I've been lurking for a while but this post actually made me sign up so I could respond. I typed up a response that hasn't showed up yet but my last one liner did so I'll try this again.
I'll post more later (assuming my first post doesn't show up in the meantime) but I'll start by saying that a huge majority of your post could have been written by me about my just turned 7 year old DS. Two months into grade 1 his main teacher told us we should test for ADHD-Inattentive. Observing him in class I can see how she might have thought that was the problem. He refused to do most work, didn't listen, would flat out disobey her, space out and act completely clueless about what he was supposed to be doing (especially writing). He was a disaster to watch especially knowing how smart he was and how he could concentrate on things at home that were of interest, it was like two different kids. His other teacher (science, art, gym) didn't have a problem and thought he might be bright/gifted and bored. We went through with testing and it was very eye opening. He is gifted/LD (processing speed was 9th %tile). It is a fun combination.
I will say that the teacher that didn't have problems was VERY good at differentiating which I believe helped. It also helped that she had some of the more "fun" classes (he's a science fanatic). We requested more advanced math from the main teacher but were refused because he wasn't finishing any of the work in class. To be totally honest I can't blame him - I volunteered once a week and it was painful to sit through things being repeated over and over and over again. It was a LONG very frustrating year. We have 3 weeks until school starts and I'm already stressed out. Hopefully we'll get a better match and I won't have to battle him every morning (at this point loving school is such a far off fantasy unfortunately).
Good luck!
