Hello, I am a new comer here. I am hoping to have posted in the correct forum. Please feel free to move this to the right one if otherwise. So below is my story (or my DS8's).
When DS was 4, I pushed him to go through the early entrance test to start kindergarten. He did it by just passing the WPPSI-III scoring criteria at the school district at that time. The testing school district psychologist had concerns as he could not concentrate on a lot of tasks during the test.
Kindergarten was a blast for him and the teacher adored him. I guess it was not too much different from daycare.
At 1st Grade, I did charts with his teachers (two home classroom teachers doing job-sharing) about his listening skills and controlling on blurting. No issues academically.
Same thing at the 2nd Grade. But the 2nd Grade teacher really strongly "encouraged" me to do an assessment on ADHD for DS. While at his pediatrician's office, he was climbing onto the exam table and going through the swabs and blood pressure meters with me talking to the doc. The doc asked about his school progress and suggested the same assessment. So I did the form and the teacher did the form. Then the pediatrician said he has ADHD and referred us to a child psychologist. We had one visit with the psychologist then and one visit at the end of the school year. He basically would not dispute the conclusion from the PCP (pediatrician), but does not strongly encourage medication. (Both the pediatrician and the child psychologist belong to the same medical practice group.) On the other hand, the pediatrician strongly suggested medication during our visit at the end of the school year. His MAP tests at the beginning and end of the school year are both at 220 range.
He is still not on meds. He loves to argue or bargain with us now. Now in 3rd, with the Fall MAP results for both math and reading among the top three of all the 3rd graders at school, both his classroom teacher and GT teacher wanted him to be in GT program. But his GT testing score was not good at all, as he could not concentrate during the test. They managed to ask the school psychologist to do a WISC-IV test for him. (FSIQ 141, VC 144, PR 139, WM 132, PS 106). And with that combined with MAP scores, they now are able to get him into the GT program. At the latest PTC, the classroom teacher, the GT teacher and the school psychologist were all there. But at the end, I was asked what I would suggest, or something like they don't know what else they can do to especially control his impulsivity (like one time he suddenly swung his arm then ended up hitting another kid in the back, or would always complain about boring in his PE class). His in-school work is a mess mostly (accuracy is not a problem), even if he managed to finish, except his cursive, which his teacher has only good things to say about. (I know he does it as if he was drawing a picture after watching him doing it at home.) And he has managed to lose his jackets both last year and this year at school
. Given my dh is strongly objecting to any meds, I told them that I would take him to see more docs. So I've just found this one doc (in the same medical group, sadly) who specializes in both ADHD and GT kids, and have made an appt already.
The thing is, for our school district, ADHD is not officially recognized as a disability with special ed guidelines. So I am hoping to find some guidelines, practices, and tips that I can put together with information from internet, books, and hopefully that doc visit, to further discuss with the teachers at the school. But at this point, I am really frustrated about what else I can do. Any suggestions, recommendations will be welcome. But in the end, I am glad to have found this place for support.
