He spends so much time in school and on homework already, we're not interested in adding to that if it's not really needed
This is such a catch-22 situation, and from personal experience, I'd want to err on the side of caution. You suspect there might be an issue but aren't sure. Your ds is already spending a lot of time on schoolwork and you don't want to add more. The gotcha is, if he does have some kind of a challenge, you'll eventually appreciate knowing sooner (as in now), rather than later. Time spent trying to learn without appropriate accommodations or understanding can turn into a large time sink, and can also impact a child emotionally. It's not at all easy to tease out when your child is 6 and just starting in school. So if it was me, I'd go forward with psychoeducational testing before I continued with tutoring. Please note, I'm saying that as a person speaking from total hindsight - my ds has a split in PRI/VIQ/FSIQ vs processing speed similar to your child's split - and that split impacts his ability to fully access his education in a very dramatic way. We didn't find out about his challenge until the end of 2nd grade when he hit the places in school where he just couldn't keep up anymore with an unrecognized disability. You may have your child go through testing and find that there isn't any kind of challenge, and that's not something to think is a waste of time - that will be good info to know. OTOH, on the slight chance that perhaps your child does have a challenge of some kind, you'll be glad you did the testing and understand what's going on.
polarbear
