I'm extremely wary of an ADHD diagnosis. Partly because having worked in the school system, I have seen how with certain teachers, that serves as a "red flag" that this will be a problem child. Also, because while I do believe there are plenty of people who genuinely have ADHD, it is seriously overdiagnosed - for any kid who has never learned to sit still, or even kids who are acting age-appropriately. So I'm hesitant to have any testing done on DS9. However, here is the problem. He gets distracted by the tiniest things. He absolutely can not do his homework if the kitchen table is cluttered (and since I'm not much of a housekeeper, that's pretty frequent). If you get him the right book, he can sit and read for hours. But if he is told to read a passage or a book, he loses interest and by the time he's done, can't even tell you what it was about. He recently did AIG testing, and his scores were surprisingly low. (This is not just "proud mommy" talking, his teacher and the AIG teacher both said they didn't think his scores were accurate. However, after the testing, he rattled off about twenty different flags that were on the wall of the room where he was tested. That makes me think he was staring at the flags instead of focusing on his work. His grades are good (mostly A's with a B here and there) but his teacher and I agree that he could be doing better. He doesn't get into a lot of trouble at school, but he squirms a lot. (Even in preschool, his teacher said he used to pace around the room while he was reading).
So I'm thinking it COULD be ADHD, but it could also be just normal boredom. Or just acting like a 9 year old. And if I do decide to have him tested, how do I go about doing it? Is that something the school will do? His doctor? Would it be better to go to someone OUTSIDE of school, so I can decide whether or not it's something that should go on his record at school? (I'm also worried about treatment, if he does have ADHD. I don't want to automatically shove drugs down his throat without exploring all options, and I have seen so many teachers who strongly urge parents to do just that, just to make their jobs easier.)
Everyone agrees that he is a smart kid - but if he is getting good grades, even if I think they could be better, should I just leave well enough alone? If not, how do I approach it?
