Opinions on repeating kindergarten (copied from comm.board)

[flipfloppershopper]

You know your child best. Trust yourself for the right answer for your child. My ds is also younger than most of his class so I understand your thoughts. We chose not to hold back and it was the right decision for us. Kids can mature a lot over the summer. Whether you hold him back or not read a lot over the summer. It doesn't take 15 min. and helps them retain what they have learned.
Good Luck!

 

[Becky2005]

This was the quote that made me jump the gun. Chances are, the kids weren't "lower" than the other kids. If they truly are ADHD, holding them back won't help.

You know this is true. My Kindergartener is a May baby so on the young side. We have a Sept. 1 cut-off. He has delayed speech & motor skills so was in the preschool via special ed. I was concerned being a May baby and also with his delays. His teacher at that point made a good observation - she said holding him back wouldn't change some of the things, some of it is his personality and holding him back or not wouldn't change that. She said it better than I could have said it. It just made sense to me. My older DS does have ADHD and his birthday is in January. Wouldn't have mattered if I held him back or not, he would still have the same problems he is having now (he is also dyslexic so struggles with reading). I actually didn't even think about it with being a Jan. baby & a Sept. 1 cut-off. My Kindergartener is already beginning to read and certainly is doing fine in the academic area but still has issues with his fine motor skills & speech. I think he will be having speech & OT for a couple more years.

My only experience with a child starting later was in my DD's Kindergarten year, because the girl turned 6 before Sept. 1 even happened here (our school starts before Sept. 1 even though that's the cut-off date). She was *way* more mature than DD and the other girls in the classroom, you could just see the difference when they were all out playing in the morning before school and with comments she would make. That is my only personal experience though but after that I would be hesitant to hold any child back unless absolutely necessary. It's not that common in my area though for kids to be held back though. I know several of my kids friends have summer birthdays and they all started on time.