Mary,
I find your addition to this thread intriguing and very fascinating. Sorry if that sounds creepy. People look at me like I'm some crazy parent who just doesn't want her child to be ADHD and is just too obsessed with his geftedness to see the truth for what it is. I'd really like to tell them all "Ya know WHAT? If you read HALF the information IIIIII have read and devoted HALF of the time IIIII have to knowing this child then MAYBE I would give a rat's behind what you think but..... since you don't meet any of the above criteria..." and can I just say if one more person says "Oh that is so cool!" when they learn that my 7 year old is entering the 4th grade in the fall and has every intention of clearing at least 2 grades over the period of the school year I think I might smack them. I'm sure that sounds horrible but I get tired of explaining that while it may seem "cool" he does meet challenges that your typical child doesn't meet and there aren't easy fixes for them so it's just not as cool as some may think. Not to mention his struggles are typically put on the back burner by the traditional school because they see him as just an advanced kid who can get by so easily so what help could he possibly need. *rolls eyes* Yeah, we may have come a long way in the last ten years or whatever but we still have so far to go with these kids. Anyway, the eval./testing the school did on my son 2 weeks after he turned 5 years old showed him to be pretty exceptional and I consider that I've been told their tests have pretty low ceilings so I think well lack of challenge = lack of interest = lack of attention = ADHD diagnosis but HEY RED FLAG HERE we're not talking about just any kid here....(and no offense to any "average" child either). My son is being re-tested by a Dr. our ped. is familiar with now that he's 7 as our insurance will pay for it and my son agreed and I'm very anxious to hear what she has to say not only about his testing but about where he is socially and emotionally because our ped. is FLAT OUT AGAINST the fact that I removed him from the school that wanted to offer him an hour pull out program once every 6th school day and that was it. Oh and can I tell you when I asked him what those hours were spent doing he would come back with "Oh we practiced writing our name and talked about small, medium, and large...." he was in FIRST GRADE by this point so you tell me if that is really defined as a GIFTED program. *scowl* But yeah I worry every day that I have held this child back too much so I need to know from someone smarter then me.....August 8th can't get here fast enough....
M.
