ADHD and the Gift of Hidden Strengths

Shane Warren
Dec 9, 2025
3 min read

Why recognising your child’s brilliance might just be the best tool for their mental health (and yours)

As parents and carers, it’s all too easy to see the struggles. The restlessness at the dinner table. The homework battles. The endless negotiations to get shoes on feet and thoughts out of heads. And when a diagnosis like ADHD enters the conversation, the focus often zooms in on what’s “wrong” or “missing.”

But what if we told you that underneath all that movement and noise lives a brain that holds a very different kind of magic?

A recent study published in Psychological Medicine (Hargitai et al., 2025) invites us to shift our lens. It suggests that for both adults and children with ADHD, recognising personal strengths, and using them, can be directly linked to better mental health, greater well-being, and improved quality of life.

Let that sink in for a moment: focusing on what your child does well may actually support their emotional resilience.

Reframing ADHD: Strengths, Not Just Struggles

The research involved 400 adults, half with ADHD, and the results were quietly powerful. People with ADHD consistently rated themselves higher in a range of strengths, including:

Creativity and imagination
Spontaneity and humour
Intuition and visual thinking
Ability to hyperfocus
Seeing opportunities others might miss
Having broad interests and being "up for anything"

Sound familiar? These are the same qualities many of us observe in our children, but rarely name as strengths. We’re so used to hearing the words “impulsive,” “distracted,” and “disorganised” that we forget there’s a flip side: spontaneous, intuitive, energetic, imaginative.

As one of the researchers, Luca Hargitai, put it: “It can be really empowering to recognise that while ADHD is associated with various difficulties, it also has several positive aspects.”

This is a powerful message not just for our kids, but for ourselves as their grown-up guides.

Confidence Begins with Self-Understanding

Interestingly, both ADHD and neurotypical participants who were able to identify their personal strengths were less likely to experience anxiety, depression, or high stress. That means the simple act of knowing “what I’m good at” can offer a buffer against emotional overwhelm.

But here’s the parenting gold: those with ADHD were just as likely to identify and use their strengths in daily life when given the space and encouragement to do so.

That means our role as parents and carers is not to “fix” or “contain” but to recognise, reflect, and nurture. To say:

“You’re brilliant at thinking outside the box.”
“You really notice things other people miss.”
“I love how curious and full of ideas you are.”

Small statements. Big impact.

What This Means at Home and in School

For a long time, we’ve seen strengths-based approaches used in autism support; helping children recognise patterns, think logically, or stick to helpful routines. ADHD, on the other hand, has been slower to get this reframing. But that’s changing, and we, as parents and carers, can be part of that shift.

If your child is struggling to focus, try integrating movement or music. If they’re always jumping from one idea to another, try building that into project work. And when the system says, “slow down,” maybe lean in and explore why your child moves the way they do.

Remember sometimes, the very things that seem disruptive on the surface are the exact things that make them who they are.

A Final Thought

As Dr Martine Hoogman, one of the study’s co-authors, reminds us: “It’s important to educate people with ADHD not just about challenges, but also about their potential strengths.”

Here at The Poppet Centre, we couldn’t agree more. Whether you’re parenting a child with ADHD, supporting a neurodivergent teen, or just trying to understand what’s going on behind those beautiful busy eyes this message is for you: