Adopting an elementary school-aged child can be wonderful because he may be able to communicate well with you and do a lot of fun activities with your family without the intensive physical care babies or young children need. However, if your elementary-aged child comes from a deprived background or if he didn't receive adequate, loving care, he may be developmentally delayed, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or have other emotional illnesses. In order to help him move forward, you will need to recreate the nurturing infancy and early childhood that are crucial for normal development and maturation.