<p>My son was diagnosed around the middle of 10th grade. Like your son, he refused to accept the diagnosis, and did not want to take medication, comparing the use of meds in the classroom to steroids in athletics. While we did use the ‘glasses’ analogy (having glasses does improve performance, but it’s not unethical), he did not agree.</p>
<p>After a lot of nagging and nagging, and he did agree to try medication, but it had very bad side effects (lack of appetite, which really made him drag and feel awful for most of the day). After about 6 months, he just gave up. And I don’t blame him. </p>
<p>Let me say that if you do go the medication route, as some have pointed out, it might take awhile–and I mean many months–to figure out (1) the proper medication and (2) the proper dosage. We started at a very low dose, and when it seemed as though that had no effect after many weeks, decided to up the dosage, etc. At a higher dose, he did notice some effects, and some increased ability not to zone out so much and stay on track in the classroom, but then he also felt the side effects were too much. </p>
<p>So even if you go the medication route, it may take quite some time to see any improvement.</p>
<p>And while I am not one of those who believe that there’s no such thing as ADD–I had always expected that something was there with my son–I also think that his mild ADD was made significantly worse by the issues that any adolescent goes through. If he didn’t have his ADD, I’m sure his sophomore year would have been better. But I also think that, even with his ADD, if he wasn’t a crazy hormonal teenager, his sophomore year also would have been better. So his performance issues weren’t simply a problem of the ADD.</p>
<p>It’s hard to get such a diagnosis in mid adolescence and sort out all the issues. I was always trying to figure out how much of his performance issues are ADD related and how much are related to just adolescence.</p>
<p>I don’t know what else to say, other than it’s hard to be a parent in this case. You can’t force the meds, but you also want him to be able to perform at his best.</p>