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    Joined: Dec 2013
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    No advice because it has to be right for what is your child. But here is my experience...

    We held back, and there are issues both ways.

    Ours has DCD and was recently diagnosed with disorder of written expression. I have been posting about this on another thread. If you are reading around, you will see it. When she as 4 and in pre-k, she developed severe anxiety issues and because her bday was a few weeks before the cutoff, drs and preschool teachers encouraged us to give her the gift of time. So we gave her the gift of time for motor and writing and held her back intellectually. I still think we did the right thing, but it is still a really uncomfortable, frustrating fit. Our situation is different than yours because she started k right at 6, so she is older than grade, not younger.

    Disadvantages: 1) any time you aren't making the school approved age/grade decision, when there are problems they can just say, "well if x was in the right grade, this would be different" and you can't prove them wrong, 2) mine is ashamed to be in her grade and would love to be a grade higher, 3) mine would have more academic peers in the next grade up, 4) other parents don't see my child's weaknesses because they aren't verbal and I know some of them think we are trying to "game the system," 5) she does get bored in school and her mind does wander and 6) I wonder if teachers would have been more gentle about her undiagnosed LD if she didn't seem so cognitively strong compared to the younger kids in the classroom.

    Advantages: we DO need time to figure out how to cope with the LDs that have caused her so many problems, 2) because she is old for her grade it is easier to not have to live with the "well she is young for her grade, let's wait and see," 3) because she's not struggling to learn academics in school, we can save the frustration solely for the LDs.

    She is a self motivated learner, so holding her back academically doesn't keep her from learning. In fact, she has more time to follow her interests. Our state allow them to place out of a grade if the make 90s or above on a series of grade level tests. The trick is that some of those tests are content specific and want answers that aren't the best logical answers and need to be parroted back from the curriculum. But once we are confident that she can deal w the LDs, I'd have no problem with lettin her read the next grade up textbooks and taking those tests, if she wants to.

    Joined: Feb 2014
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    Dubsyd Offline OP
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    Thank you Chay and Question202 for taking the time to share your experiences. And thanks to everyone who has shared their ideas and time with me. We have decided we will send DD to year 1 and hopefully with the support of the OT her handwriting will progress, and we will support her reading at home. I think the social benefits of her staying with her peers is a really big factor at the moment. And my gut feeling is that she will make a breakthrough with the reading.

    The idea that her repeating is less a repeat than readjusting her grade placement to what it should be for her age had me thinking the research on repeating was not necessarily that relevant in our case, but really that is an adult way of looking at it. From DD's perspective, it would still be doing a year again, and I worry about the effects that will have on her self-esteem, self-efficacy, and motivation. I guess at this stage, these concerns weigh heavier than the possibility of a rough, struggling year 1.

    Hopefully we are not back here this time next year deciding whether to repeat year 1 or not, but if we are, we will deal with that in light of an additional year's worth of knowledge about DD's academic life.

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    Dubsyd Offline OP
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    DD's reading level was tested today, and she went from level 5 to level 9, so she is at the minimum recommended level now. And still 6 weeks left to go in term. Yay smile

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    aeh Offline
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    Oh, that's good news! How does she feel about her progress?


    ...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...
    Joined: Dec 2012
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    That is good to hear. The books will get better too.

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    Brilliant sometimes it really is wait and see

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    Dubsyd Offline OP
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    She is feeling really proud, aeh. She had commented a few days before they tested her that she thought the level 5 books were too easy and she couldn't wait to get tested again. I had noticed she was starting to work her way through longer words and not just guess based in the first letter or two. When she brought home the first level 9 reader I was a bit nervous as it definitely was longer with more big words, but she is working her way through the books beautifully.

    Thanks for all your comments and support as we worked our way through this tough decision. I can really breathe a sigh of relief and be happy with the decision we have made.

    Last edited by Dubsyd; 10/21/15 03:22 PM. Reason: Typo
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