I just saw a report on the news that says younger children are more likely to be misdiagnosed with ADHD when it is really immaturity. Before we knew my son had PANDAS and we were searching for an answer as to what was wrong- one psychologist said he was "severely impaired with ADHD" she also said that I would be doing damage to my sons life if I don't medicate him. He was barely 5 ( summer birthday) and she said I should retain him- saying his intelligence was not really a factor in the decision since he had such bad ADHD. My Mommy gut said no to the retention and ADHD and I did not medicate and kept looking. She spoke in a baby voice to my son so I honestly discounted any diagnosis she made- I could see my son did not respect her( which meant he tested and pushed every boundary she had
. Now we realize we were dealing with PANDAS at the time not ADHD. What she saw was him being a boy- a gifted immature boy with synchronistic development that does NOT need medication!! So if you are 30-40% more likely to get an ADHD diagnosis for being the youngest due to immaturity- why wouldn't you hold back??? Why risk getting you child labeled a trouble maker which effects the self esteem and the rest of how you function in school?? Before my son was Sick he was a big trouble maker- not able to handle the immaturity and intelligence being the youngest in the class. After being retained for medical reasons he handles his intelligence SO much better being one of the older kids. He does not get in trouble nearly as much( I wish I could say ever but he is still a handful :)) and every person at his 504 hearing for PANDAS was shocked when I told them a Dr once tried to diagnosed him with ADHD- every single person said- he does NOT have ADHD. My Dad told me if you are a hammer everything looks like a nail- this Dr was not able to distinguish immaturity in a gifted boy from ADHD. So glad my Mommy Gut was so strong not to medicate but she also was really adamant I should retain him because of the immaturity- which we eventually had to do for medical issues a few years later and it did have very beneficial results in how he functions in the class. He is a leader when he was the trouble maker before(in fairness his PANDAS contributed greatly to that perspective) I look at the kids a grade older at boy scouts and I can see the difference in maturity still- but I also live in a heavy redshirted district. My ds can talk to them- generally they can't keep up on certain topics but the social interaction maturity is just off.
I still think it is the parents decision and the child should not be denied access to gifted programs- but why wouldn't you redshirted if immaturity is an issue and putting your child in jeopardy of being misdiagnosed and possibly wrongly medicated?
