Pay attention to what your head and gut are telling you! ADDers are typically one to two years behind in brain development, particularly the prefrontal cortex which controls impulsivity and understanding consequences, not to mention that boys mature later anyway. Put those two factors together with a several ton vehicle and it can be devastating - it is really like giving a 14 year old the car keys! I speak from our experience with our son, who failed his first test (as yours did) and finally received it at 16 1/2. Withing six months, he had four tickets (speeding, failure to stop completely) and had his license restricted. Now at 18 1/2, he has had two accidents, the last of which almost killed him. You will never regret taking it slow and giving your son more time to mature into the responsibility of driving a car... first with you, then alone, and much later with another person in the car. Empathize with his desire to drive and give him incentives to demonstrate increasing awareness of consequences, but do not allow him to drive until you feel assured he can handle the responsibility. I know it is tough to hold the line, but I'd hate for you to go through what our family did - and it is also your responsibility to everyone else on the road. Good luck!

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My 16-year old son wants to drive also. He's been on ADHD meds since he was 7 and been through a lot. Yes, he has matured, but it's still scary. He turned 16 in August and I have been putting it off as much as possible . I'm also very scared for him to be driving. I'm going to talk to his psychiatrist about this at our next visit.

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My son turned 16 last December. On December 18, 2007 he got his driver's license -- first try. In January I picked him up in a neighboring suburb at 5:00a with a carload of friends. I didn't hear him leave the house and pick up all his friends in MY car. All the arrangements were made by "texting," a very quiet activity. Since then, we have had a number of minor incidents involving curfew, passengers, etc. What I haven't told you is that he was not diagnosed with ADD until August of this year. Looking back, there were so many signs, but none of the more "typical" ones. He started on Adderall in August and is a new person! After months of screaming (both dad and mom - yeah, that helps a lot) and grounding, and consequences, we look back and know we were way off base. Of course, if he had been diagnosed and we had been educated long before the DL was on the horizon, we may have done things very differently. The kid that lives in our house now is a maturing (finally) and responsible (thank you Adderall) person and can handle the responsibilities of a car. In his first six months of driving, we took the car away more than we let him use it. My advice? Wow -- every kid is soooo different. I just know that our psychologist told us that he wouldn't let his own kids ride with an ADD'er if that kid wasn't on medication or otherwise being treated. And, knowing what I know now, if my kid injured (or worse) another kid and that kid's family found out about the ADD, I would feel terrible. And, they would have every right to not only be angry, but I wonder about legal consequences. So, as the other folks said, you have to follow your gut. Best of luck! It's a rocky road with teenagers, but it's especially rocky for those with ADHD.

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I have a 16 year old daughter with ADHD and I wont even let her take drivers ed yet. Even with medication, she is so impulsive that I KNOW that if she knew how to drive (with or without a license) she would be stealing my car all the time. I can bearly keep track of her on foot. I feel like "arming "her with that knowledge would be disasterous. I have beeen criticized that I am too protective, but I know my daughter and I am responsible for her actions. We also live in a ski resort town with ice packed roads for 8 out of 12 months. No way. YOu have to know your kid and what they are ready for. Good Luck and stand your ground!

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