We went through the special education for about 1 year.  He was placed in a program where many of the kiddos in the class were non-verbal, and with significant physical limitation, including those children who were wheel-chair bound.  Despite this, my boy had a wonderful time in the class because the teachers were loving and caring.  We were in this particular class for 1 year, and the teacher said that because of the drastically different functional level of my boy compare to other children in this class, she was worried that he was not getting the right stimulation.  Since my boy is very expressive, active, and physically strong, she suggested that we move out of this class and into mainstream pre-school again.  She feels perhaps being with other kids with similar abilities, he would flourish and develop more.  I went with the suggestion because I believed the teacher truly loved my boy and gave the best advice that she was able to at the time.  We were very fortunate to be able to find supposedly one of the best pre-school in the area mid-year through.  We enrolled back in mainstream for about the next 6 months.  In this 6 months, I met with his pre-school teacher multiple times to gauge his progress and development.  While there was minor progress, the teacher felt that my boy definitely needed a lot more attention compare to other kids in his class.  The teacher warned me that she believes he will struggle once in kindergarten when the class size is large.  At this time, we did not have a diagnosis.  I was still unsure whether my boy is just being a boy or he really falls on the spectrum of having ADHD.  I wanted to get him tested so that first I can have an answer to this question, but also, I knew having a diagnosis will give me the leverage I need if he were to need extra help in school later on.  In June of 2025, just before taking an international trip back to the county I grew up from, he was diagnosed with ADHD.  He met all criteria of ADHD with flying colors.  We had our question answered.     

My boy had long history of "trouble" at school ever since he was plugged into the school system.  As a single mom who has a full time job, sending him to day care followed by preschool was the most sensible option for me.  He entered preschool when he literally just turned 2.  The first year of preschool was a freebie for us; meaning, the teacher although would comment from time to time about him not following instructions, she certainly did not make a big deal out of it.  I suppose for children at age 2, the teachers were still understanding of basic child development.  As soon as he turned 3, everything changed.  I began to get daily "feedbacks" from school about his behavior at school. And let me tell you, thinking back, I could not remember of a single good day at school.  Most of the behavior reports involved him not following instructions, and the behavior associated with not following instructions were wide, including not stopping an action when being asked to stop, or doing exactly the opposite of what the teacher asked for.  I would also get reports of him hitting others and spitting on others.  Every school day became stressful for me, because deep inside, I was always afraid of getting another negative report.