His kindergarten teacher wants to keep him back next year. Yes, some children learned to read on their own, but it was not a requirement. Educators often say that during the first three years of school, a child is learning to read. 15 June 2012. Kids who are much younger than grade-level peers and who have a history of struggling academically can benefit from repeating a grade. This makes it difficult to get a sample group of very young students with diagnosed learning disabilities we can study. Here are more reasons kids may seem younger than other kids their age: Hyperactivity: Does the child seem to be driven by a motor, like the Energizer Bunny? As a rule, school professionals strongly avoid this practice of . Communicate. But know that teachers dont make the recommendation to repeat kindergarten without a lot of thought. Every week! Few of them will be deeply affected by (or even remember later on) repeating kindergarten. That is not a requirement in Colorado we are told to have them at least know 30 of the 100 most frequently used words, and they should be able to read, but not fluently. Your child may not mind this as much as you think. My son's teachers are suggesting he repeat kindergarten. Why is it still being suggested then? No wonder you feel insecure about doing what is obviously the right thing for your son. But then again I just cant understand why 1st grade cant help him write his letters perfectly? Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Blend Images/Ariel Skelley/the Agency Collection/. If it doesnt work out, youll worry about it when the time comes. Information on our advertising guidelines can be found. It can be a better fit emotionally and age-wise. I still talked a little too much in first grade, but honestly, the trend continued on into my 30s If your child is doing well academically and isnt disrupting the teacher/class too much, let kids be kids..theyll be just fine! Does he try to tell the story by looking at the pictures? She doesn't know her letters, their sounds, or her numbers. As a speech language pathologist, I . Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning. My son turned 5 a week before the deadline. Just like I would rather her be a young 6 than a young 5 when starting kindergarten, I would rather her be a young 19 than barely-older-than-17 when she begins college (especially if she attends away from home). Well email you our most helpful stories and resources. These teachers, trying to put all kids in a peg as either Got it or Did not get it, are unconscionable ! These same problems are an issue when repeating any grade; but regarding such an early grade as kindergarten, some people question whether the potential benefits can outweigh the potential drawbacks. You just couldnt see or analyze yourself ! Ive asked multiple times to please send books home so I could help him with reading to give him the confidence he once had back, up Ive been denied every time with the excuse that he first needed to demonstrate his reading at schoolI even know their strategy that was confirmed by the teacher and still only a very few books sent home. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Scholastic.com. At this stage, children have passed through toddlerhood and are more mature, socially aware, and willing to interact with peers. The recommendation to repeat the year is not a comment on your child's intelligence; it's a comment on your child's maturity. Faced with this revelation, it can seem someone is questioning your child's mental acuity. It is also seen that being older in the class may help your . Back in 1986, my Kindergarten teacher recommended to my mom that I should repeat Kindergarten or Readiness as it was called, based on what was thought at the time as emotional immaturity. However, Im still struggling with the decison. In the end, it's impossible to predict how any individual will respond to staying back or moving on -- or even how much progress that child will make in the last months of school or over the summer. His teacher has to repeat everything to him. As a teacher, I have seen many students struggle as they are younger and immature compared to their cohort. What I have experienced is that the homework is the only thing my kids learn from. . If you decide to have your kid repeat kindergarten, be sure to look at this k-8 public charter school option. I believe with a one on one tutor for the summer it will help him perform better in the first grade. This will be much easier if you're honest, telling your parents you love to spend time with them but unfortunately doing so at their house is a not negotiable. He will be turning 6 in a week here. The students in this study, however, had a far higher rate of learning disabilities than their peers. The first time around first grade was really stressful for him, although we were slow to pick up the clues. This is not about how smart your child is. To reading. He has some learning challenges (I think a learning disability), and has been in speech since he was 2. . First grade is where kids must apply themselves to the act of learning to read and do simple math. He may grow physically and may feel comfortable amongst his peers. Sammy, for instance, could discuss ancient Troy but couldn't draw a stick figure. So we entered him into kindergarten in August 2014. Your grandson sounds like mine : very smart, maybe just a bit slower in maturity, but just waiting to really take off a bit later but not lagging because of IQ or skill performance probability in a very short while. Not sure what to do, you speak to a few experts, do your research, and decide to chance it and send your child on to kindergarten. "When is it a good idea to repeat kindergarten?" Spelling tests in kindergarten? Ive seen the damage done to countless students by the change, and much joy and celebration robbed from early education. Second do you have any suggestions on how to teach him to blend sounds into words? Repeating a grade at this age can indeed be beneficial. - My son will graduate high school and only be 17 years old. He developed stomach aches all the time, even on weekends, which threw us off. From old progress reports, it appears the emotional immaturity stemmed from not consistently staying on task and randomly talking out of turn. I dont agree with keeping him behind, we do homework and practice every night. There is something schools could do, though you are more likely to find a willingness to do it in a private or parochial school. Your gut reaction may be to defend your child. - My son will be the last to learn how to drive. I am also currently looking into private tutor for my But we just feel hes not ready to move to 1st grade, and thats just gona give him more to struggle with. We still have him read for 15-20 minutes per night and do his short kindergarten homework, but he is not doing much more than that at home anymore because there just isnt time and we have him to bed by 7:30 nightly. Should you hold your child back from first grade and let her repeat kindergarten? Some kids act younger than their peers because they are younger than most kids in the grade. Using a tool called the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale, Jones measured each child's general satisfaction with life as adolescents. "Should Your Child Repeat Kindergarten?" I suggest you have him evaluated by a speech therapist and see what the speech therapist thinks. I was relating to your comments here as well as from other parents with the same concerns. Holding back where . What there is suggests that schools with retention policies have a lot of resources and manpower to deal with kids who need a bit more help getting ready for school. But at this point, Id be grateful that she did spot a problem and tell you about it before he went on to first grade. The work done at home, or not done at home, will place all children behind where they would have been socially and academically. Although this article is well written and touches on plenty of other skills students need to go into first grade, it fails to mention they need to be reading, fluently adding and subtracting, and do more than just hold their pencil correctly. In any event, why not have him evaluated? They did some testing prior to the start Shes also going to attend a reading program over the Summer. Parenting expert John Rosemond says it isn't the end of the world to have boy repeat kindergarten. For more than 20 years, Eileen Marzola has worked with children and adults with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, and with their parents and teachers. She also maintains a private practice in the evaluation and teaching of children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders. Joined Jan 19, 2002. These questions concerned me, but I knew that repeating kindergarten was the right thing for my son. Kristin J. Carothers, PhD is a clinical child psychologist devoted to the destigmatization of mental health problems. He may even be ahead of his new classmates. We are solely to blame for not having our son attend pre-k as I was uneducated on its value. There are lots of reasons kids might seem immature for their grade. My 6 year old daughter is in Kindergarten at a private school in NYC. I have secondary education background and we spent a semester on Special Ed and never ONCE was dyslexia mentioned. It should be criminal to do that to these kids. This is not about how smart or good or "normal" your child is. The teachers have not been taught what dyslexia is and IS NOT. Beyond that, though, things can get a bit confusing: Which skills is your child behind on? There is a vast amount of scientific research showing that children do not benefit by being held back in grade school. It has been a nightmare to get help for them. The pros of repeating the prep year of school. I dont think my daughter will handle being held back well. Take a closer look at the immature behavior and see if you pick up on patterns. And those possible downsides are significant, too. What kind of long-term effects, if any, can result from repeating or not repeating a grade? Im so upset! Hes also on an IEP since the beginning of the year. You may want to seek help from the school in having your child assessed for school readiness. My husband was 19 and I was nearly 19 when we started college. Being retained had no effect on students' chances of graduating. Every child is different. Grade Learn how to spot itand how to protect children of all ages from bullies at school. C books are recommended, but not required. She has been a regular education classroom teacher, a consultant teacher/resource teacher, an educational evaluator/diagnostician, and has also taught graduate students at the university level. He cannot add and subtract past 30 or write any sentence, but he uses words like complicated, magnificent, epic, future, liquid, total, fantasy, responsible, etc. Please help! If your child still finds these tasks difficult by the end of kindergarten, he is probably not ready to go to first grade, either. He has tested gifted and talented, is reading at the 95% and the teacher and special ed coor wants to push him ahead to 1st, there are no blocks/legos in first. There can be an age difference of a year (or more) in class. Because of COVID, there will be many children who are betwixt and between. A 14-year study conducted by the Texas A&M University College of Education and Human Development has determined that Texas students who are held back during elementary school are almost three times more likely than their peers to drop out of high school. Trying to put all kids in the evaluation and teaching of children learning... 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