Hi Emma

Welcome to the Forum 😊 And thank you for your kind words. I hope I can help others even in a small way because It was this forum that saved me spiralling downhill when my son first had this. No one else seemed to understand.

It must be hard for you too with your son's issues and not quite knowing whether there is a learning issue. My son found it hard to concentrate though. He was also very hard to sit down with to help with homework as he was constantly distracted. Looking back I think this was his anxiety and his hidden perfectionism that meant he'd rather fail from not doing something than fail by getting it wrong. Very irrational, and caused no end of arguments. He is still fairly much like this but now just procrastinates forever and then does the work in a rush. He is bright and so has coasted through each year but now needs to put in the hard work.

Can you get your son tested? Will CAMHS do this? Otherwise it might well be the anxiety and if you can get someone to teach him CBT or find methods that help, his concentration might improve.

Thanks for the info on the melatonin. I am interested to see that you had to get this with permission of a psychiatrist. I will ask my doctor as there is actually a 'melatonin' available here at the chemist. Perhaps the regulations are different. We did try this some time back but he either forgot to take it or took it too late and it just didn't take on the effect that it should have. But I suspect it might not be the same or perhaps much weaker than the type you have obtained, so I will see if we can get that via a prescription.
It is to do with the circadian rhythms being ot of kilter. I tell this to my son till I am blue in the face but he hasn't the motivation as a teenager to turn it around. I have just bought him a special clock/lamp that you set to come on before wake up time and it slowly brightens and is white light or daylight. It is supposed to help his body adjust better to light in the morning. As we have holidays here right now then we haven't had a chance to use it yet. I will let you know of that works too.
Sometimes it is trial and error, isn't it. And being teenagers makes our job that much harder!
I hope your son continues to improve and is eventually able to find ways to concentrate or get help if there is an underlying learning problem.
I hope coming on here has helpd you and that you have also given yourself some quality time or 'time out'.
Hear from you again,
Linda