Advice needed! My son has always been a little behind in school. He has a summer birthday and we decided that since he was such a social child that we didn't want to redshirt him before kindergarten. We first noticed him testing a bit behind on standardized test (iReady) in 2nd grade, which was the same year as the Covid lockdown. In 3rd grade, he was getting straight A's in school (his private school was in person) but he continued to test a bit behind the expectations. Given that his grades were so good but his test performance was behind, we had some concerns about the quality of the education he was getting. This year in 4th grade, we found out he had gotten into a magnet school a month into his school year so we decided to move him. This new school uses technology very differently than his prior school (i.e. much more dependent on it) and does not communicate with parents at all regarding assignments, etc. His grades have been much lower this year so we found him a tutor twice a week and have been trying to work with him on our own in the evenings and over weekends. Despite all of these steps, his grades have continued to plummet. During this time, he has had 2 Covid quarantines and a teacher strike and his teacher ended up quitting with 2 days notice. We're currently on week 2 of a substitute teacher.

I'm trying to decide whether we need to seek testing for any sort of condition that might be contributing to this situation (dyslexia, ADHD, etc.). Apparently, the reservations are booking for 6 months out and even with insurance, the cost of testing him will be about $1,000 and take about 8 hours of our time. He is a very verbal and socially adept kid. He has never been at all interested in reading (and I've tried tons of great books with him - Harry Potter, Diary of Wimpy Kid, etc.). When he does read aloud to me, he frequently skips over words as if he is trying to go too fast. His teachers say he is always the first to turn in assignments and because of his haste isn't really adequately answering the questions. I am not sure if he is just trying to expend as little effort as possible and doesn't really take school seriously. However, I would feel horrible if there was something else at play and I was getting frustrated at him for something outside of his control.

I also know these past two years have been A LOT. In addition to the pandemic, we upended his school situation, his teacher quit with very little notice, etc.

Would you bring him to a clinical psychologist and have him evaluated for dyslexia, ADHD, etc.? Or would you give it a little time given all that has happened over the last two years?