Just to start I am not diagnosing or deciding my son is ADHD and/or dyslexic, but I'm worried about some of my son's struggles and just trying to think where to turn or what questions to be asking.
My son is 5 - nearly 6 and is fantastic - he is the most loving, sociable, wonderful active lad - who moves through life at 100 miles an hour, leaving a whirlwind in his path. He has an unbelievable knowledge about animals and nature - to the point of obsessiveness and he tends to teach the adults rather than they teach him as his knowledge is so wide. He loves being outside and is constantly tactile with nature, playing with leaves, feeling things, digging, etc. He is dogmatically protective of the natural world and gets so upset by destruction, harm to animals or people leaving plastic on the beach (to the point that a friend killing a wasp led to a 2 hour meltdown!). He is the original wild child and hates being inside or enclosed. He vocalises this by quite literally having to run outside every half hour or so and 'recharging' himself in nature (hugging tree or smelling a plant, etc). He is very intelligent, remembering facts and he is great at literal problem solving. He is very popular with his peers and communicates confidently with adults and children.
So why am I worried... he is in year 1 and still really, really struggles with reading, he recognises all letters but cannot comprehend the phonic sounds and really struggles to blend them together. He will repeat the letters in a word in the wrong order (not just back to front, but literally jumbled altogether). He cannot not sit still - it is literally a physical impossibility for him to sit still for more than a minute or so and he leaps from activity to another (unless outside - then he would bug hunt for example for hours!). His pain threshold is very high and he doesn't assess risk in way. He still does not sleep through the night, regularly waking up to ask random questions where his mind is just in overdrive. He is extremely curious about anything and everything and asks the most deep diving questions. He still really struggles to hold a pencil and write - he can just about write his name but it is a real struggle. He still struggles to dress himself, use a knife and fork, etc. He is defiant - he will literally do the opposite of what someone asks but will argue till he is blue n the face that his way was right. He is extremes in his thoughts and ideas he is well beyond what is expected for his age, but physically and in his literacy and writing he is well behind. He also has the most amazing imagination, and has an entire world he has made up - but he often struggles to also draw a line between his fantasy world and reality.
Should I be worried or should I just let this play out and see how he develops. School seem to think he is very, very bright - just 'choosing' not to learn and engage in reading and writing, and essentially think he is 'academically lazy'.