I'm really a bit nervous about DS5's coming test, because he has a tendency to blurt out wrong answers within .0001 microseconds. If I just say, "Hold on--think again" he'll go, "Oh, wait. No! It's ____." This happens most with hard questions. (DD will use another strategy--"I don't know.") Will a good psych ever do this or allow this? Any suggestions on how to handle that problem?
DD9 is like this too. She speaks before she even has time to think and just says the first thing that pops into her head. I'm sure sometimes that works out fine, but we have to constantly tell her it is not a race. We tell her she needs to take a breath first, to give her time to process, then answer. We've also tried to tell her to repeat the question (either in her head or out loud if she needs to) hoping that might give her some time to think about it. However, these things might be more difficult to get a 5 year old to do.
I would practice with your DS to get him used to stopping to think before he answers. We did this with DD9 recently when she asked us to give her some spelling words for the spelling bee. She would immediately start spelling as soon as we said the word, so we made her repeat the word and take a breath before she could spell it. She would get the hang of it and then the next time she asked for some words she would revert right back to immediately starting to spell. It took some practice (and patience), but we just kept working with her and reminding her to take her time.
We also tried to be as upfront with DD9's tester as we could and explained she likes to give goofy answers sometimes just to see if you are paying attention, thinking she is being tricky. You should probably do the same - just explain to the psych that your DS has a habit of blurting and see if they will intervene somehow by maybe giving the question then immediately saying he should think about it before he answers.
Good Luck!
