He's been evaluated for all sorts of learning issues, but has never had an evaluation for ADD. We've always noticed that he is able to focus well on subjects that he enjoys. When he doesn't enjoy it, he doesn't focus. The school has never pushed or even mentioned that this may be part of his issues.
At the same time, I'm not an expert in this area and neither are the teachers. None of us is qualified to determine how much of his focus is within his control.
The teacher called me to say that he's having trouble focusing in class and that we should discuss it. Is this the one piece of the puzzle that has been missing? Does ADD often go hand in hand with learning disabilities? If he is evaluated and it's determined that he does have an attention problem, is medication an option? Will it help him?
My son is an advanced student. He has tested at college level since around 6th grade. However, put him in a boring class and he'll come to close to failing every time.
[This message edited by lieshurt at 10:30 AM, October 10th (Thursday)]
If you want them to quit stabbing you in the back, then you need to quit handing them the knife.
Another problem she had was she was afraid of looking stupid, so she wouldn't ask questions. Now, she's not being removed from class, and she's getting the help she needs without going into a separate classroom. Her report card came out today and she's made straight A's. We had to be pushy with getting her evaluated at first, but since then, she's done really well in school.
It is not uncommon at all for ADD/ADHD to have a component of LD, or be mistaken for LD. (NOW REMEMBER I'M OLD and a kid of the 70's).
In KG my teacher hated me because I was spaz, and couldn't sit still, talked too, much, did goofy things for no apparent reason, and she pegged me as dumb. (She was like 100 years old, and had been burned out for at least 50 of those years, not a pleasant lady).
1st grade rolls around, and by the middle of the 3rd week my teacher has me figured out. She was young, and had only been teaching for a year. She saw me chew a marker until it exploded, and got green ink all over my face, mouth, and hands. she saw me writing my letters backwards when they were mirrors of other letters bd pq etc. She called my parents, said I think little miss tush has ADD, and I was sent for real testing. Now back then only child psychiatrists did the evals, and he didn't even have to give me the full exam. He pegged me as ADD, and slightly dyslexic. He was awesome. They put me on Ritalin, and littl miss tush did much better all around.
Now the interesting thing was his philosophy wasn't to keep you on meds forever, just until you mature enough to learn coping stratagies, and methods to function, so I was off meds by middle school. When he signed off on me, he made a cassette tape for me to play when I was done with college or married. My mom gave it to me, then, I listened to it, and it was like the dude could see into the future. He really had me pegged, that I would struggle through school, and get average to slightly above average grades, and would excel at verbal things, that I would choose a carreer helping others, and not sit at a desk, that I would only have a handful of friends but those friends would be friends through thick and thin, and that my tolerance for bullshit would be very low. He nailed it.
I digressed a bit, but my point is without help kids with ADD/ADHD can really struggle, and with help and medication they can excel, and do well in life. Without can be very frustrated, and hate school, and tend to self medicate with drugs or alcohol.
Dr. PJ4
