Thank you all for the great advice and the encouragement. I really needed it! Even though I know I shouldn't compare my children to others, when it seems like my friends' children are all high achievers it's hard not to. It's good to hear from others who have been through the same issues and dealt with it so well. I printed everything out to refer back to later. :)

One more question, I am thinking about using My Father's World for him this fall. How much hands on is there with this curriculum? Elliemaejune mentioned KONOS. Which would be better for an artistic, creative child?

I will probably make some more comments later, but I have to run right now. Btw, elliemaejune, I live in Tennessee about 3 hours from Dr. Paul Cates, and it's near Knoxville where my older son will be going to school this fall. If it's not too expensive I will probably do the testing. Thank you for telling me about him.

If you haven't already, you may want to get his vision checked to see if he has tracking issues or convergence problems. You would need to go to a developmental eye doctor, not a regular one. Vision issues are VERY common in kids with dyslexia.

covd.org has a list of doctors near you.

The doctor search is hard to find so this is a direct link-

https://covdwp.memberpoint.com/WebPortal/BuyersGuide/ProfessionalSearch.aspx

This post was edited on May 05, 2012 02:51 PM

"One more question, I am thinking about using My Father's World for him this fall. How much hands on is there with this curriculum? Elliemaejune mentioned KONOS. Which would be better for an artistic, creative child?"

It's hard to say which would be "better." KONOS is more flexible than MOH in the sense that it is focussed on godly character traits, rather than studying history chronologically--not that KONOS is better...it's just different. Every KONOS subunit has an abundance of choices for activities, so that you could choose the ones that you think your dc would enjoy the most.

Maybe there will be an upcoming convention where you could look at both of them in person?

"Btw, elliemaejune, I live in Tennessee about 3 hours from Dr. Paul Cates, and it's near Knoxville where my older son will be going to school this fall. If it's not too expensive I will probably do the testing. Thank you for telling me about him. "

I hope it works out for you. It's been well over 10 years since he tested some children in my little one-room school, but I was quite pleased with his services. He uses well-known tests, but his evaluations include so much more than just results. You get a list of books and whatnot that he recommends, and scheduling help, and more (he also has other services that are in addition to the basic testing/evaluations). Oh, and he called Spalding the "Cadillac of reading methods," so of course I love him, lol.

I'm no expert either, but for what it's worth, my ADD DD could only do 15 minutes maximum per subject. That meant we were changing subjects rapidly and sometimes had to go back again to a subject in the same day. We school all year round so we can finish within a year since our school days have to be a tad shorter than most other homeschoolers.

I always began the day, or sometime in the morning, with a massive dose of physical activity. And letting her wear roller blades, sit on a rolling chair, or stand up while doing school helped a ton. It drove me nutso, but it did help her.

I never made any diet changes other than a generally healthy, well-balanced diet. I am not a believer in the no dairy, no gluten, or flavor of the year diet fad. I am also not a believer in the high Vitamin A, fish oil fad for behavior control. But that's just me. I'm never convinced of much of anything unless there are some decent double blinded controlled studies to back it up. And then I still won't jump in until it's been around for 30 years to make sure there are no serious side effects. I see too much value in milk and wheat (or whatever else the fad is trying to eliminate) to just jump on some anecdotal behavioral change bandwagon. I'm also not afraid to wipe egg off my face if something changes. (I type this as my kiddo is pouring Frosted Flakes and skim milk in a bowl for breakfast.) I also never saw any change with caffeine consumption which some people feel help their ADD kiddo. Obviously, if a kiddo had a valid allergy or intolerance to a food that's a different story.

HTH even if it ended in rambling.

If you are avoiding gluten, the milk protein (casein) is what you should also be trying to avoid. My son was both GF and CF. Casein stays in the body for 10 days, so... it takes a little while to see results from dietary changes.

Some things you can do to help a child with ADD:
1. Have them sit on an exercise ball while doing their work. You can purchase one at Wal*mart. The child's feet need to be able to touch the floor. While their body is in motion, their mind is free to focus.

2. Have your child build with legos or sqeeze something in their hand while you are reading to them.

3. Do not require the child to "sit still." Allow them movement.

4. I would sit next to my son for math and say, "Do the next problem" as soon as he finished a problem.

5. Sometimes, I would set a timer for each problem and he would try to "beat the timer." For the next problem you set the timer at the new time as the "time to beat."

6. Reduce the number of problems per page.

7. Teach for a set amount of time (10-15 minutes). Let the child do something else for a set amount of time (5-6 minutes).

As your child gets older, his attention span WILL improve.