Thanks for putting this website up again. My DS11 does have ADHD (I believe as do doctors) but I don't think that the ADHD is the major cause of his school difficulties. I have ADHD and was one of those spacey, disorganized kids at school, but I didn't suffer a lot of diminished self esteem from this back in the "old days."
In the elementary school years I think the overexcitabilites of the gifted, anxiety that may come with ADHD, the classroom environment, teacher expectations, and finally learning disabilities should all be investigated in school/social life is suffering. Somewhere on here someone posted the article about the fact that the higher the IQ, the later the thickening of the pre-frontal cortex in children. Anyway, I'm starting to feel that except in the most extreme cases, an ADHD label in the primary grades might be premature.
Has anyone else started to go this route in their thinking?
Oh, and we were told that ADHD is difficulty focusing when you "want" to but are not interested in the subject. So reading a good book for hours might be "hyperfocus" which can be part of ADHD, whereas reading the social studies chapter and answering the questions (or not) would be a result of ADHD.
