Hello, My son is 8 and has severe ADHD. He is finishing up his second year in the 1st grade. We suspected that he had ADHD around the age of 3. He was such a good baby. He started with the excessive energy and behaviors around the age of 15 months. I often wonder if his accident on the stairs and hitting his head has anything to do with his ADHD. I have had ADD my whole life so im sure some of it is hereditary and maybe some from hitting his head when he fell down stairs at 12 months old. It could be purely coincidental that the excessive energy and behaviors started about 3 months after. Anyways with reservation we sent him to kindergarten when he was 5 and a half. He was well old enough but immature for his age. I at that point knew he had ADHD. I started researching hyperactive behaviors and ADHD and it was during all the months of reading and researching it that I discovered I had it all my life as well. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed and my husband didn't want me to take my son and have him tested so I held off. It was toward the end of the year when my mom went to my sons school for grandparents day and realized what a struggle it was for my son just to do the simplest tasks. She called me immediately after leaving and suggested I get him into his doctor asap. So I did and he was tested and diagnosed with severe ADHD and ODD. As I said before he is quite immature for his age. He turned 8 a couple months ago and he plays better with 5 and 6 year olds than other kids his age. So after a year of struggling through kindergarten at the beginning of his 1st year in 1st grade we got him on medicine. Best decision ever. We had tried everything else. Diet changes, stricter routine, you name it we did everything we could to avoid starting him on medicine. So the medicine helped but he has a reading disability that the teachers said he would have with or without the ADHD and that the ADHD just makes it that much harder. So since he was not comprehending what he was reading, had only done half his class work last year and had failing grades we held him back. It took them all last year and me bringing a full report from the 4 hour evaluation he went through at childrens diagnostic center to get them to get his IEP in place and active. By that time there was only 2 months left of school. They were going to pass him onto 2nd grade until my husband and I said no way, We want him held back. The school worked well with us and even let me choose his teacher. He has the best teacher in the world this year, and the best reading intervention and intervention teachers I could ask for. He has made huge progress in school compared to last year. His reading fluency has improved a lot, his math and behavior modifications have been removed from his IEP and he was reading at grade level until they tested him last week. It took him three times to pass so they couldn't move him up. I wrote his teacher a note and asked why he wasn't at grade level and she called me that day and explained, while we were on the phone she also informed me that my son doesn't play with others at all. He plays by himself at recess everyday. He is a loner hes always been like that. Even at home he prefers to play alone more than with his siblings. That was one of the hard parts of holding him back to repeat 1st grade. He had one friend last year that he hung out with and played with. Now he doesn't see him because that boy is in 2nd grade now. So my I have two questions.
1. How do I help him learn to make friends and not be such a loner?
2. Do you think homeschooling him next year would be better. If he doesn't want to socialize at school and I homeschool him there is a really good group of homeschooling families in our area that get together and maybe he would make more friends that way. Im afraid as he gets older and continues to not make friends he will become an outcast and get picked on a lot. Any positive advice welcomed :)
Thanks for reading and sorry it was so long. Have a great day!