by Mary Paliescheskey

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The ides of March in my son's 5th grade year, he has just read his first chapter book in the fall. It has been three years since he was first diagnosed with ADHD and visual motor processing disorder. After removing him from a traditional classroom, he began to blossom. We homeschool through an independent home study program offered by our county's Department of Education. For those first three years, my son wasn't medicated for his ADHD because of the visual motor processing diagnosis. We were told that was his defining factor.

At my son's triennial review, I was excited to meet the new psychologist. He really took his time with the testing and explained the results. The psychologist really got my son. He even said that my husband and I having different rankings on the form was normal. The dad usually has the fun stuff that they do together. I, on the other hand, was the teacher and asking him to do things that are hard and challenging for him. The doctor showed us that we actually were experiencing different kids.

I had a good time talking with him. He even said that he was glad that Bryan needed to come in the extra day for testing. He'd only seen on side of my son's behavior. Then that extra day hit one of his bad days. He was unfocused and bouncy. The doctor said it really changed his diagnosis. He showed me how my son had moments where his mind just skipped. This psychologist took detailed notes and results. He didn't stop recording the answers at the point my son made a mistake. He could show me how my son missed hearing some words and then pick up the trail of words again. He'd have places where his mind didn't record what the doctor said. Everything else was perfect.

The previous tester just stopped the test whenever my son made a mistake. Therefore, the ADHD wasn't found to be a factor in his learning. Now that I had this information that ADHD affected the way my son heard information, I placed him on Ritalin for his ADHD.

Being medicated has really helped him understand, he's finally learned to read. He's learned so many things. He actually found two errors in the figures in his science text. It's amazing how quickly he gets the concepts. He's always telling me, "I studied that last year." I know, but this year you add more details to it. He asks, "Why don't they just tell you everything at once?" I tell him because some kids have to hear it over and over. He just rolls his eyes. He's started homeschool at two years behind his classmates. Now after homeschooling and medication, he's right with them.

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