he will start with a couple of words, pause, repeat them, again, and again, and then get more of his sentence out.
We have one like that at our house. I think there are multiple possible causes for this kind of verbal dysfluency, including but not limited to attention, motor issues, and sequencing issues.
(For that matter, there are multiple possible causes for retelling issues as well. Both my kids have that problem but, I think, for different reasons.)
Overall, I don't care if the ADHD is right or not, it is getting him what he needs.
This has been our family's position on diagnoses. They are absolutely obligatory both in the school and medical systems IF you need certain kinds of help. If the kid needs help, the label can often make that help available. In our case, I would rather have the help because the needs are real. If help is offered for the wrong need, we negotiate and investigate and try to get the whole team clear on what we see.
I do not share others' fear of labels-- a disability label is better than the label of "slow" or "stupid" for a child who operates at an unusual pace, or "bad" for a child with behavioral issues. Outliers are going to be labeled-- better IMO to have the correct name for what's going on and some control over the message.
DeeDee
