This topic is close to my heart. DS was flagged in pre-k for possible adhd. The teacher would complain about him acting out and disrupting the other kids. It was a daily battle and a year that I would like to forget. In hindsight, I would have realized that the setting was not suitable for DS. The teacher had centers of 12-24 piece puzzles and simple board books. DS was already reading, could easily do 100+ piece puzzles and had addition/subtraction fact down. In kindergarten the teacher understood DS better and she tailored a curriculum to suite his educational needs. She was a special teacher. He thrived with her. This year the teacher understands, but is unwilling to differentiate as much as the kindergarten teacher. DS has to do the assigned work first and when that is complete he can work on more advanced material. Needless to say, we have complaints of him being off-task, rushing his work and occasionally acting out.
I have learned when teachers tell me that DS is exhibiting ADHD symptoms to ask what was being discussed when the problem occurred. Not surprising there seems to be a correlation between behavior and math time(his strongest subject). He doesn't have as many issues in subjects he is less familiar with, such as social studies.
I did spend the money and seek a neuropsych's opinion. We never experienced any of these issues with my gt DD and began questioning if there wasn't something to all the comments of adhd. The long and short of it, is that DS personality has a "low threshold for boredom" but no adhd "at this time". The Dr. actually made the recommendation for us to work on teaching DS boredom coping skills such as "day dreaming" and doing mental math. I actually laughed when she made this suggestion. I will change his educational setting before telling him that he has to "check-out" to get through his day. Like the other postings, she said that adhd is hard to diagnosis in bright kids and that him being 6yrs old makes it even harder (the reason for the "at-this-time" diagnosis). In the end I learned that my son will have to accept being bored if he stays in most public school classrooms; or I will have to learn to hear negative comments from teachers if he doesn�t comply.
Each year I learn to advocate a little more for my son. I struggle on how hard to push him into conforming to the norm/or what is expected in a public school setting. I just pray that we are doing enough at home to support his creative and curious personality. I come on this board hoping to gain some wisdom from those who have been-there-done-that. I wish you the best of luck. Trust your gut.
