Hi Verona, I am so glad you got a diagnosis that makes more sense to you! Your son is my DD's "IQ Doppelganger" so it seems encouraging that they got similar diagnosis-es.
I agree with starting immediately so you can get feedback from teachers that are used to dealing with him. We are still in the trial phase and it's tough making DD get up early to take her meds when she has no other reason to be up. I think the borderline ODD makes her resent what she perceives as me trying to control her schedule, but she can be reasoned with and she is making an effort to be more compliant.
I also agree that you will notice some changes at home right away - especially like staying on topic in conversation which in our case is no small thing! It is actually pleasurable to have conversations with my DD now. In my case, I immediately saw a less depressed demeanor and DD found she could immediately write essays, songs, poems etc with ease. And she was thrilled to report that her ability to play the Sims improved drastically (for what that's worth!!!).
We are struggling to know if this dosage is as good as it gets or if more would be better since we have no structured benchmarks like school performance to measure improvement against.
We are also still trying to work through major sleep issues, it is hard for me to be task master and remind her to take melatonin at night as I go to bed first and she likes having the quiet house to herself at night so she isn't really too motivated to work on that. Maybe if your DS has summer activities lined up like swim lessons or sports or whatever, it may be easier.
Good luck!
