I'm obviously not a psych either, but my son has adhd and we've seen several doctors and therapists. I have been told that in some kids their ability to pay attention and concentrate may seem fine, but you'll see the adhd in their in ability to control their impulses and consider consequences of their actions. That is what we see with our son. He can (after much complaining) read a boring book and do boring schoolwork, but without meds he'll literally get up in the middle of doing things because a thought popped into his head.
I would encourage you to do more reading on adhd. There are lots of non stimulant meds now with fewer side effects.
But this is what none of us even teachers are seeing in my DS - he actually has good impulse control - not borderline in any way. He can wait his turn, wait to speak, etc., etc. And he does stop to consider consequences, etc. He doesn't “get up in the middle of doing things because a thought popped into his head" - none of that.
I just asked him to go upstairs get the glasses for his vision therapy and the paper ruler (ruler that measures his distance from the screen), grab me a tissue and come back downstairs... He did it all quickly, he did not seem to get distracted (to me) but he forgot the ruler... This is common with him but it doesn't seem to be that he got distracted and forgot - he did all on task but he simply couldn't hold all of that in his head ... like there simply wasn't enough 'room'. He's not like the one poster whose kid was told to brush his teeth and ended up in the shower. But if you give my DS three things to do, he'll usually stay on task but still forget one. He also cannot multi-task AT ALL. Like, he can't talk and put on his shoes - he doesn't seem to get distracted but he simply cannot do both at the same time. When he gets into school he cannot chat with his friends and get his stuff together at the same time. Not sure if that is 'adhd' in nature (I didn't think so but I really don't know) but that is what I feel like I see. I see that it isn't that he can't concentrate, is so easily distracted or control impulses or any of that - I see him being unable literally to keep things in his head at the same time - not due to distraction, inability to control impulses or due to inattention but almost as if there simply isn’t enough "room."
But maybe that is a type or a manifestation of adhd... I didn't think it was but I don't really know I just assumed that is why it doesn't really come up.
He is very fidgety and uncomfortable due to hypotonic... I think that affects this stuff. Like he needs to spend so much energy and concentration holding his posture due to poor muscle tone in that area and holding his pencil that that takes up some of his "working memory" space.
I think it's odd, that his eval report says he scored above average for the digit forward but simply can't do the digit backwards... He scored in the 84 percentile forward but 7 in reversed digit test
I don’t know. There is only so much I can speculate but I can use the info you give t explore this with the doctors. I called the school psych again and left a message saying I'd like her thoughts on ADHD too when we speak or meet. Hopefully, she'll call me on Monday. I can also take all of this to a neuropsych and see what test he/she could do to determine if it is adhd in nature or something else.
The psych hit the nail on the head in her report when she writes that DS has "...appropriate ability to inhibit impulsive responses, adjust to changes in routine and task demands, modulate emotions, initiate problem solving, plan and organize problem solving approaches and monitor his own behavior. However, {DS} does have difficulty holding an appropriate amount of information in active memory for further processing and/or mental manipulation."
The mystery is "why?"
