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Ask The Learning Expert:
ADDitude's Education Expert
Should My ADHD Son Go Back to First Grade?
Q:
"My second-grader shows signs of ADHD. His teacher thinks he should return to first grade. My concern is that my son is a twin. His sister is a well-behaved A student, and I think retaining him could damage his self-esteem."
A:
I certainly would not recommend retaining your son. I would highly recommend a in-depth testing of his ability — both cognitive and academic. You need to know the nature of his needs and if indeed he is attention deficit.
Retention won't help ADHD — only strategies and techniques will. Move forward now and have a complete psychoeducational battery done by a reputable child psychologist in your area.
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:
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Posted by
Faty
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Dec 12 2008 @ 2:16 AM
Hold back
Having moved here from the UK I have never supported the idea of holding back a child until my 7 year old son, who has innattentive ADD went to 2nd grade this past September. He was strugling so much that I gave in and put him back in 1st grade. I read loads about the effects of holding back and nothing I read was good. But I came to the conclusion that if I have left my son in 2nd grade with children who are super achievers it would have hurt him more than repeating a grade. Now he's in 1st grade and is doing great. He gets pulled out to do higher grade math and reading and he's also the first to finish his work in class. I feel sad because it's very hard for him to make friends and the friends he made in kindergarten have all moved on and next year my son won't even have reccess with them. But he's much more confindent and does all his homework by himself. Last year he was crying and just couln't do it. I am glad I am holding him back. his brother is 2 years younger and is just a grade behind him. That doesn't bother him.
If you feel your son should be held back, this is the only time because if you wait too long then it may affect him more.
If you decide to hold him back tell him that he's very luck he can have an extra year to have more fun and prepare for all the work in 2nd grade. Tell him that he's very smart but if he's a little older he can do much better.
Good luck
Faty
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