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    Joined: Jan 2013
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    Polarbear…we did rule out vision since that previous post. Testing was pretty consistent with small ups and downs, but nothing of statistical significance. No visuo-motor integration testing, but some executive functioning was done (as best it can for a 6year old) and came out within normal limits with no remarkable findings. Stealth dyslexia is not ruled out yet, but I had a friend who is a psychologist and does a lot of testing give me an off the record opinion and she said for him, if its there it will likely not show up until at least 5th grade. She was actually one of the people who suggested the ADHD diagnosis. I do not think we have solved the underachievement problem, but we are continuing to work on it. I suspect from everyone I have spoken to, at some point over the next few years he will either magically figure it all out, or he will end up with a 2e diagnosis. I am ok (ish) with the waiting at this point because I feel like I have exhausted all thought processes and we are doing everything we can to support and help him through this process. That said, I have found it interesting the number of people who have suggested getting him the ADHD diagnosis recently which is why I posted this thread.

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    So if he can't focus on his work because he's too busy in his own dreamworld why don't you think he has ADHD? How clear is your understanding of what ADHD actually is? The inability to control his attention and choose what he focuses on is pretty integral to ADHD.

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    Originally Posted by MumOfThree
    So if he can't focus on his work because he's too busy in his own dreamworld why don't you think he has ADHD? How clear is your understanding of what ADHD actually is? The inability to control his attention and choose what he focuses on is pretty integral to ADHD.

    I'm wondering this as well. Some kids have a "space cadet" version of ADHD that is just inattentive, and they look totally different than the hyper or impulsive ones.

    DS's neuropsych just did computerized testing on him today to check for ADHD. It is an incredibly boring test where the kid has to click on things when needed in a timely fashion and not click when they are not supposed to. So it measures how long they can focus, how quick their reaction time is, and how impulsive they are. So it gives an idea of the type of ADHD. Luckily DS did well on this test, but I think if DD had had it she would have bombed it. I liked that it gives more objective data than observations or inventories. DS's wiggly behavior screamed out ADHD to the neuropsych but it turned out he did well on all the testing. But the opposite can happen where a child "looks" ok, but they really aren't.

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    Perhaps people are suggesting because they feel he is actually ADHD at least mildly?

    Last edited by Irena; 11/07/13 06:04 AM.
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    mykids Offline OP
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    For a number of reasons he has been tested by two psychologist (one regular and one specializing in gifted) who both strongly believed that he did not have ADHD and cautioned me that it would be very easy for him to get misdiagnosed with an ADHD. Fast forward to now where I still do not believe he has ADHD (and the behavioral issues have decreased dramatically). The people that have been suggesting the diagnosis have been suggesting it to help him get pull out services and "work the system" not because they think he has ADHD.

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    Personally, I am pretty direct and perhaps the below will offend you and others here but either way I think that the bull needs to be grabbed by the horns here:-

    I can, to a certain extent, sympathise with your motivation but I think that it will do a disservice to those that genuinely have ADHD if you game the system like this.

    I was sorely tempted to do something similar for my DD when I discovered that she has zero backing from the govt because she has the IQ and achievement but no LD and having an LD on her 'chart' would have been the 'open sesame' for her.

    In the end, I decided that ethically it isn't something that we can do and not feel dirty inside as it would mean resources that are already stretched would be stretched further by our 'faking it'.

    Like others have said here, I would try to find out what the real issue is. Is it merely an intrinsic motivation issue, an audio processing issue ( I know all about those ) or something else?

    Maybe it is 'boring' for your kid at school but the sooner your kid learns that he is measured in life by achievements ( things have BEEN done) instead what potentially may have been achieved the better, IMO.

    YMMV


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    Having a child with learning disabilities is really hard. It affects every aspect of your life and it is exhausting. Stealing from those children is reprehensible. If you have people in your life who suggest dishonesty to promote thievery, you might want to seriously question their judgement and trustworthiness in other matters as well. Lying is not a skill I want to model for my child nor is the sense of entitlement that says if I can get something I want it's okay to do anything to get it including lying or taking resources from others. I hope you have better judgement than those who are advising you...and I actually think that you indicated you do. I think you are asking the question because your conscience is telling you that it would be wrong to pursue a fake diagnosis. Do what you know is right, take the sage advice here to address the REAL problems, and enjoy a REAL solution and a clear conscience.

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    Originally Posted by madeinuk
    ... I can, to a certain extent, sympathise with your motivation but I think that it will do a disservice to those that genuinely have ADHD if you game the system like this...
    Agreed. We may be moving from a system which declares "All children are gifted" to "All children have a disability". In each case, it is a matter of degree, and while all have relative strengths and weaknesses, for many these may not exceed the range of normal. This may evoke the philosopher's maxim, "Know Thyself".

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    Originally Posted by mykids
    For a number of reasons he has been tested by two psychologist (one regular and one specializing in gifted) who both strongly believed that he did not have ADHD and cautioned me that it would be very easy for him to get misdiagnosed with an ADHD. Fast forward to now where I still do not believe he has ADHD (and the behavioral issues have decreased dramatically). The people that have been suggesting the diagnosis have been suggesting it to help him get pull out services and "work the system" not because they think he has ADHD.

    Wow. That is really quite shocking. Who are the "people ...suggesting the diagnosis ...to help him get pull out services and work the system?" Are these professionals? School staff? I would be tempted to report them. Seriously. That is really disturbing unless they really, legitimately feel that the psychs are indeed missing true/mild/stealth ADD or an LD. I had a weird sort-of similar situation with a pre-school teacher. I had approached her to fill evals (a check list thing, I think it was a BASC) for my DS (DS was in pre-k and had just turned 5 at the time). At the time, he had just been diagnosed with hypotonia and fine motor delay privately and was getting an eval done through the school district in order to get OT/PT services through the Intermediate Unit. Teacher and I had discussed the hypotonia and my son's alarmingly delayed fine motor skills beforehand. She filled out the form and put it in a sealed envelope, gave it back to me for me to give to the IU (I suppose she thought I would not open the envelope and look at the form; but, it is my child and I wanted, and felt I had a right to, see it). I looked at the form. It was full of reports of alarming problematic behaviors that I had never notice in my son and she had never told me she was seeing at school (seriously, things like 'has potty accidents,' which I assume I would have been told of b/c he'd a change of clothes!). I contacted teacher and director of school immediately to find out what the heck was up and listed all of the alarming things she reported and requesting further information about them and asked why I had I not been told stuff like this was happening? Teacher admitted, in writing/email, that she had "lied and exaggerated on the form in order to get my son services" (not sure what type of "services" she had in mind but her lies and exaggerations went far beyond the scope of fine motor skills). The director stuck up for the teacher saying "she often exaggerates on these type of forms" b/c she is "just trying to get kids help." I, however, was very alarmed by her behavior. I reported the incident to the IU and the teacher's reports were disregarded ( And I showed them the written (email) confession). Anyway, teacher was dismissed from her job at the end of the school year by the director. I was not the only one who had had problems with her (and quite honestly she was terrible with the children).

    Last edited by Irena; 11/07/13 08:56 AM.
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    Originally Posted by madeinuk
    I discovered that she has zero backing from the govt because she has the IQ and achievement but no LD and having an LD on her 'chart' would have been the 'open sesame' for her.
    What does this mean? What would "having an LD on her chart" "open" up for her? Accomodations that she really doesn't need but would give her an edge or something? I am really confused as to what a perfectly 'normal' gifted child would really get by 'pretending to have an LD'? Seriously. My child (and I) struggles everyday with the various stigmas and untrue assumptions, etc because he has an iep and a diagnosed disability and I am really confused by how much a truly perfectly fine child would get from being labled LD? It basically gets you looked at in not a very flattering way pretty much all of the time, by everyone (parents, teachers, teacher's assistants, other students) And it certainly doesn't open the door to gifted services! The most a child would get is pulled out of regular class for remdial services that I am at a lose of how such services would help someone who has no issues other than to bore the heck out of them?

    Last edited by Irena; 11/07/13 09:20 AM.
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