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Should I Hold Back My Son?

Q:

"My son is bright but inattentive, and lags behind his peers socially. Should I have him tested for ADD, and would it be detrimental to hold him out of school one more year to give him a chance to mature?"

A:

You did not state when your son's birthday is. Research indicates children born during the months of June, July and August did respond best to waiting a year. Called "the gift of time," they needed the time for social growth.

If your child truly has ADD, social maturation is part of it and no amount of retention will make him more mature. He will typically lag in social maturation throughout his life span.

My answer would be 1) check birth date first 2) have him evaluated for ADHD. Decide based on those results.

Dr. Clare Jones was an educational consultant in Scottsdale, Arizona, respected throughout the psychological community for her work with ADHD children and adults. She passed away in late 2006 and is truly missed.

1 Comments:

  • Posted by Momofthree - May 16 2009 @ 8:37 PM
    Holding your child back
    My 7 year old son was diagnosed in Nov.08 with ADHD/ODD. His birthday is in June and he started school at age 4 and looking back we should have waited before starting him in school. He had a lot of difficulty socialy. Things have just escaladed since then. I wish we would have waited and just introduced him to smaller play groups to start.
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