It is always good to have a diagnosis. Who knows what the future holds and having that diagnosis isn't going to hurt anything. If you don't mind my asking, how are you managing your ADHD? Are you medicating and recieving any sort of therapy? Since you also have the disability you should model how to manage it for your children. As they grow and see you managing your condition that will set the example for them to manage thier conditions. My dh has ADHD and medication is the only thing that helps him. For my dd we have chosen not to medicate but give her vitamins for children with ADHD. Good luck to you and your children. You are doing the right thing!

My dd has dysgraphia but her actual diagnosis was dyslexic tendencies. She was diagnosed this way according to the psychologist because of the criteria in the DSM. I don't know exactly what tests were used to make this sort of diagnosis but I would imagine most any psychologist could diagnosis your son. What country are you all in? Does he attend private or public school? Are you not homeschooling him?

I would probably skip it and then maybe come back to it in January. I don't think you should skip it altogether though. It is to important.

I also think you should get a diagnosis. Your son sounds to me like someone who could possibly have Aspergers and ADHD. That is just a guess though and as I am not an educational psychologist my guess doesn't mean much.:) I thought my dd had Aspergers and dysgraphia. When I had her tested she has ADHD, with dyslexic tendencies and a math LD. So sometimes it is quite different than what we thought. It is also good to know so you can make appropriate accomodations in your child's schoolwork. Also if your son decides to go on to college he will need that diagnosis so that he can recieve appropriate accomodations. Same as if he were to ever go to public school. We chose not to medicate dd but instead give her vitamins that are specially formulated for children with ADHD.

I wish we could set aside money each month but we don't have disposable income. We are really low income so we use our yearly tax return as it is generally pretty big.

Has he been referred to the resource room for his hand writing? I would think that some time in the resource room with the SPED teacher might help. I also second going for OT services privately. I found the county OT to be useless for my dd.

My dd has ADHD as does my dh. My dd does not have behavior problems. She went to private school this past year and NEVER got into trouble. She was very well behaved and polite. Now at home she will act out more but no more than any other child. I too have that book and I don't think highly of Kevin Lehman. I'm also geting my masters in SPED and I've seen a lot of kids in local schools who obviously have ADHD. Just because he doesn't think it is real doesn't mean it isn't.

I wanted to introduce myself and hopefully have a place I can come to vent, report successes and just have some support. I am going back to homeschooling my 10 year old dd after her being in Christian school this past year. I homeschooled her before that. She has ADHD, a math LD and dyslexic tendencies which appears to be the same as dysgraphia. She has a lot of problems writing and spelling but reads at two grade levels higher. I am also working on my masters in SPED so this will be a challenge. That is one reason I put her in school last year. It is just hard to homeschool, go to grad school and deal with a toddler. However now DHs schedule allows for him to help me teach and I am going to be more disciplined about getting up earlier so I have time of my own. Hoping to get to know some other homeschooling parents who are homeschooling children with special learning needs.