Kindergarten Red-Shirting

@hilgard There’s also some good data on the advantages of being older for your cohort, so parents that can afford to redshirt often do it to give their kid maximum advantages. In wealthy districts this is the new normal.
 
@sarahz Yep. I’m a teacher, and I’ll be red-shirting both my summer birthday boys. Youngest boys are more likely to be misdiagnosed with hyperactivity, medicated and then met with behavioral consequences.
 
@cyrilll Our state just recently changed their cutoff from Dec 31 to Sept 1st. Everyone is going insane. I was the youngest in my grade and was totally fine. No issues with academics or social abilities. Everyone in my grade was a year older than me. Redshirting is getting ridiculous
 
@cyrilll I was one of the oldest in my class and my mom fought endlessly for me to go early. My stepdaughter is 8, one of the youngest in her class, and ahead of the pack by a country mile. Her age has nothing to do with it.
 
@jadaley07 Scam. Scam. Scam. Enroll her in speech therapy and I bet she'll be more than ready for kindergarten. Especially if she starts now and makes noticable improvements by May, her preschool might be able to give that recommendation.

I have a nephew who had speech issues when he started kindergarten, but by the time he finished, he was talking completely normal. It did not affect his ability to learn at all.
 
@jadaley07 No, you should still enroll her in kindergarten. Even if she does need speech therapy, that is something she can do while she’s in kindergarten and it doesn’t really affect her academically. Why would keeping her in preschool help with that? Our public schools also offer speech therapy at school for kids who need it and they tie it into the curriculum.

I think they are just beefing up enrollment, personally. There is nothing stopping your child from repeating kindergarten if she’s not successful next year. But do you have any real reason to believe she wouldn’t be successful in school? Some kids struggle with speech until they’re like 8 or 9 but it doesn’t affect their academic performance. Further, I would question why they are making this assessment right now, when she still has 6 months left in the school year? If they can’t help her be prepared for Kindergarten between now and June maybe that’s a problem on their end?

I’d just say, “thanks for your input, but we’ll be enrolling her in public school.”
 
@jadaley07 I wouldn’t hold a four-year-old who’s already writing and reading and showing no signs of a delay back from starting school when she’s supposed to, no. Especially when she’s already looking forward to going.

I was reading early and was also among the oldest in my class. Honestly being the oldest is not all it’s cracked up to be. I was constantly bored and often thought my classmates were immature. I wanted to skip ahead a grade but my school didn’t believe in that.

Regarding her speech, having difficulty articulating a few of the more difficult sounds is still within the range of normal at four. If she has trouble making herself understood outside of the family that might be cause for concern. Even then my course of action would be contacting a speech therapist, rather than jumping straight holding her back.

If she starts school as planned, and it turns out that a majority of the kids are much older and she is struggling, wouldn’t it be possible to have her repeat Kindergarten instead?
 
@jadaley07 This seems weird. If she had been in this preschool for 1.5 years already, why have they not mentioned her speech differences/offered assistance until now? It does seem like a cash grab if they are recommending all summer babies repeat preK4. I would trust your gut and enroll your kid in the kindergarten of your choosing. And if you decide to do preschool again, maybe go elsewhere if your kid needs assistance that wasn’t noticed/offered in a timely manner.

My son has received time with a SLP since this time last year. His birthday is Aug 9th. I spoke with the special Ed teacher last week asking how she thinks he is doing/ do I sign him up for kindergarten next year (school choice opens up in 3 weeks). She said that she thinks he would be bored repeating preK4 because he is on par with classmates academically. He is socially behind his classmates and has issues keeping his hands to himself.
 
@ellisjay2 I agree. Her teachers last year said her speech was fine. I do think she can work on a few things like her “f” sound is bad. But I think she will love therapy like she loves school so I think she will make progress.
 
@jadaley07 I would call your elementary school and see if they do any kindergarten assessment tests. Our local elementary schools do a kindergarten readiness test before kids enroll and it helps them to see how children measure up to certain milestones (ours includes social skills, emotional regulation, and speech/literacy). That test could be another data point to help make the decision.

If you think she can socially integrate, cooperate with peers, and can generally communicate well and you want to send her to Kindergarten - do it. There are pros and cons to either decision, but if you feel good about your LO going to Kindergarten then give them that chance :)
 
@jadaley07 It might just be the area in the IS where you are but in my area no one holds their kid back from kindergarten unless it's really necessary. I know more people trying to get exceptions for their kids because their birthdays are just past the cut off than to keep them behind. It sounds to me like this preschool is actively encouraging parents to hold their kids back. It just seems unlikely that this many people had legitimate developmental reasons to hold their kids back unless this preschool is a school with lots of kids with delays.
 
@jadaley07 I would contact the school where you are enrolling and ask if they do assessments or have recommendations. My daughter’s birthday was right on the cutoff, and I felt it was better to wait (a decision that has worked out), But I had a few conversations with school staff anyway. Ask what they expect for new kindergartners and what their advice is. Or maybe you canola have some kind of outside assessment done (ask your pediatrician!) and get the recommendation from some other source.

It sounds from what you wrote that she’s ready. I’m not sure her current teachers are trying to just keep your money, it may be they do have real concerns, and it also may be so many people are waiting that it’s their perspective on what readiness looks like.
 
@jadaley07 I have 2 summer birthday kids currently in school. My oldest literally has her birthday the week before school starts every year, my youngest school kid has his the last week of school. Both of them started K when they were freshly 5, and both have been thriving. Younger kiddo has some speech issues which he's in therapy for (also articulation-based), but nothing that's affected his learning, participation, or social interactions in the class. Both also have peers who waited and are a full year older, as well.

I'd send her. If you're concerned about your K school declining enrollment with your current pre-k's statement, see if you can bring your concerns to the new school and perhaps offer to have her do a readiness test as well since you doubt the honesty of her current school's assessment. We also send ours to a private school and they evaluate all incoming kindergarteners, regardless of where or if they attended preschool, both so they can match them with the best fit teacher and let the parents know if they have concerns.
 
@jadaley07 Both my kids have summer birthdays, cutoff here is 8/31.

Daughter started kindergarten when she was 5. She's a high school junior and on honor roll.

Son started kindergarten when he was 6. He had some speech and gross motor delays and was in early intervention until age 3. He's also small for his age so we thought it would be best to keep him back. Now he's in 6th grade and doing well. All As & Bs, still one of the shortest in his class even though he's one of the oldest. He's not into sports so we didn't do it for that. He also has ADHD and he's slightly immature for his age.

If you think your daughter is ready, I would send her.
 
@jadaley07 DO NOT GIVE IN! My parents gave into this because two other teachers pressured my Kindergarten teacher to make me repeat another year. I was 18 throughout my senior year and turned 19 the month after graduation. I was incredibly hard on myself and teased by others for being so old. The only reason they held me back is because of a summer birthday but everyone still treated me differently. It still bothers me to an extent and I’m in my late 30’s.
 
@jadaley07 We are repeating our son in pre-k next year. He’s young for his grade and his articulation needs a lot of work. As a teacher, I have never seen anyone in this situation regret holding their kid back, but I have seen the regret of pushing their kid forward too soon. If the student is going to be held back, this is the age to do it.
 
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