Does my son need medicated?

[fairman2112]

I met yesterday with my 8 year old son's 3rd grade teacher and she said that he has trouble focusing in class.  She said that he is very smart and wants him tested for the gifted program at his school.  She feels that he may need to be put on medication for his "focus" problem and she is going to discuss this with the guidance counselor to have him evaluated.  We think that he may be bored with some of the materiel in the classroom.  My husband doesn't want to medicate him.  He said that teachers want to medicate kids and make them like zombies to have control over them.  Is there some kind of herbal treatment or diet that I could try with him instead of prescription drugs?

[fairman2112]

My son, like your daughter, brings home 100% on his spelling tests every week and his school work is always correct.  His teacher last year was able to work out a deal like you have with "extra" work.  As soon as he was done with classwork, he was allowed to quietly move to "centers" to work on another project (example: computers).  That worked very well.  I may have to suggest to his new teacher what his 2nd grade teacher did last year.

Thanks for your comment!

[fairman2112]

Thank you for your feedback!  I was just a bit upset that the teacher suggested that my son may need meds to keep him under "control".

I will wait for the guidance counselor to "evaluate" him and go from there.

[mikaleen]

I just had the same issue with my daughter in first grade.
She doesn't focus and causes "distractions" around her.  
I feel she is more bored than anything else, she was tested in kindergarten at reading above a 6th grade level, and she just does not want to write the word "tip" 5 times.  I have spoken to her about how some of the other kids may not find the work as easy, and that they need to pay attention to the teacher so they are able to learn from her.  She does have a pretty short attention span, but she is also 6...
We have worked out an agreement where if she just does her work to get it done, and is finished, she can pick work from a special folder with more "challenging" work if she'd like, or she could read a book she brings from home quietly.  We will see if it helps her at all, and we have been working on focus at home too, minimizing distractions and making sure she's really hearing us.
If her work starts suffering, or her teacher has other complaints we will bring her to be evaluated, but even with all these "focus" problems her teacher says she is having, all the work she has brought home has been done correctly 100% of the time.

Just because you have him evaluated does not mean any Dr. would automatically jump to medication.  It may just reenforce your gut feelings that he is just bored, and you can work out a plan to try to keep that from hindering his schoolwork and focus.  I don't know about herbal remedies, I have heard of some diets that have helped with ADD, I believe one of the top ideas is eliminating food dyes...things like the kids fruit snacks.  I am not sure of others, I am sure you could get some suggestions from the Dr. that evaluates him as well.  Good luck!

[jdtm]

Does my son need medicated? --  your words

This is a question for your family doctor or a medical specialist.  I do know that the correct medication used in the correct dose will not "cause a "zombie".  As a retired teacher, I assure you that I could never "diagnose" (only describe behaviours) and I would never want a child "medicated" to have control.  Teachers (who usually are also parents) only want what is best for the child.  As for herbal remedies, these are unregulated and may be more dangereous than precription medications.

My advice - let the school decide if your son is gifted and if he requires enhanced curriculum and let the medical profession decide if your son is ADD/ADHD and how best to treat, if necessary.  All the best ...