beebs, I'm only a parent (not a professional), so take my advice with a huge grain of salt
That said, I have a 2e ds with widely divergent test scores who sounds in many ways much like your ds at the same age. I have a real "love-hate" relationship with the term "visual-spatial learner". There are absolutely different styles of learning information, but back when our ds was first struggling in school we heard/read a lot about "visual spatial learner" and just assumed that was a big part of what was going on with him - when really he had some very real challenges. He *is* a visual-spatial learner, but that strength masked a really big hole of a challenge when he was young.
aeh gave you excellent advice about what to look for and ask about re his teachers etc. I'd also suggest that you consider a private neuropsych eval. We found that was the most direct and useful thing we ever did for our ds. It's possible to get the same information and testing through schools (sometimes), but schools are looking at impact on academics, whereas a neurospych eval will look globally at functioning and be more likely to get additional testing to understand the *why* behind what's observed in the subtest discrepancies on ability and achievement tests (at least it was in our case - other schools might be much more responsive than ours). Our neuropsych was also able to give us guidance on what we could/couldn't expect our school to provide in terms of accommodations and services, and gave us advice on who good resources for private therapies. Perhaps most importantly, she gave us a roadmap of what the journey ahead might look like in *life* short term and looking long term. The school is going to give you a 3-year plan (if you get an IEP), the neuropsych helped us get an understanding of how our ds' challenges would play out as he matured and how to deal with that now while looking forward to the "when". I hope that makes sense!
The other piece of advice I have if you have a question about reading - take him for a thorough reading evaluation/assessment by a specialist who works with kids with dyslexia. Even though he most likely isn't dyslexic, a thorough reading eval can reveal so many other types of challenges that impact reading.
Last thought - which is partially a question for you - did you ask *why* the tester flagged him for ADHD? If not, can you ask now? It's possible she's seeing something that might be a symptom of ADHD but also might be a symptom of a child dealing with a learning challenge. We had this happen with our ds in early elementary before his learning challenge was diagnosed. He doesn't have ADHD, never did have it, but he had behaviors that looked very much like a child with ADHD in the classroom and when he was working one on one with teachers/etc on work that was challenging to him. His teachers thought it was ADHD because ADHD was what they were familiar with - they didn't have experience with his true challenges so they weren't looking for them. I would be hesitant to look into ADHD any further for your ds until you've had a thorough up-to-date neuropsych eval or equivalent testing. (Neuropsych evals do usually include behavioral surveys and attention testing too.. so you can get a further look through the neuropsych).
Best wishes,
polarbear
