... one of the administrators could have written this same article. "What about social problems? What about middle school?" He was adamant that no child should ever be skipped because of these factors. Ultimately he was overruled but it is so frustrating to try to fight such continually perpetuated bias, conventional wisdom and shibboleths.
Thumbs up to this post (and the others here as well). I was dismayed (but not surprised) by the shallow thinking displayed in the Motherlode article.
My eldest skipped two grades. Academically, it was the right thing to do. Yes, there was some disconnect with other kids in his class last year due to changes in adolescence. But IMO, this is a
problem to be addressed, not a
reason to hold a child back. And honestly, the larger problem was the cognitive disconnect. Due in part to that problem, he learned next to nothing last year. This, not the adolescence thing, is why we're homeschooling this year. And he's a lot happier and sees his friends.
For instance, a kid with two of the above listed traits: high IQ kid & high achievement in most subjects, but who has Asperger's & would, thus, likely be fairly weak in the area of social maturity. I've seen kids like this skipped and they suffered terribly socially.
Would the kid have still suffered socially without the skip?
