@psalm127verse1 My sister has a friend who regrets holding her daughter back. Her daughter ended being able to read early and in kindergarten she finished everything very quickly. But that could also be the teachers fault for not providing more work.
@jadaley07 Check and see if there are any private kindergartens around you. In my town, there are two private preschool/kindergartens. Lots of parents with summer birthday kids send their kid there and then decide if they want to repeat kindergarten at a regular elementary school or move on to first grade.
It’s not an easy decision to make, but I generally agree with others saying it sounds like she might be ready and the redshirting is getting a bit ridiculous. I say this as someone with a late May birthday whose daughter’s birthday is June. She started K this year and has been doing really well. I was also one of the youngest and it wasn’t an issue.
I do understand the argument for August/September birthdays though.
It’s not an easy decision to make, but I generally agree with others saying it sounds like she might be ready and the redshirting is getting a bit ridiculous. I say this as someone with a late May birthday whose daughter’s birthday is June. She started K this year and has been doing really well. I was also one of the youngest and it wasn’t an issue.
I do understand the argument for August/September birthdays though.@jadaley07 We have a similar dialogue with our school. My son’s birthday is less than a week after the cut off. Seems odd to hold him back because he is a few dozen hours past the deadline.
@jadaley07 Send her to kindergarten! She will be around more kids her age. Kindergarten will help her speech, talk to kindergarten teacher about IEP to get her speech though school system.
@jadaley07 I had a child who I'm sure was more speech delayed than yours when he started Kindergarten. That really isn't a good reason to delay kindergarten. And neither is age alone when she meets the requirements. If we're voting, I vote for her starting in Kindergarten. If your public school is good, that might work out better for her, and she can get speech therapy while she is there (if you're in the US). You should be able to go do a visit just like you would do with a private school to see what you think.
@jadaley07 Yep she sounds ready. I’ve seen kids who are not ready for K and they usually can’t attend to story time for five minutes, have bananas fine motor control (like one attempt at writing a letter symbol takes an entire page of paper), and are not socially at the same level as most of the other kids starting K. If she has friends going in that she seems on level with the speech would not give me pause.
@jadaley07 Ignore the teachers and do what's best for your kid. You know them better. If speech is an issue and they've never brought it up before sounds like they are not doing a good job of working with you to help her. A new environment might help.
enviromentallyfriendly
New member
@jadaley07 Where I live (midwest USA) there is a "young fives" program, which is in the elementary school and is something between pre-k/preschool and kindergarten. It exists for this reason - a lot of kids with birthdays in the summer and into the fall aren't really ready for kindergarten (which is much faster paced and covers much more material than it did when we were little). If young fives or similar doesn't exist where you are, I would honestly consider another year of pre-k. If you read the current research results for childhood development, the push to having a more academic kindergarten is a disservice to children, as five year olds still learn better through play. If you hold her back another year, she will have more opportunity to play and gain creativity and problem solving skills, and improve her speech. Just another perspective on this! I see a lot of comments saying just go to kindergarten. I do think the idea of getting speech therapy is a good one - whether or not you send her to kindergarten next year, if her teachers are noting she is behind her peers.
katrina2017
New member
@enviromentallyfriendly I had never realized this was called redshirting, lol. I worked in a psychology lab in college that focused on early childhood education and I definitely got the impression that there were benefits to waiting that year and enjoying the more play based preschool. Now I see my second daughter, who has a fall birthday, thriving in preschool, and I still definitely plan to have her do young fives next fall. Despite my desire to stop paying tuition, lol.
And I say this as a September birthday who was always a year younger than my classmates. I did great, but I don’t see any need to rush my kids through school.
And I say this as a September birthday who was always a year younger than my classmates. I did great, but I don’t see any need to rush my kids through school.
thebibledude
New member
@jadaley07 The summer before kindergarten, my daughter was pretty well spoken but couldn't pronounce S or Sh or Ch or Th. I could understand her but it was a little harder for others. I almost forgot about it, but someone mentioned it. I basically asked her if she wanted to learn to say them right so people would understand her better, she said yes, and other the next three or so days, she figured it out. Even if yours doesn't go that fast, I would not delay kindergarten just based on that if you think she is excited and ready for it.
isaacnewton
New member
@jadaley07 Does your city/community or local school district perform developmental assessments? I would look into that to try to get a second opinion because I generally believe that teachers are the experts and defer to them but it sounds like your child is ready. It sounds odd that they have never mentioned concern about speech until now (but good for you for recognizing she needs help there—speech language therapy did wonders for one of my kids and I am a huge proponent). And I am with you on the red-shirting, I think it is out of hand for the most part.
kellyawarren7
New member
@jadaley07 My 4.5 year old has articulation issues and it was actually something that led me to enroll him in TK (transitional kindergarten) this year, as the school he goes to has a Speech Therapist on staff every day. That's public school, so your experience with private may be different, but articulation is absolutely not a reason to hold a kid back from kinder.
I have had friends hold their kids back a year for two reasons: significant developmental delays that would be exacerbated by starting kinder too early, and social issues that need to be addressed with some sort of OT prior to starting kinder. Sometimes those kids do have birthday close to the cutoff, but it's never the only (or main) reason to hold the kid back.
I have had friends hold their kids back a year for two reasons: significant developmental delays that would be exacerbated by starting kinder too early, and social issues that need to be addressed with some sort of OT prior to starting kinder. Sometimes those kids do have birthday close to the cutoff, but it's never the only (or main) reason to hold the kid back.
chrissy111
New member
@jadaley07 My daughter turned 5 one week before kindergarten started, she also goes to speech therapy for articulation issues, and went to preschool for 2 years as well. I was a bit worried about her being one of the younger kids but she seemed ready academically and socially so we didn't red shirt her. And let me tell you, she is THRIVING. You know your child best. If she seems ready then sign her up! She can possibly qualify for an IEP and get extra speech support through her school as well. Trust your gut and good luck.
@jadaley07 Get her evaluated by a speech pathologist and in the meantime I would go ahead and enroll her in both.
Most likely she is ready for kindergarten.
Some sounds like TH etc are not expected at age 5. I’m rather suspicious that they are hearing age appropriate speech and judging with a complete lack of training.
Most likely she is ready for kindergarten.
Some sounds like TH etc are not expected at age 5. I’m rather suspicious that they are hearing age appropriate speech and judging with a complete lack of training.
@jadaley07 The articulation errors shouldn’t be a reason to hold a kid back. If she truly has an articulation deficit, that’s not going to magically change and she may still have some next school year. You know your child best, and if she’s ready, she’s ready. Also, if she does have an articulation disorder that can be serviced through the public school system, they will want her to attend the public school once she’s of school age usually 6 years old to get those speech services.
@jadaley07 I've copied my comment from a previous "redshirting" post:
I'm speaking as a person who missed the age cutoff by 12 hours (Meaning I was a full year older than some of my classmates). My parents could have gotten an exception but chose not to.
In early elementary I was academically ahead. I was always one of the best readers. I knew how to count and add and subtract before kindergarten. I remember thinking it was AWESOME to help the other kids 'like a big kid'.
By middle school it started to suck. The academics had leveled out and I was old enough to get my learners permit, but my school didn't have driver's Ed or allow student parking. I started puberty and got my period months ahead of any of the other girls, that was miserable. (Truly, these are some of my worst memories)
By high school it really sucked. I was 18 my entire senior year. I couldn't get an adult job, I couldn't move out, I couldn't start college, I couldn't do any 18 year old things. I had people telling me what I couldn't and couldn't read in English class and writing me up for being 3 seconds late to class while I was old enough to vote or die for my country. It really felt like I was stunted my entire first year of adulthood.
Basically by the time I was an adult, it left me feeling a year behind and very frustrated. I personally saw no academic advantage in the long run. And now I worry about my son who is also very close to the cutoff (but not close enough for an exception.)
I'm speaking as a person who missed the age cutoff by 12 hours (Meaning I was a full year older than some of my classmates). My parents could have gotten an exception but chose not to.
In early elementary I was academically ahead. I was always one of the best readers. I knew how to count and add and subtract before kindergarten. I remember thinking it was AWESOME to help the other kids 'like a big kid'.
By middle school it started to suck. The academics had leveled out and I was old enough to get my learners permit, but my school didn't have driver's Ed or allow student parking. I started puberty and got my period months ahead of any of the other girls, that was miserable. (Truly, these are some of my worst memories)
By high school it really sucked. I was 18 my entire senior year. I couldn't get an adult job, I couldn't move out, I couldn't start college, I couldn't do any 18 year old things. I had people telling me what I couldn't and couldn't read in English class and writing me up for being 3 seconds late to class while I was old enough to vote or die for my country. It really felt like I was stunted my entire first year of adulthood.
Basically by the time I was an adult, it left me feeling a year behind and very frustrated. I personally saw no academic advantage in the long run. And now I worry about my son who is also very close to the cutoff (but not close enough for an exception.)
@jadaley07 You've had her in this preschool for 2 years so I assume you at least like them a little bit. Their entire job is understanding preschoolers and young education. Trust them and red shirt her
@jadaley07 My son’s birthday is in the end of July. School here starts at the beginning of August, so he is one of the youngest in his class. He started kindergarten a few days after he turned 5. He’s 9 now, in 4th grade, and doing great! I’d say enroll her.
If she’s truly not ready, the kindergarten teachers will recommend that she repeat kindergarten, and then you can decide at that point.
If she’s truly not ready, the kindergarten teachers will recommend that she repeat kindergarten, and then you can decide at that point.
@jadaley07 I wouldn’t hold her back. My daughter just turned 5 at the end of summer, like 2 weeks before kindergarten and she’s doing great. The youngest ones in class like my daughter spent some class time to sit in small groups with the schools literacy teacher/counselor and she was caught with in 2 weeks.
I think with kindergarten the focus is a lot of classroom etiquette. Public schools are prepared for kindergartners who can’t read or write at all, who didn’t go to daycare or preschool so they’re experiencing being away from home for the first time etc. The first quarter of the year was spent in learning the abcs and vowel sounds and 1-3 sight words a week. If your child is handling classroom behavior well at preschool then she’s ready for kindergarten. It feels like the preschool is suddenly trying to maintain enrollment if they haven’t ever expressed concerns before. I honestly think my daughter would have been extremely bored if we held her back.
You have to remember there are ESL students that start kindergarten with no English whatsoever. My daughter has a classmate that is entirely monolingual Japanese. They’re not going to be phased or miss a beat with a kid that says lellow or has poor enunciation. My daughter has loved kindergarten because she gets so much more than just class time too. They have specials like gym, library day, science and tech, art, and music each day. She is learning so much more than in preschool. I think it would have been extremely hard for her too because all her closest friends at preschool were starting kindergarten too. She would have been left with mostly 3-4 year olds.
I think with kindergarten the focus is a lot of classroom etiquette. Public schools are prepared for kindergartners who can’t read or write at all, who didn’t go to daycare or preschool so they’re experiencing being away from home for the first time etc. The first quarter of the year was spent in learning the abcs and vowel sounds and 1-3 sight words a week. If your child is handling classroom behavior well at preschool then she’s ready for kindergarten. It feels like the preschool is suddenly trying to maintain enrollment if they haven’t ever expressed concerns before. I honestly think my daughter would have been extremely bored if we held her back.
You have to remember there are ESL students that start kindergarten with no English whatsoever. My daughter has a classmate that is entirely monolingual Japanese. They’re not going to be phased or miss a beat with a kid that says lellow or has poor enunciation. My daughter has loved kindergarten because she gets so much more than just class time too. They have specials like gym, library day, science and tech, art, and music each day. She is learning so much more than in preschool. I think it would have been extremely hard for her too because all her closest friends at preschool were starting kindergarten too. She would have been left with mostly 3-4 year olds.
stoneghost
New member
@jadaley07 The first thing I thought was that they want to keep kids behind so they can continue to get your $$$. I would just send her to kindergarten. You know your child best. My daughter is an August birthday and I did young 5s for her because of her speech. But she had never been to preschool or daycare. My son is turning 9 in second grade because we waited to send him to school (he would have started kindergarten in 2020 and I didn’t want to do that to him.) there are kids with ages all over the place and most are older than younger I would say so take that into consideration. My son is one of the oldest in his grade but he is autistic so it works for him!