7 year old has A and B in all his classes but teacher complaints he does not finish his school work,

Most schools have some kind of screening tool (like a check list) of signs of ADD/ADHD. Both the parent & teacher will fill it out and then the school psychologist will look at to determine if the student needs further testing. If the parent feels that it could be ADD/ADHD they can ask the teacher if the student can be evaluated. Sometimes I get a feeling about a student based on observations. If her son is doing very well and he is not saying it's too hard then she might want to ask the child why he is not doing his work. He may say he is bored, he does not understand or that he just does not want to. I have a student that gets all A's but just refuses to complete assignments. He is very disruptive so he gets low grades in behavior. I try to challenge him and I make it a point to call on him when he raises his hand. He will only work if there is a grade involved and he needs a lot of redirection. There isn't always a magic answer. I try to gain the support of the parent on following up with consequences at home. Sometimes that is helpful but sometimes you get a student that just does not care.

As a teacher, what is your procedure for addressing the possible causes when a student struggles with completing assignments in a timely fashion? At what point do you contact the parent? How do you distinguish a learning issue from "laziness"? What signs do you look for? What can parents do to help?

Everyone is quick to jump to a conclusion that it may be ADHD. Although you may have to rule that out, as a teacher I know that if I felt that this was the case I would discuss this with the parent. Most of my students who I suspect may be ADHD are very disruptive also (but not always). It could be that he is bored, the work is too easy or sometimes the student is just lazy. I have had very bright students who are lazy. The teacher may have to offer an incentive to him to finish work or he may have to have consequences for his behavior such as getting a zero. This is a weak area for me as I hate to fail a bright student, but they have to learn that there are consequences for not doing what they are supposed to be doing. I have several students who take up a huge part of my day which is not fair to the others. If he cares about his grades, a few bad grades should change the behavior.

If your grandson does turn out to be both gifted and have ADHD-inattentive, you might want to look at some of the resources I've listed in the "2e" ("twice exceptional") group at community.greatschools.net/groups/16042