Anonymous wrote:You really need to research more about the ADHD brain b/c your post is kind of offensive. Please don't say this stuff around your child or neurodivergent people.

The truth is, either ADHD people will choose a career that is their hyperfocus so many challenges just don't exist because it's what they enjoy & excel so they stay on top of things at OR they'll choose a job whose work environment works for the ADHD brain.

School does not work, at all, for the ADHD brain so please stop with the attitude that accommodations are some kind of unfair advantage or life failure vs. leveling the playing field in an environment that is not build for their brain.

NOW, if you do get an ADHD diagnosis, the accommodations can vary based on what issues your child has. Preferential seating, taking tests in a more distraction-free space, having SpEd help organization or executive function skills (but schools will only do this if there's an issue in school), additional test time, etc.

If she has organization or executive function issues & you don't plan on medicating, maybe it'd be better spending money initially on an executive function coach privately.

Conversely, my son found a lot of validation with an ADHD diagnosis. He (and us!) were able to get proper understanding things that are just not his fault, no matter how hard he tries. So, yes, in some areas, he has loads of laddering & more of us checking in to verify he's on track.

What happens when ADHD people don't get the luxury of choice re: jobs?

Anonymous wrote:You can’t be doing well in all honor classes with untreated adhd. She pays attention well enough in classes. Maybe she doesn’t pay attention with things that don’t interest her?

What a dumb generalization. Of course the kid could do well, if they were super-smart, despite their attention issues. OP should pursue an actual diagnosis with a trained professional.

Anonymous wrote:ADHD is a genetic disorder where there is a structural abnormality in the brain. There seems to be a genetic component to it.

It’s hard to believe there are so many kids who have brains that are not developing normally. It can’t be easy to have this disorder.

Just because it has a name now, doesn't mean it didn't always exist. I have an a few uncles (different sides of my family), now that I have a son with ADHD, clearly had/have it. They struggled through school, didn't finish college, and found their niche.

It's like this graph with left-handedness. The dips & increases are not due to more people being born left-handed. It's when people were allowed to be recognized as left-handed, without stigma. https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*yUIVmzSuoKi9EmgdB811uQ.png

Anonymous wrote:You can’t be doing well in all honor classes with untreated adhd. She pays attention well enough in classes. Maybe she doesn’t pay attention with things that don’t interest her?

I went to Stanford with untreated ADHD. I was diagnosed as an adult when my child was diagnosed.

My child was diagnosed in 2nd grade. Her teacher was insistent that she be diagnosed. In sixth grade, her teachers are surprised she has a diagnosis. She masks well.

She does not use accommodations. She does, however, use every organizational skill taught to her.

I have advised her to go into a high pressure job like emergency medicine as I have. The adrenaline rush for me is essential.

ADHD is a genetic disorder where there is a structural abnormality in the brain. There seems to be a genetic component to it.

It’s hard to believe there are so many kids who have brains that are not developing normally. It can’t be easy to have this disorder.

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grade girl. She is in all honors and her grades are fine.

It seems pretty clear to me that she has an attention issue, likely ADHD.

I do not think we would medicate her unless she started failing (no judgement, personal choice).

So my questions is, is it worth the testing and hoop jumping to get her privately identified as ADHD? What types of accommodations would they give her that won't just make "real life" harder?

For example:
Longer time on projects - won't work when she has a job
Give more slack for disorganization - she needs to learn to be organized.

Thanks for any feedback! She is my oldest and I am just trying to figure things out.

I'm an adult with ADHD who is fantastically successful in my professional career—I didn't plan it out, and it's only recently as I've grappled with my own son's diagnosis that I've considered it. I realize now that my ADHD actually makes me extremely well-suited for certain types of jobs—I'm not organized, and I struggle to turn in projects on tight deadlines... but I'm very creative and I think very differently—I can't go into the field, but I've had some very, very big successes in my field and they've come because I've figured out something that others looked at and missed the importance of, or I was able to apply a context others hadn't thought of. It's because my brain is always thinking on at least one other track—extremely frustrating for trying to do many things in life, but perfect for my chosen career. Additionally, I'm extremely curious, I collect information across many, many disciplines and so can discuss, with a decent amount of expertise, things far beyond my specific duties, meaning that I can be extremely flexible. And whlie I don't work well on your schedule, I also rarely stop working—my brain is whirring 24 hours a day, and (especially when I was in my 20s) I had a drive and an appetite for work that probably was not healthy but my bosses loved and helped make me the successful person I am today.

Medication also helps me pull my shit together enough to make enough deadlines and keep my shit enough organized that I don't have any problems, but no one would accuse me of being on time or orderly. Basically, I do great enough work people don't mind the bad stuff.

The accommodations aren't giving her a soft way out that she'll pay for later, it's helping her get through the academic system so she can still enjoy and be good at learning so she can find a career that suits her skills.

I have an 8th grade DD with ADHD accommodations
She sits near the front away from distractions
Is allowed to get up for breaks if needed
Gets extra days on work if needed
Verbal instructions before tests/quiz to make sure she understands what to do.
Verbally told not to rush and read each question carefully before tests.
Extra time on tests but she doesn’t need that because she rushes.

If your kid is doing well in school I don’t know why you would do the testing.

Anonymous wrote:You get the entitlement to accommodations. You may be able to get them without a diagnosis, but the right to them would not exist. Extra time is common. I don’t find it valuable for anything except tests. With respect to homework and projects, it just results in things being backed up in the end because at the end of the marking period everything has to get done. Sometimes teachers will check planners to be sure that assignments are written down. You might get some binder management, but honestly, I was better at working with my son on that than the school.

Th biggest thing I can think is this. If things deteriorate and you do find that medication is warranted, you will have to get the evaluation done then and will have a delay in getting medication prescribed. However, you can get a eval through your pediatrician and it’s pretty easy. It involves parents and a teacher completing a questionnaire and the doctor scoring it.

PP and expanding on this... you CAN probably find a doctor who will write the script for the meds w/out a full evaluation... but if you're a parent who is cautious about medication—and you should be (again, huge proponent of it, but it's not something to do lightly)—you want to make sure you're doing it right. A big thing about the medication that I think a lot of people fail to realize is that there is actually a really wide range of drugs and people react to them differently. It's not all "just Ritalin" or Adderall... and some people do not do well or feel very lousy on one drug, and feel no effects at all with another, and having a good doctor who is informed about ADHD and who has a full record from the testing, can make sure that when (if) it comes time to consider medication, you're doing it thoughtfully and most productively.

You really need to research more about the ADHD brain b/c your post is kind of offensive. Please don't say this stuff around your child or neurodivergent people.

The truth is, either ADHD people will choose a career that is their hyperfocus so many challenges just don't exist because it's what they enjoy & excel so they stay on top of things at OR they'll choose a job whose work environment works for the ADHD brain.

School does not work, at all, for the ADHD brain so please stop with the attitude that accommodations are some kind of unfair advantage or life failure vs. leveling the playing field in an environment that is not build for their brain.

NOW, if you do get an ADHD diagnosis, the accommodations can vary based on what issues your child has. Preferential seating, taking tests in a more distraction-free space, having SpEd help organization or executive function skills (but schools will only do this if there's an issue in school), additional test time, etc.

If she has organization or executive function issues & you don't plan on medicating, maybe it'd be better spending money initially on an executive function coach privately.

Conversely, my son found a lot of validation with an ADHD diagnosis. He (and us!) were able to get proper understanding things that are just not his fault, no matter how hard he tries. So, yes, in some areas, he has loads of laddering & more of us checking in to verify he's on track.

You get the entitlement to accommodations. You may be able to get them without a diagnosis, but the right to them would not exist. Extra time is common. I don’t find it valuable for anything except tests. With respect to homework and projects, it just results in things being backed up in the end because at the end of the marking period everything has to get done. Sometimes teachers will check planners to be sure that assignments are written down. You might get some binder management, but honestly, I was better at working with my son on that than the school.

Th biggest thing I can think is this. If things deteriorate and you do find that medication is warranted, you will have to get the evaluation done then and will have a delay in getting medication prescribed. However, you can get a eval through your pediatrician and it’s pretty easy. It involves parents and a teacher completing a questionnaire and the doctor scoring it.

Yes, get her tested. Things can downhill quickly and it's better to have the testing done so you can go ahead and get the accomodations—or medication if needed—before it gets out of hand.

Math is actually a really big hurdle and it hits hard in middle school. A smart kid can not pay attention in lower grades and get through math fine by being clever and logical, but as you get into algebra, it literally stops making sense—it stops being intuitive—and needs to be taught, and if you start missing parts of lessons, you're screwed. You just can't figure it out on your own.

I'm a huge proponent of medication—I take it and have since I was in MS and now my DS does as well, and it has been an enormous blessing. But a wise doctor once told me that it was okay to not medicate until my DS started to struggle—it's okay to do it earlier as well.

Regardless of what you do, having your ducks in a row BEFORE there is a problem is a good idea. And just because you have an accomodation doesn't mean you have to take it. Our DS' biggest problem was finishing tests TOO FAST because he rushed through... when we finally got him to slow down he suddenly kept running out of time. He's only had to ask for extra time a few times, but it's nice to know it's there.

Public school?
If her grades are fine and she has no behavior issues, she may not get any accommodations anyway.
It's fine to wait until it is impacting her life in some way, before you pursue this further.

You can’t be doing well in all honor classes with untreated adhd. She pays attention well enough in classes. Maybe she doesn’t pay attention with things that don’t interest her?

Sitting up front for less visual distractions

Binder checks to make sure she's keeping to the organizational system. You say she needs to learn to be organized-- well, this is how kids learn to be organized. By maintaining an organizational system with real-time coaching and feedback. Basically you can access whatever extras the school is offering in this area.

I have a 7th grade girl. She is in all honors and her grades are fine.

It seems pretty clear to me that she has an attention issue, likely ADHD.

I do not think we would medicate her unless she started failing (no judgement, personal choice).

So my questions is, is it worth the testing and hoop jumping to get her privately identified as ADHD? What types of accommodations would they give her that won't just make "real life" harder?

For example:
Longer time on projects - won't work when she has a job
Give more slack for disorganization - she needs to learn to be organized.

Thanks for any feedback! She is my oldest and I am just trying to figure things out.