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.
I don't have any idea what the answer for your ds is, but fwiw, I would put weight on your ds' observation that he thinks the medicine helps.
Re functioning fine without the meds - I'm not sure I understand why you say he functions fine at school without, but also say the meds improve his performance at school? Re functioning fine at home, does home include other situations where he needs to be on top of things, group activities like scouts etc? Or is home mostly truly home? I think that it's easy when we're at home with our families to make accommodations without even realizing it - which is ok! The difficult thing is the world isn't going to morph to suit our kids' specific needs... so if a child truly does function better with meds, I'd consider keeping him on then, even if he can function fine at home.
Best wishes,
polarbear
