What would you do?

amother

Wed, Aug 26 2009, 12:32 am

Last May, ds was tested for kindergarten readiness. At the time, he was barely 4 1/2. He is born in Mid-October and one of the youngest in his class. I was with him during the test. He did rather poorly in some areas to which his skills were simply not developed yet due to him being on the younger side. The test was clearly for kids who were already 5. (6 months does make a difference!) I have noticed his skills developing naturally over the someone to where he should be for his age. At the time of the test, I spoke with one of the testers who told me not to worry..he could join the class in the fall, and his skills would develop, he's just young. I do not mind at all if he must wait another year since he is young in his class (most of the boys have been 5 since March or April, some in January even!)

All summer long we figured he would be joining the kindergarten class. We received letters from the school and the teachers welcoming him to the class, etc. No one made mention of the poor test, and we thought that the tester had just said he could join the class as she told me.

Today, I received a letter from the principal about ds's poor test. TODAY!! School starts in one week! I wonder why this fell through the cracks all summer long and one week before the start of school it surfaces! Anyway, the prinicpal would like him to be tested, get OT if needed, etc. Fine. But, what if the solution is to just keep him back a year until he is developed more in his skills based on his age, and he really doesn't need therapy? We are now faced with: keep him in the class, possibly, and probably subjecting him to all sorts of tests and OT or keep him back, let his natural development occur.

I told him that I want him to be placed properly the first day of school. I don't want to have pull him out in one or two weeks time. We have preparing him for school, so this is creating a bit of a mess with that. But, I just want him in the proper place at the beginning

Any thoughts you may have will greatly help!