Gifted Problems

Preach.

Tapping my toe

Bouncing my knee 

Bouncing both my knees

Playing drums with my fingers

Twiddling my thumbs

Chewing on my pen

Chewing

Playing with a paper clip

Playing with a moldable eraser

Playing with putty

Playing with clay

Clicking a binder clip

Clicking my pen

Tapping my pen

Tapping my finger

‘sketching’

doodling

coloring in every other box of graph paper

coloring in letters on handouts

Writing in colored pencils

Writing in colored pens

Changing writing from cursive to print and back

Changing writing color mid paragraph

Not writing on lined paper

Not writing between the lines of paper

Writing REALLY BIG

Writing multiple lines of words in one line of the paper

Writing on lined paper like this

“Decorating” the margins

“Decorating’ the Header

Writing in code

Writing in Crayon

Writing in Sharpie

Snapping a rubber band

erasing the marks on the desk

Playing with a ball of foil from lunch

Sneaking bites of quiet snacks

Tying my shoes in the middle of lecture

Sitting sideways in my chair

Looking at other kids

Looking at the clock

Looking at the giraffe hidden in the potted plant

Looking out the window

Looking at the wrong board

Not looking at the teacher

Looking at the teacher too much

Staring at the board

Not looking at the board at all

Not paying attention

Not looking like I’m paying attention

Knocking a water bottle over

My shirt being ‘too bright’

My shoes being ‘too bright’

My socks being ‘too bright’

Having a balloon

Accidentally numbering my entire test wrong

Numbering half my test wrong

Not being in class because I was ill

Being in class not feeling well

Missing class for sports

Missing sports for class

Making faces

Giggling at my own doodles

Drawing on my notebooks

Drawing on my folder

Drawing on my shoes

Drawing on my handouts

Misspelling the instructors name

Misspelling the class’s name

Having to go potty in the middle of class

Telling a classmate they reminded me of eeyore 

Asking the teacher to explain a biblical reference because I’m not religious

Being terrible at history

Not asking questions

Not knowing the answer

Coming dressed up as the grim reaper on halloween

Having a ‘bubble wand’

Not using my locker

Not wanting to take the PSATs

Not taking the PSAT seriously

Falling asleep during the PSAT

Taking the SATs early

Not taking the SATs seriously enough 

Falling asleep during the SATs 

Doodling during Drivers ED

Fidgeting

Cooing at the CPR baby test dummy

Having a large stuffed cat in my locker

Not telling my counselor I got into a top school with scholarship

Not dressing ‘nicely enough’ to sit in a class

Drawing on my calculator case

Typing messages into my calculator

Having a Disturbed band T

Texting on my phone after classes were over

Giving a friend a piggy back ride down the hall

Talking to my friend in code

Plugging my ears during when a fire alarm went off

Never heard of (insert celebrity here)

Mixing Juices for sports practice in the hallway

And I’m stuck in a class where, most days, every single other person is talking. Some days, only 20/22 people are talking.

This class is an independent thing- you go through lessons and teach them to yourself. Alone. There is no reason whatsoever that you’d need to talk. However, everyone does. And they do it loudly.

Even with my meds it is incredibly difficult to focus. My teacher knows I’ve got severe ADHD. My teacher asks me if I’m alright all the time.

But I cannot bring myself to ask her to keep the room a tad bit quieter, because as an intellectually gifted person, my whole life I have been shamed and occasionally punished for struggling or needing help.

The end result is me blaming myself both for being unable to focus and being unable to do anything about it.