Unlocking Potential: How to Help Your Child with ADHD and Sensory Difficulties Excel

Parenting a child with ADHD and sensory difficulties brings unique challenges—but it’s also a journey filled with surprising strengths, resilience, and potential.

For example many children with ADHD show above average creativity, high energy, and advanced problem-solving skills. Studies even suggest that children with ADHD often have a higher-than-average IQ, with signs of unique intellectual abilities that can shine when they receive the right support and encouragement.

The problem we see is that children with ADHD and Sensory difficulties are more likely to hear negative descriptions about themselves at higher rates than their counterparts. 

They are often told to focus, calm down, sit still, stop being lazy, you’re so forgetful, you never listen etc…

In a recent study researchers have estimated that, by the age of 10, kids with ADHD receive 20,000 more negative messages and critiques than their peers without ADHD. Children with combined ADHD and sensory regulation difficulties can reasonably expect this number to be even higher.

What can parents do???

In this blog, we’ll explore practical ways you can nurture your child’s strengths, build their self-esteem, and help them feel empowered in both academic and social settings.

1. Recognize and Nurture Their Strengths

A key first step is to identify the areas where your child naturally excels. Children with ADHD are often:

• Creative and Imaginative: Many children with ADHD demonstrate creative ways of thinking. They may excel in the arts, storytelling, or creating out-of-the-box solutions to problems.
• Curious and Knowledgeable: They often have intense curiosity about specific subjects and may show an impressive amount of information on topics that interest them.
• Perseverant in Areas of Interest: If something truly captures their attention, children with ADHD can hyper-focus, diving deeply into a subject or activity.

Actionable Step: Observe your child’s interests and provide tools or activities that let them explore these areas. If they love building things, for example, consider projects that challenge their engineering skills.

2. Build Up Their Self-Esteem Through Positive Reinforcement

Children with ADHD and sensory sensitivities often face a lot of criticism, whether from teachers, peers, or even unintentionally from parents. Over time, these negative messages can impact their self-esteem.

Instead, focus on positive reinforcement. Celebrate their unique approach to problems, praise their persistence, and remind them that their differences are strengths, not weaknesses. Research shows that children with high self-esteem are more resilient, perform better in school, and have stronger relationships with others.

Actionable Step: Set small, achievable goals and celebrate each success. Whether it’s completing a task or showing patience, acknowledge their efforts and the unique qualities they bring to each accomplishment.

3. Create a Sensory-Friendly Environment

Children with sensory difficulties often have heightened responses to sights, sounds, textures, and smells, which can affect their ability to focus or feel calm. Simple changes in their environment can make a huge difference.

Actionable Step:

• Quiet Corner: Designate a quiet, calm space in your home with soft lighting, noise-canceling headphones, and comforting textures, where they can relax.
• Breaks and Movement: Allow frequent breaks and encourage activities that involve movement, such as using a sensory swing, weighted blanket, or fidget toys. These can help them regulate sensory input and feel more in control.

4. Encourage Curiosity and Independence

Children with ADHD often show early signs of intellectual abilities, which can sometimes be overlooked due to their high energy or focus issues. Studies suggest that some children with ADHD may have a higher IQ than their peers, with unique ways of processing information. They may question assumptions, make connections others miss, or display an early aptitude for specific academic skills.

Actionable Step: Encourage exploration by providing books, hands-on projects, and games that engage their curiosity. Science kits, building projects, or interactive learning tools can all help them channel their energy productively.

5. Foster a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset—believing that one’s abilities can develop with effort—can be transformative for children with ADHD. Emphasizing effort over inherent ability helps them build resilience, understand the value of hard work, and bounce back from setbacks.

Actionable Step: Celebrate effort rather than results, saying things like, “I can tell you worked so hard on that!” This approach reinforces the idea that their unique strengths can grow over time with practice and patience.

Recognizing Signs of Genius in Children with ADHD

Although every child with ADHD is unique, some signs can indicate high intellectual abilities or “giftedness” in areas that set them apart from their peers. These may include:

• Advanced Vocabulary and Knowledge on Specific Topics: Children with ADHD often have intense interests in specific subjects and may demonstrate impressive recall and understanding in those areas.
• Creative Problem-Solving Skills: Many children with ADHD are excellent at coming up with unconventional solutions, which can be an early sign of creative genius.
• Ability to Hyper-Focus: When truly engaged, children with ADHD may become completely absorbed in their interests, leading to a deep understanding of the topic.

Final Thoughts: Embrace Their Unique Potential

Raising a child with ADHD and sensory differences isn’t without challenges, but it’s also an opportunity to nurture incredible strengths. By focusing on positive reinforcement, building self-esteem, and creating a supportive environment, you can help your child shine.

 Remember, their differences may just be the key to their greatest strengths. Great inventors and thinkers of the past are not without their unique profile and quirks.

Helping them embrace who they are and encouraging their natural curiosity and talents—can go a long way in building confidence, resilience, and ultimately, their future success.

In case you are interested in reading the study further. Here is the name and link below. 

"Cognitive correlates of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents with high intellectual ability" (2021) - Published in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, this study examines children with both high IQ and ADHD, showing that these children often exhibit enhanced cognitive flexibility, which can contribute to creativity and problem-solving skills 

 https://jneurodevdisorders.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s11689-020-9307-8