@Center, my kid was a mess at that age, too. “The Pigpen of Paper” was one of her nicknames. Watching her trying to organize something was like watching an octopus fall out of a tree. There were times when I despaired of her ever getting organized enough to go to college. But little by little she has gained ground. She never had a great HS GPA – she ended up with a 3.7 UW (yes, that is still pretty high, but not by CC standards – and she was certainly intellectually capable of higher grades). She did have great test scores, and pretty strong ECs, and ended up at a really challenging tech school. I think I held my breath the whole first semester, and I KNOW she worked crazy hard that first year. There is just no room at a school like that to do your homework over because you lost it (frequent occurrence in HS). I think she pulled some really, really long hours, and is in the middle of the pack academically as a junior. But she loves it, and mostly has her act together organizationally these day (although don’t get me going on the recent debacle regarding her expired driver’s license and getting the appropriate paperwork notarized and sent in – but that was something I thought was important, she considered it a lower priority… 
). She seems to have developed a system now for tracking most of her to-dos these days, though.
Intparent: yes I fear my child will end up working at a car wash…
Well, I would be happy for my son, an Eagle Scout and recruited distance runner in high school, if he could work at a car wash at this point.
My DD has a couple of LD’s and presented the same way when she was younger. As everyone recommends test. And don’t despair, knowing exactly what is going on let’s you figure out a plan and find help.
MaineLonghorn: hugs!!!
Thanks maystarmom.
Hi Center
Count me in as another parent with kid who have special needs. One (with autism) is doing really well as a HS senior, the other is closer to your kid’s age - 8th grader. He is my academic disaster. He has horrible ADHD and learning disabilities. The writing is the worst. This is both physically with totally illegibility, and with problems getting thoughts on paper. He shows classic dysgraphia. Last year was a disaster mentally and academically, and I ended up pulling him out of school for homeschool. Best decision ever. Here in California, he was able to join a homeschool charter, which means I am in charge of his education and make curriculum choices, they pay for everything. We also are getting fabulous SpEd services paid for. The occupational therapy had made a HUGE difference with writing. Speech therapy for pragmatics held with the social skills. There is a lot you can do to help once you get your evaluation done.
Have you asked for an IEP eval from the school?
Will reply later…
LKnomad: sorry my iPad was freezing up. Let’s see. We did ask two years ago and then again this past Fall. After a cursory survey of teachers they acted like we were crazy. Teachers said varying degrees of disorganization, too chatty at times but a nice kid, good class participation. Other parents have said that when kids are smart and are getting by, they don’t want to bother, that these evaluations and programs cost them money. Too be fair, the kid is in all accelerated classes scraping out Bs. However, routinely flirting with disaster grades wise. Disaster in our book is less than a B. Further, child is underperforming for non academic reasons. Anyway. I am pursuing an evaluation on my own.
^ If you ask for an evaluation the school has to comply. What state are you in? There are organizations that can help you understand not only various conditions that the test might reveal but also your son’s rights. For example in my area, Asbergers and Autism Network of New England (aaane) - tons of information, webinars, experts to answer questions.
Great job @LKnomad - what a neat system that sounds like! Impressive.
Hope you get some answers Center. It’s hard to worry about them constantly.
@SouthFloridaMom9 I looooooove living in CA!
What tests are the IQ measurement in an evaluation?
Sounds like moderate attention deficit disorder to me. Speak to your doctor about scheduling an evaluation.
Center, did your son get his neuro psych test? Did you get one booked? I just sent an email requesting one for my son. He is very bright, outstanding test scores, very good grades without studying. Most nights, he just pretends to study. When it’sl 12 hour before due dates, his butt is on fire and he gets things done. I fear he too will work at a car wash because we can’t imagine him at a desk job working on tasks on his own… Please let us know how yours went. Good luck! It sounds weird but we are all hoping for positive solutions… I hope my son can get one sooner rather than later…