I rarely post on these forums, but saw the OP and feel compelled to share. I don't know which medication your daughter is taking, but I can identify. Our son was put on Ritalin soon after he was diagnosed. He was 9 at the time, (11 now). He did complain that he hated how it made him feel. Since he's not a verbal kid, I had to dig to help him sort it out. He said that he felt like playing with his Legos was no fun anymore. It squashed his creativity. I took him to a pediatric neurologist who said she hears that a lot from parents whose kids are on Ritalin, and that some have better luck on Adderall. We switched him to the Adderall and his creativity returned. He was back to his normal happy-go-lucky self. However, he has not gained any weight in a year, so we are having to cut back the dose. Having gone through the Ritalin phase, I can see how you would be afraid to lose a part of your child. I think that with the "right medication" you don't lose your child. They gain their focus, but it should not put them into that "zombie" mode. Focused, yes; zombie, no. Hopefully your doctor can work with you to try switching meds, adjusting the dose, or both.

My son has ADHD-Inattentive. So often when the topic of medication comes up, it is assumed that these kids are getting medication in simply in order to control their hyperactivity and behavior. In our case his behavior was never a problem, but there were other issues and they were significantly impacting his ability to learn. Information retrieval, processing speed, attentiveness, and other areas of executive functioning were all pushing him toward failure and they were not anything that could be managed through behavioral strategies, diet or whatnot. We began homeschooling him as basically a rescue attempt, but after one day I realized that it was not going to happen without medical intervention. The use of first Ritalin, and now Adderall (because the Ritalin has a negative impact on his creativity) meant the difference between his being able to learn or not. The combination of homeschooling and medication has caused his scores to go up across the board and this, in turn, has increased his self confidence. At least in his case it certainly doesn't seem to be making him "dumber". I realize that this is only our experience, but medication has been a lifesaver for us.

I might try calling the psychology department of your nearest university. My niece, a child psychologist, sent me on that route and I found at least a good supervising psychologist who oversaw all of the neuropsychological testing. He was able to make recommendations for other support services.

My oldest (an aspiring opera singer) has run this scenario by me a couple of times. In her vision I bring my 10 year old son along, and we follow her around wherever she is singing with me homeschooling both my son and her little one. Um...I'm thinking no. First of all, I like my husband and really wouldn't want to randomly up and leave him. Second, I'm tired. My plan is to homeschool my son up until high school, unleash him on the public high school and hopefully get to sit down for more than 5 minutes. Maybe I could even read a book that's not a "read aloud". Maybe.

I could almost have written your post myself. My son, now 10, was diagnosed about a year ago. I vividly remember having to sit right next to him, forcing him to keep at his homework and becoming exhausted from his slow speed and his resistance (which is understandable in retrospect, now that I know how hard it was for him). I also recall sitting in the principal's office with him accusing me of "helping him too much" and not knowing how to explain that I had to help him. There was just no other way. I pulled him out of school and had a full battery of testing done, from "soup to nuts". The result was a diagnosis of ADHD-primarily inattentive, aka "ADD". That was why we started homeschooling I will say beyond a shadow of a doubt that medication, while admittedly a frightening prospect at first, turned his life around. His inability to understand, process, focus, work...was reversed immediately. ADHD is a neurological problem, so addressing it with medication that goes straight to the source (assisting in the firing of the brain's neurons) makes complete sense. For us it basically "leveled the playing field", giving our son a fighting chance to learn just like everyone else. I am convinced that without it he would have failed school (whether traditional school or homeschool). It was, without a doubt, the most important thing we did to help our son. Well, that together with homeschooling him anyway. The great thing about medications for ADHD is that they are not something that take time to build up and become effective. The child takes them and the effect is immediate. It also wears off predictably. If they don't work, getting off of them is no big deal either. You just stop. A friend of mine whose daughter was recently diagnosed said that her child's doctor put her on a new medication called Focalin (sp?) that is designed to have the same positive effects while minimizing potential side effects. I'd say its really worth a try.

Thank you, OhElizabeth. I have enjoyed your posts on this thread so much that I've been taking notes! :-)

Hello everyone, I am new here, and not really a classical homeschooler, but I was interested in hanging out on this forum since it's always fun to "meet" other homeschoolers and find out what is working for different people. I have really enjoyed following this thread and hearing what others have learned about approaches to managing processing speed and executive function issues. Regarding the opening post, my son also took the Woodcock Johnson test (and a full battery of neuropsychological tests) last year and also showed very low processing speed along with some working memory and executive function problems. His diagnosis was definitely ADHD-inattentive. I just wanted to add that in our case, treating this with medications has made a night/day difference. Yes, they are extremely intimidating when you read about all the potential side effects, but my husband talked to some people with whom he works who told him stories of the enormous difference it had made in their lives, so we decided to give it a try. Our son's focus improved dramatically as did his processing speed. Although we still have some days that are slower than others, (the disability doesn't completely disappear), it seemed to pretty much put him on a much more even footing with others within his age range.