Sometimes it is better to wait to test kids until they are older. A six year old child with ADD/ADHD is really probably not that much different than a six year old without it. Most six year olds are at least somewhat impulsive, and get off task. By waiting a couple of years, the differences between kids are more easily seen and kids may have a better chance of qualifying for services.
As to the second sentence I posted, I'm glad you feel that way. I wish all parents did. It's much more common to approach a parent and have them insist that their child is not having any problems and does everything fine at home.
My son is 7 going on 8 this winter and starting 2nd grade in the fall. I have known he was ADHD and OCD since he was a baby....but of course could not have an official diagnosis until school age. But just by his behavior could see it in him. Heck, I know his father has it, but of course during his days in school he was "lazy and unmotivated". They didn't have a medical name for it. He was diagnoised the first month of kindergarten and we tried the no med route for the first year. I did accept he needed them and as my doctor explained, I'd give him meds for any other illness right? They have helped him a lot and yes, now he's really no better or worse in attention than most boys his age. He has a twin brother and while I know each child is an individual, they are very similar in many ways and abilities so I have sort of a built in guage for what's age appropriate.
In school he can struggle with something forever but once it clicks, he remembers it for ever. I know he's a smart child. I'd never tell his brother, but I believe he has higher intellegence than his twin. He reads slightly above grade level and excells at spelling. Counting came easy to him, but translate that into written numbers....and we might as well have been speaking to him in another language. He just couldn't add a thing unless you gave him a visual like pennies, marks on a page, etc... This continued well past when the visual clues were removed from the assignments. We used them at home, but he'd go to school and fail the test without them. He was finally allowed to use his fingers in class when other students were not. And we had to fight for that. That's when I asked for testing and was basically put off.
He also has writing problems. Makes a lot of letters wrong and cannot visualize how big or small to write something. We know he has no vision problems as he had other eye issues as a baby and has been seeing a pediatric opthomologist since he was 4 months old. Vision tests are always 20/20. He knows his letters, spells like a champ verbally but took much longer to translate them onto paper. I know his teacher made it a point to allow him the time he needed, but it was on her...not the official ruling from the school. Next teacher we get might not be so nice. In another post I mentioned we had this issue in kindergarten where the teacher labeled him a "bad kid" from day one rather than understand his needs. We switched classes.
And that's why I want to push for the testing. If he has a LD as well, let's get him the help he needs now, before he even knows he needs it. If he doesn't, well great!!! I'm no educator and I have no patience sometimes when they are stuck I don't know how to help him. That's what I pay the school for. I've gotten the overall impression they don't treat ADHD as an issue or they see so few kids who truly have it to a major degree they don't know what to do. I think they see his IOWA testing scores are average to above average and that's good enough for them to maintain a good rating. Why give help and spend $$$ for a child who's testing good enough. He's been in the same school since Pre-K and haven't even had his diagnosis until this spring....even though THEY filled out the school eval. This alone lets me know they just don't get it.
