My 6 year old son is in first grade. He is underachieving and disengaged from school. However, at home (and in class) he reads constantly and displays all of the GT traits. We had him assessed and his testing is very scattered. ON the DAS II he was gifted verbally at 134 but average on the other domains. On the WIAT III his scores were higher- 140 total reading, 140 reading comp, 144 basic reading, total math 136, etc.
His school testing is equally scattered on tests like the SRI, DRA, QRI, etc.
He has a diagnosis of ADHD - mild, inattentive type.
We have tried 2 meds - XR Adderall and Metadate. The adderall was ok - tolerated fine, mild improvement. The Metadate was awful.
Bottom line - he functions fine at school and in life without medication. But there is NO question he can focus better and perform better at school on medication. He was not on medication for the neuropsych testing cited above.
So, the question is - is it worth to put him on medication to improve the quality of his education? He wants to be on the medication but I am reluctant. I am confused. It feels wrong to medicate him to improve performance but on the other hand, he has the confirmed diagnosis, maybe he needs it to get more out of school?
Or conversely, does he need a better school environment (faster pace) to keep him engaged? Am I fooling myself to think a faster pace will "cure" his ADHD? We are looking at a school change that has a higher level curriculum.
Sorry for the long post. I am pretty lost
