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[quote=Anonymous]OP, yes. most 8 year olds will prefer not to practice, but children with ADHD will have a particularly difficult time with it. It was explained to me that since they create less dopamine, their "reward" mechanism is subdued, making them less likely to be self-motivated. You can take this information in a number of directions.

- You can give up and hope that the tunnel-vision hyper-focus that is also part of ADHD will kick in when something important is on the line; been there, done that -- problem with ADHD is that you can't control attention and focus. It's the very definiton of ADHD!

- You can hover and helicoter, bribing and cajoling them into doing the right thing; Been there, done that -- it's frustrating Sisyphus work. If you are in a supportive school, teachers will be all over this mode, but it will soon turn to frustration as the child becomes even MORE dependent on them, to the point where they feel manipulated. It's an extremely unpleasant position to be in.

- You can find some rewarding activities your child will be able to excel at, something with built-in rewards for real work. We picked swimming, but I've heard ballet, skating, soccer, running, gymnastics. Piano or Mindcraft programming? Not as a primary activity. Get the energy out while learning to work hard for tangible improvements that provide positive feedback. They may have an easier time settling in for piano after getting their "wiggles" out. This is where we're at. It gives me a way to relate school effort to coachable moments. Find the coach that is NOT BORING, establish friendships with other children in the sport, make that as positive as you know how -- playdates, movies with the team, the works.

When things get hard, we're back to cajoling and bribing. Until she gets to the next step, when it goes smoothly again. But in the process, we hope she is learning about the feeling of success that she controls.

We did do the testing, because without real difficulties in school, there was nothing to go by. Our main reasons to test were emotional melt-downs, and the realization that she never retained anything of what was new at school. She was just coasting from knowledge she had acquired earlier on, and during the summer, through 1:1 sessions with us. Since she's relatively well behaved, and did ok on all subjects, nobody noticed at school. But once we tested, we still had to find a doctor to prescribe medication, and she had her own different procedures for confirming a diagnostic. So looking back, I'm not sure the test was really all that worth it. We had to repeat some of the testing (IQ and achievement parts) *after* she was on medication, because she did not have the patience to properly attend to the test before. The results were very different in our case, but the tests themselves were different as well.

My take is -- run the tests if you feel your child needs accommodations. If you are interested in medication, work with the procedures your doctor recommends, but certainly I would put that in place after the school accommodations. Forego the "extensive" testing for now, and only do that after medication has been established -- especially if the AAP program is something you're interested in. And definitely find some physical activity your child *really* enjoys, with a great coach that communicates well with you and your child. Build positive experiences wherever you are able![/quote]

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