GED instead of High School | ADHD Information

what grade is he in?

My co workers son did this, not because of ADHD but he just hated school. It has not been a problem - in fact he was working at Kmart as a security guy and he would have made it much further but his dream of being an FBI agent would have been squashed, Anyway, he is now in the Marines in Iraq and most likely one of the safer Marines since he is a computer guy in the green zone. This kid will go far and the GED has never been a problem. People are actually impressed that he wanted to get into the "real world" quicker.

Just my $.02,

My son is getting his GED instead of finishing high school. Has anyone else had to resort to this?

Is the school not meeting his needs with an IEP or 504 plan? His school experience has been a nightmare, he has ADHD, diagnosed Anxiety and seperation disorder. They tried to take him off of his IEP last year. I have fought them and even gone to the Feds, But that too is a nightmare. The school is riddled with gang members, and Evan has poor social skills to begin with, he is now 16 and we have had to pull him out of school, becase if one more gang banger touched him he was going to fight back, we know then he would be the one is trouble. He has IBS and missed so much time that the Gastroentologist was going to put him to sleep and do more tests. We pulled him out of school and put him into a Charter with 60 kids, found out later that was where all of the gangs kids went when they were expelled. We put him into GED classes. So far he seems to like it, I need to leave and pick him up in a minute.

Sorry, I just got back, I had to get him and go to the Doctor. He is in 10th grade. He seems to be working really hard. He is going to become a paramedic. Once he turns 18 he can take the classes. Once he gets his GED, we are going to have him take some classes at the local college until he becomes old enough to take the EMT classes.

Personally, I am happy to not be worried the whole time he is at school.

EMT is probably a very good choice for someone with ADHD.

My son's behavioral pediatrician said that taking the GED path is very common for people with ADHD. My husband did it, and it did reduce his career options, however he is successful regardless.

You said "we pulled him out of school and put him into a Charter with 60 kids, found out later that was where all of the gangs kids went when they were expelled." To me, that means that you placed him in an alternate education setting. As I understand, it's nearly impossible to get from there back to mainstream, so the GED route is probably a good one.

We could have put him back into school, he said he would kill himself!!! We did not feel it was worth that. Going into the medical field has always been his plan, he is still going to go to college, so a GED should not affect his future. I forgot to mention that he has tested with a extremely high IQ. They expect him to pass the first time he takes the test, he is working on some math that he had not learned yet in traditional school. I did not want this to be his school outcome, but have learned that this is probably what is best for him. He actually brings work home to do, so he can take his test sooner.We changed our expectations for HS graduation after this last school year. Our son is a junior and even with the IEP, school social distractions and anxiety are tough. Luckily he is in a good, smaller, arts and communications focused school without gangs and such. Getting him to be able to sit for more than 15 minutes on any difficult school work is horrible.

We aren't too concerned now if he needs a break from hs. If he ends up getting his GED and takes some college classes or works with his art somehow then that would be fine. It's not that he doesn't want to learn, he picks things up very quickly as long as there are no other distractions.

I failed a class my last year of high school and didn't get my diploma until a lot later. In fact, i didn't finish college either but am doing very well in a professional career. IMHO unless your dream is to attend a college like Harvard or Stanford I don't think it's that big of a deal.

We just want him to hit 18 and beyond with his self-esteem intact and tools to help manage his depression, anxiety and ADD.
My brother got his GED, but not until he was in his late 20's. It actually hasn't changed his career at all, but he wanted to do it for himself. He was managing a tele-fundraising phone bank at the time, but he decided to go back into making the calls himself because he's a great salesman and makes more money that way.

I have no experience with this, however, can't someone with a GED still attend college if the SAT score is there?

You mention your son is extremely intelligent, I think you did the right thing!

He will be fine because he is going to make the right choices and he has you to help him along the way.

Let him get his GED and then take it from there!

Get him away from the gangs and violence, because it always seems that the good kids, like our children, take the fall for the juvenile delinquents!