on the game.
Is this how I learned to wipe my own butt or eat
I dont know,good question.
i dont remember .worldisround39075.7372800926maybe I just have mild brain damage.
I read even very minimal head trauma causes brain damage. And I had alot of head injuries.
me..me... me my favorite subject
worldisround39075.7421643519This is similar to my post "SAT probs" (I am a high school student). I've heard that IQ and ADHD are totally unrelated, you can have ADHD and be a genius (I believe Einstein had ADD
) or you can be learning disabled. Some IQ tests are timed, and that can be a roblem for an ADDer and lower their score. I don't think it's your intelligence that increases, your intelligence is the max you are capable of, you just reach that max better if you can concentrate on what you are doing, process the info in front of you more quickly, and clear the cloudiness in your mind (for us ADDers).
just to add a personal note, I am an A student and I know some other students who don't do as well academically as I do, yet they get much higher scores on SATs, IQ tests, etc. You're intelligence just has a hard time changing from "potential" to "kinetic" when you have ADHD.
this is a topic I always end up thinking about while I'm trying to do my homework.
Hey Glen, you sound like the rich people that try to tell you money is not important !
(why do they say that ?) Just kidding though and I agree . I also think your EQ (emotional quotient) is much more important and can be the key to hippiness I mean happiness.
I think the important question would be "can taking ADHD meds increase intelligence?". IQ is a Quotient - a formula to calculate approximate intelligence skills in a timed test. Nothing more.
Yes it can improve IQ on tests. So can getting a good night's sleep, relaxing, studying, etc. IQ is based on answering questions designed to show the mind's ability to reason in question and puzzle format.
Intelligence can be increased with work. Like a muscle the brain can improve by reading, reasoning and practicing. I think even here that ADHD meds can help as they give us the ability to focus and not wander aimlessly. That has to help with intelligence in my opinion.
People put way too much weight behind IQ tests.
I'm very sorry to hear you lost your hand kidd !I didn't know (how could I ?).
It is hard to believe they did ECT on you. Is that still allowed ?
Yes head injury (even smaller ones) can cause severe personality changes.
How are you eating right ? Just curious.
I injured my head once when I parked my car under a semi truck on the expressway in 1987. I didn't think about it much at first, to busy thinking about the hand I lost. By 1994 I really began to notice effects from the head injury. between 1996 and 2001 I was in and out of mental wards and even consented to let my shrink do the the ECT thing to me [Electro-Convulsive Therapy], bad idea. It not only made me forget I was depressed, it screwed up my short term memory and took large chunks of long term memory as well. I found out later that ECT should not be used in cases where there had been a history of head injury. That coupled with the smorgisboard of drugs he was feeding me left me almost harmless, but eating right and discontinuation of all the drugs except the AdderallXR for the past 5 years has helped my mental state greatly and I'm no longer harmless..hehehe, so WATCH OUT! [QUOTE=Marcmtlca]The online IQ tests are inflated and not accurate.[/QUOTE]
How can anyone accurately measure IQ providing the variety of cultural and subjective factors attached to the test? There are so many different forms of 'intelligence' in my opinion, I just don't see how you can manage to measure it.
I wondered the same thing once I started taking adderall just last year. The question I asked, does taking adderall remove the 'barriers' my brain has and unlock its full potential? I don't think adderall makes me smarter. But I do believe it removes those barriers and thus allows me to realize my potential. In other words, my intelligence is there and always has been, it's just harder for me (add'ers) to tap into it.
Here's a link to a science article on this subject.
The short version is that IQ scores increased in children who were on meds versus those that were not on meds. If you read the abstract the WISC-III is a series of IQ and other tests. I read the full article a while ago and think the main conclsion was that while it did increase IQ, it is impossible to differntiate if this was a real increase of intelligence or simply improved concentration.
My daughter had a spread of 30 points between the visual parts of the IQ test and the parts that were timed and she would not sit and work on (she was all over the room and did not do much on the test). If the doctor had been able to keep her on task (which meds do now), she would have scored more consistantly accross the sub-tests like people are supposed to do. So it is not that the meds make her more intelligent, but they remove the impediments to taking the test (like the analogy of putting on glasses). The observations during the test helped point us toward getting her evaluated for ADHD, when we were originally thinking learning disorder.