We live everyday with the judgement from teachers and family members as described by blackcat. And the fears of exactly what you are talking about HK. But honestly forget sitting at a desk for 30 mins, I consider the following to be reasonable expectations for a 7 yr old:
Parent "Child,"
Child looks up and makes eye contact
Parent "Go get dressed, I suggest jeans and a long sleeve tshirt"
Child either negotiates preferred clothing or says "Sure"
Child comes back dressed after no more than 5-10 mins
Parent "Great work, let's go..."
My 7 year old is not capable of dressing herself without medication. How is she supposed to grow into a well adjusted and functional adult, let alone one that fulfills her HG+ potential, when she's unable to follow basic one step instructions, succeed and enjoy her success and the positive interactions with other people that result from success?
And I also look at my DH and his family (the source of this particular issue in our family tree) and their "all things natural and therapeutic" approach to their complete executive dysfunction has not produced adults who don't need medication either. OMG. How does one assess whether a child grows into adulthood needing meds because they had those meds as a child or whether they were always going to need life long treatment? Oddly the women in my DHs family are an order of magnitude worse than the men, I wish my DH would actually take the medication that was prescribed only after he turned 40. But that pales in comparison to how much I wish his mother would acknowledge that she and all her sisters have a very real issue....
And then there's the bipolar in the family.... Is my 7 yr old more at risk for developing bipolar if we DO medicate her and she continues to succeed and thrive (because the medication messes with her brain)? Or if we do not medicate and she spends her life failing to succeed in the most basic tasks, feeling angry, anxious and frustrated and on the receiving end of constant adult frustration and social failure (she's not easy to be around off medication)? She's VERY like the close family member with severe bipolar....
I'm not a scientist, just a frightened parent and honestly I have no freaking idea. I can't even get her dressed off medication, I can't see how homeschooling would work of meds (she actually does better at school where, at least for now, she can copy all the other kids and the expectations are so low that she can still pass). But we hate medicating her, especially my DH.
