My son is in 4th grade?
he has always attended a private school. I took him out of the private school this year because of a dvd program they were using. I was going to home school and decided to enroll him in public school. I know that there is going to be an adjustment period. However it seems that he is having trouble paying attention. His teacher thinks I should talk to his Dr. I feel like she is telling me that she thinks that he is ADD. I don’t know what to think. I know that he isn’t ADD. He pays attention to what he wants to pay attention to. She said that his behavior is fine, he isn’t disruptive or a behavior problem. Does anyone have any advice. He went from being a straight a student to an a-c student.
He attended a baptist school.
When I say that he pays attention to what he wants to I mean that he has no problem at ball practice, watching tv, reading books he likes, and playing monopoly -
I just went through a similar situation. My son is also in the 4th grade and I transferred him to the public school but for different reasons. While he is not struggling, I find that the public school is ahead academically from the private school. This may be a problem for your son. If I were you, I would make an appointment with his teacher, get to the core of her concerns. If he is falling behind, I would get him a tutor. Don’t be so quick to have him "labled" with any type of learning or bevioral disorder. He is going through and adjustment period and I think this is normal. Talk to your so – ALOT. Ask him if he finds the new school easier or harder, ask him about the teacher and his peers. Based on what his teacher tells you, and your talk with your son, you should be be in a better position to determine what you want to do. Analyze for yourself if the time your son has been in the public school enough for his teacher to make his assessment. Best of luck to you! 
I just went through a similar situation. My son is also in the 4th grade and I transferred him to the public school but for different reasons. While he is not struggling, I find that the public school is ahead academically from the private school. This may be a problem for your son. If I were you, I would make an appointment with his teacher, get to the core of her concerns. If he is falling behind, I would get him a tutor. Don’t be so quick to have him "labled" with any type of learning or bevioral disorder. He is going through and adjustment period and I think this is normal. Talk to your so – ALOT. Ask him if he finds the new school easier or harder, ask him about the teacher and his peers. Based on what his teacher tells you, and your talk with your son, you should be be in a better position to determine what you want to do. Analyze for yourself if the time your son has been in the public school enough for his teacher to make his assessment. Best of luck to you!
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Going from a private school 2 public is really easy, for public school are more challenging. He just knows more than the other kids and just wants 2 get school over with. He will grow out of it very soon. Don’t worry.
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i attened private school till i was in the 4th grad…it took me a year to adjust…give him time…if his teacher isnt patient enough and hes not disrupting the class…change teachers…
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Possibly the reason he is not doing his best coul be that he is bored. If he feels that the teacher, lesson, or whatever, is boring. He needs some reconsidering or talk with the teacher, I am NOT questioning her methods, but thats how it was for me
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What kind of private education was it (catholic, Montissori etc.)?
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For a fourth grader, a transition like that will be difficult. Give him extra help on his homework and just continue to reassure him that it will get better, because it will.
As for the medication that you suspect she is pushing, I would do everything in your power to fight this. My brother-in-law is forced to take that medication because the doctor and the school thinks he needs to be on it. He hates it (is now in 9th grade, but has been on it since about 5th grade) and has caused him to suffer from severe depression. Nobody thinks he should be off of it, but when he doesn’t take it over the weekends he is absolutely fine. Don’t let this happen to your son!!! I don’t want this to happen to him too!
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It could be that his private school was giving him more attention so it was easier for him to pay attention. It is possible he has ADD but it’s more likely he’s just been spoiled with close attention in his old school and now that he doesn’t have someone making sure he’s doing what he has to do he’s slacking off.
And saying he pays attention to what he wants to isn’t a good thing. Children should be able to pay attention to what they should be paying attention to, not just what they want to pay attention to.
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He just needs to get use to the adjustment.
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Who cares? Add is not real and you should have put him in public school from the start. You just need to give em a good spanking!!
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If I were you, I’d talk to her.
It’s been my experience that if you work with the school and the teachers, they really do want to do what is best for each child, to the best of their ability.
I would talk to her and get clarification. Say something like, "I know you can’t diagnose or anything like that, but do you feel like he could have ADHD?"
However, until he’s had an appropriate amount of time to adjust, I don’t think it can fairly be said that he has any kind of disorder, especially if it’s presenting in ways that you’ve never seen before in his behavior.
But, it’s been about eight or nine weeks since school started here, and after a good two months, you’ve passed the point of an adjustment period. If he’s been in the new school for this long, I would at least give enough consideration to the teacher’s suggestion that something may be going on with him that you start looking for behavioral or physical patterns.
Even if you decide to talk to his doctor, it is becoming less and less common for a regular medical doctor (pediatrician or family practice doctor) to decide in one visit to put him on drugs. My son’s pediatrician won’t so much as mention ADHD, except to remind us that she does not diagnose or treat it. And as we’re going through all the phases of testing, it’s been a good two months, and will be at least another two months before he gets diagnosed or gets cleared on it. At that point, we have to go take him to ANOTHER doctor to get prescribed meds to help it. All in all, once the whole process is over, he would have been seen, interviewed, observed and tested by around 20 different people in several different positions before the general consensus says "Yes, he has ADHD" or "No, he does not."
My point is, talk to his teacher, find out what she really meant by it, and why she feels the way she does. If it does turn out she thinks he has ADHD, find out why she feels that way. Any teacher worth her title knows that there are some differences between ADHD and other behavioral issues that are common. Try to keep an open mind, and make your decisions from there.
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