Need Advice on Medicating My Son

If this is for ADHD and his is slight, then what are you hoping it will achieve? I do mean what you hope for, not what school hopes for. If it's ADHD meds, it won't help the learning disability or the brain disorder. Rather than jumping into meds, why not go the route of submitting the various diagnoses to school and have him go through the committe for special ed, to see if his disabilities entitle him to accommodations or special services from a 504 or IEP plan.

I know how frustrating this can be. My almost 6 year old was diagnosed with slight ADHD, but definitely has sensory integration disorder (of course that is not covered under insurance, so I go with the ADHD diagnosis). A neurodevelopment pediatrician diagnosed him. She was absolutely against drugs (as was I so that was good), especially at his age. My son receives occupational therapy at school to help him to control his impulses. He is also doing ear-aerobics (check out the Listening Program). Both have helped greatly. He may need medication in the future, but until then both these solutions are helpful. Thinking of you and feel free to reach out to me if you want to know more about anything.

Poor guy. Do some research on the spectrum line. This is for kids with ADHD and such things. If you have questions let me know. I have a pediatrician that uses this line for his patience. He hates medicating kids unless absolutly necessary.

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I too disagree with lazily medicating kids. It is a fast easy way to get kids out of their hair...and so profitable for the drug companies. I don't know. I certainly am no doctor but I personally would look at alternative approaches. I have heard of some amazing success rates. Obviously I don't know your child nor how serious the issues are. Good luck, you got some good suggestions here.

Why don't you try it?
My 7 year-old son has PDD-NOS (autistic spectrum) which is accompanied with ADHD. His neurodevelopmentalist has always been against any drugs, and there was no need for them on the part of his school since he's always been in a self-contained classroom with a large number of adults trained how to deal with behavior issues. In general, he is a smart kid who has interest in playing and communicating with other children. Academically he does fine and his teacher is confident that he would do well in a big classroom with typically developing children but they cannot intergrate him while his behavior issues (impulsiveness, unpredictability, problems with following directions) are present. He is enrolled in a very good program in a regular public school, his teacher was coming up with various behavior plans for the entire first grade, nothing worked. After discussing it among us for a long time, my husband and I decided to give a medication a chance and we saw its benefits. During the first month he was on Focalin, we didn't get any bad reports on his behavior from school. This summer it allowed him to be in a school-based camp which was a larger group of kids with fewer adults, and he had no problems. Do we see side-effects? Yes. When on medication, he becomes more sensitive and prone to tears, he is also less likely to try new things, or do things he normally likes doing. For this reason, we prefer not to give it to him when he is not in school. Also, we started trying it only three months ago. We will try it again when the school starts and we'll experiment with the dose, and probably the different type of drugs based on his needs. But if this medication helps him to move to a different school setting and be more successful with making friends and being a part of the classroom with typically developing kids, it is an obvious benefit for us.
Obviously, your son is very different from mine, and you may have a different situation. But before just rejecting the drug try to find local moms who actually had tried it with their kids. Maybe ask your doctor to connect with them (with their permission)? Our school district has support group for parents with kids with ADHD. Probably, you have something like this near you? I heard moms saying "Yes, it works, I wish I tried it earlier." and those who tried it and didn't like what they saw. But it all depends on a kid and on a particular situation.
And I must add that we tried alternate ways: gluten and casein free diet, vitamins and mineral supplements which were prescribed by a holistic care professional. In our case these methods didn't work.
So, don't be against the medication just because it's sounds so awful. Talk to as many moms as you can who actually have had experience with it, maybe give it a trial at home, and then make your own decision that is best for your particular child. Good Luck!