<p>My son was finally diagnosed with ADD during 7th grade. He and my husband didn’t think he had any problems until he hit middle school. Grades were disastrous and I walked out of the first parent teacher’s conference crying. First I started with a psychologist who tried to work on his motivation. He is a smart boy that just has no interest in school. The psychologist is the one who told me to speak to the pediatrician. The pediatrician gave me some forms to be filled out by his teachers and myself. I discussed the results with both the pediatrician and psychologist. We decided on trying medication. My son was against it but decided to try it. His grades did improve a little but not as much as I would have liked because the medication still does not make him do his homework and studying. What got to me was that his English teacher thanked me for getting him the help he needed. She said that before the medication, she would have staring contests with him and he had no idea she was staring at him. She saw an immediate change in his attentiveness.</p>
<p>He takes his medication in the morning before school so no one in school has to even know about it. He even gave me a low dosage medication to give him after school if he needs help concentrating on his homework.</p>
<p>I had taken some books out at the library for him. One described what ADD is and how it affects people. Another book had biographies of famous people who have been diagnosed with ADD. I think these books helped him understand that there are a lot of people with this and it is nothing to be ashamed of.</p>