Nice to "see" you OCJD!
I haven't had time to read the other replies - here are a few thoughts for you -
He tested HG back in 3rd grade. Was dx this past summer and we started him on low dose Concerta then up to the next dose (36 mg) during the first week of school. The neuropsych work up showed a steep drop off in IQ on the WISC-V(which he took unmedicated and tested at around 134). The tester said he was all over the place and just would not keep on task.
When was he tested this latest time - before he started taking Concerta or after he'd been on it for awhile? (sorry I'm easily confused lol!)
He claims he did not know how to study for the Bio tests but claims to understand now (we will see). Spanish he claims he failed b/c it was a pop quiz. He's received some middling Bs on Geometry H tests.
FWIW, figuring out what is going on when kids don't test well can be really challenging! My older dd has had a rough time with testing in high school, even in her strongest subjects. We've wondered for years (she has too) if she doesn't have mild ADHD. She also simply lacks some ef skills that surround test-taking that seem to be intuitive in many other kids. There also seems to be a bit of a long-term memory challenge (possibly) or perhaps she's not really truly "learning" her coursework (this is what a few of her teachers like to theorize - that she thinks she's learned a concept because she does well on her homework, but when she's doing homework the concept is fresh in her head, and she also has the ability to flip back in notes or a textbook to see an example if she's stuck momentarily - but testing takes place far enough removed from the actual lesson that if she hasn't studied/learned a concept to the point that it's somewhat automatic, the knowledge is not there to pull on in the test. We really didn't see any of this before she got to high school and I'm not sure why we didn't unless it's simply due to the increased demand in homework/learning/etc.
He has so much work every night that it seems all he does is homework and study for tests
FWIW, this was my dysgraphic ds' entire high school experience - I'll go into more detail below. It was far from an ideal situation, and if I could have changed anything about high school, I would have lightened his homework load. We were a bit stuck as he chose his high school program and really loved the school. Unfortunately the classes he was doing the most homework in were most often the classes that he wasn't interested in and didn't enjoy.
my husband and I work with him a lot to keep him on task and on track.
I had to support my ds with organizational skills quite a bit too - it can be very frustrating but fwiw, it was what he needed to make them become automatic. Dysgraphia is, at its root, a lack of ability to develop automaticity. This impacted challenge with automaticity impacted my ds in several ways outside of handwriting, and particularly in organizing his work.
We have not asked for accommodations. Why not? I don't really know why. Maybe I don't know what to ask for yet.
Did the neuropsych give you any recommendations for the accommodations that he needs and would be helpful? If not, I'd suggest going back to the neuropsych for an hour appointment (just you), and going through your ds' report one more time and asking for specific recommendations for accommodations.
I know part of the problem is that it takes him likely 2x as long as any other kid to do the work because he is slow.
I'm curious what type of dysgraphia he was diagnosed with? Did the neuropsych mention if it's fine-motor related? Is he using a computer or other word processor for his work? Caveat - my ds didn't rely on handwriting at all in high school (or even for years before that) but he was still relatively "slow" when completing work. The fine motor challenges that were contributing to his dysgraphia also made it difficult for him to keyboard quickly. He also simply moves slower than most people - he's not thinking slower, just moving slower.
The other part is the work, especially the bio, requires a deeper level of thinking that I am not certain he can access yet. English 2H he is managing but it's because we review the material together a lot and I make sure he's at a good understanding.
Was there any indication in his testing that he might not be a proficient reader? Some of what you mentioned above re testing sounds a lot like what happens with my dyslexic dd. She is really strong in math and science, but sometimes completely lost both in class and on tests when her reading skills trip her up.
Possibilities are dropping 1-2 of the honors classes which may hurt him in the long run with colleges, but really, maybe that is not the point any more.
If I could redo one (or two) things from my ds' journey through high school, I would have encouraged him to drop the honors classes in the areas he wasn't interested in pursuing in college, and focused on taking honors and extra classes in the subjects that really interested and excited him. This would have helped him in several ways: it would have led to less homework frustration, less time spent on homework, and overall an easier way of helping him stay positive about life and school in general. It might also have given him an opportunity (time and energy) to pursue a "something more" in his area of interest that would have helped his college application.
Or letting him swim or (likely sink) for a year or so until he adapts. But will that happen? Can ADD kids learn to deal with this?
I wouldn't leave him to sink or swim. One of my relatives taught their kids to swim (literally) by throwing them into the deep end of the pool without life jackets or training. It worked for them - and they all went on to become high-ability swimmers who competed on swim team in high school. If anyone had ever thrown me into the deep end of a swimming pool as a child I would have drowned. I don't float above water, I float about one foot under. Where you can't breathe. What does this have to do with anything? My cousins likely learned how to swim easily because they had a natural ability to swim. I've only been able to learn how to swim with my head out of water using very rudimentary skills in spite of repeated lessons over a lifetime - simply due to my natural abilities. Your ds likely doesn't have the skills he needs (at this point in time) to just be left to sink or swim in school. It's a slog to provide what feels like never-ending support and hard to see your child have to put so much effort into school - but it's also what you need to deal with at this point in his life. To make it easier, observe as much as you can as you help him, and read/research/ask questions as much as you can to put together a plan that provides learning support as well as accommodations. As time goes on, with the appropriate support, your ds will develop the skills he's going to be able to develop, he'll find ways that work for him to accommodate the skills that he might not ever be able to acquire (if there are any of those), and the hard work that you and he put in will pay off.
One thing that helped both myself and my ds a lot when we'd get discouraged over thinking everything was taking so much work was to look back one year, or one month, or over some arbitrary period of time, and recognize the gains he had made - whatever they were. There were always gains to find and celebrate... we just typically didn't see any of it when we were lost in the thick of things.
Best wishes to you and your ds,
polarbear
