Re: Re: Please help me locate a kindergarten formy5 yr son Ben

[Guest guest]

Oh & my twins r typical & I still didn't want to push them.

Warmest wishes,

Barbara A , M.S., CCC-SLP

Executive Director, Help Me Speak, LLC

410-442-9791

[ ] Re: Please help me locate a kindergarten for my

5 yr son Ben

something is up with but I answered you again and wanted to stress

that yes I still think you should wait till he's after 6. He needs to address

global motor planning issues and in addition I pointed out in the email I wrote

that has not showed up yet that I'd like you to also seek second opinions to

rule out sensory and weakness issues as they are very common in apraxia too.

Instead of seeking names of schools please let us know where you are so others

can provide names of neurodevelopmental medical doctors to confirm or rule out

sensory or weakness (mild hypotonia) so that can be addressed in this extra year

as well. You may not have noticed but in 's messsage she kind of answered

your question as she has a child just turning 6 NEXT WEEK but won't start

kindergarten for him till the fall -so he will be starting even a bit older than

your child. Last I checked nobody after the age of 10 is saying " and a half "

after their age. I mean if your child graduates from

HS at 17 vs 18 will anyone care, notice? No. Will anyone say " oh but he's 18

years 9 months " No. I mean not for nothing he probably will be more mature for

college!

The goal isn't to see if he will do well in kindergarten and follow other kids

there-of course in most cases just about any child here will just like they can

follow kids in the neighborhood or at preschool...but will he continue to be

able to follow kids in 1st grade and up? By 3rd grade (years after

kindergarten) your child will be expected to be sitting upright in a chair for

long periods of time and reading and writing off the board -working more

independently on progressively harder and harder work. Being pulled out becomes

an issue because what class are they missing for therapy? The more time you can

address this prior to the school career the better. Kindergarten again is not

much different than a really good multisensory enriched preschool and sadly if

you check the archives (and again the research

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=8863 & post=58452 & uid=115029735601#post584\

52 ) those that start children that still are impaired in any area at 5 vs 6 in

kindergarten

are putting the child at a disadvantage. In your child's case because you will

still need to address his global motor planning issues in the body and speech.

So just in case my other message shows up later which it may unless it's lost in

-land..I wanted to send this one more time.

One other thing to keep in mind - where I used to live in Warren NJ -there the

parents sent their " normal " kids to kindergarten at 6 vs. 5 for academic and

athletic reasons. Older children if you check the research statistically are

more mature and bigger and more coordinated for sports.

" Giving children an extra year, whether through delayed entry or

kindergarten retention, makes sense in view of the ample research

suggesting that the youngest children tend to lag behind their

classmates. West, Denton, and Reaney (2000) found that in the spring

of their kindergarten year, younger children had lower reading and

mathematics knowledge and skills on average than did their older

counterparts. These researchers also found that older kindergartners

were more likely to persist at tasks, more eager to learn, and

better able to pay attention. "

Of course his Holloway's research also includes the negatives of

kindergarten retention vs. delayed entry to kindergarten...again it's all

throughout the archives here and in research.

What happened in my old town in NJ -delaying kindergarten- tends to happen from

what I read in Dr. Holloway's research in more educated, affluent families

And I have another reason why I no longer say " but it's your decision " Oh how I

wished someone saved the politically correct you know what and told me what I'm

telling you. Sometimes you know better -and yes always follow that gut feeling

-but sometimes you just don't know. I am speaking in addition to running this

group and following research from personal experience too. When you have 2

kids and start one at 5 and one at 6 and live to regret for years and years your

decision of starting the one at 5 -I can tell you from experience that I

personally would tell people they don't know what they are talking about if they

disagree- not one bit. My son Dakota and Molly were the two " ADHD " kids in the

kindergarten class- OK so Dakota really was ADHD but Molly was just a year or

more younger than the rest of the class -just like my son....I don't want to go

into all the details as they are in the archives -but please know that I am

saying what I am to save you the grief. Dakota has

always been in the mainstream -genius runs in my mom's side of the family and

he tested 99th percentile in 3rd grade -extremely gifted- but a summmer baby

born August 30th with the attention span of a flea and not mature enough to

start when he did. Poor thing went through too many horrible teachers that

yelled and yelled at him to " PAY ATTENTION DAKOTA " " SIT DOWN DAKOTA " " STOP

TALKING DAKOTA " " STOP PLAYING DAKOTA " . And here I am with a 15 year old who

has friends that are all at least 16 -some 17 years old! What's good about

that? Some are into girls already in a more serious way and my JUST turned 145

year old son is still not as mature as his friends. Too bright to keep him back

once he started and besides he had too many friends -but oh how I wish someone

told me what I'm telling you.

You get to choose which advice you listen to -we all do. And yes there was one

child I know of from this group that was started in kindergarten at 5 that

continued to do well last I heard -and that was -'s son. She'd

tell you it's fine to start at 5 too. It's all relevant. To me -check with the

majority as that is where the truth lies.

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