Gifted with focus and attention issues.
My gifted child is in 4th grade. She was selected for the honors program at school, covering the 4th grade material at a more advanced level, but not the advanced program where they skip to the 5th grade material. She finds the classes in her current placement "too easy." Her test scores and grades qualify her for the more advanced program, but the teachers held her back due to "issues with focus and attention." The problems they describe are common among the brightest kids in our family, but we don't know if there's a medical term. It's like the opposite of ADD -- extreme focus on the task at hand to the point of being unaware her surroundings, such as not noticing that her name has been called or that the class has moved on to something else. She occasionally gets caught up in some piece of her schoolwork and loses track of time, like a penmanship exercize or a creative writing assignment. When this happens, she produces exceptional work but fails to complete the rest of her schoolwork on time, having to work through lunch or snack break to catch up. She's often the last kid to realize it's time to pack up and get in line simply because she has tuned out the world around her as she focuses on her work. While acknowledging that she is an excellent student (straight A's), her teachers feel she might be overwhelmed if they challenge her and want to wait until she develops better focus and time management skills. Personally, I feel that my daughter is managing her quirks well, and that they are never going to resolve completely. She has no missed or late assignments, and the quality of her work is excellent. I don't believe holding her back academically is likely to help anything.
Is there a name for this problem? Is it common among gifted children? Are there any resources I can show her teachers to convince them not to underestimate her potential on account of her quirks? Is there some way to help her focus less intensely?