HHBELLA - my DD didn't really receive any support at all last year. She had a teacher who was extremely tolerant of her weaker areas as she caught up and never suggested she shouldn't be there because her handwriting wasn't ready (biggest weakness). DD thrived having so much headroom to plough through. This year she has the same teacher, but is in a straight class with no grade above her, so after one fabulous year of being "bright but normal" she's back to being top of the class and cruising. And it's not going so well. This year has involved a lot of meetings and not much progress yet. I am thinking about pushing for partial home schooling.
There are a lot of complex issues with the teacher's style and personality that made her ideal for transitioning DD to the new grade - so there really wasn't any need for any support or intervention last year. But that same approach seems to be pretty badly suited to keeping her going at a similar pace now that she's caught up in her weaker areas and her strengths are well ahead of the curve. At a meeting recently with the principle when I was trying to explain that it's not OK that my DD has had only two spelling lists in 17 weeks of this year she looked at me confused and said "But you do know she's the best in the class already?". Yeah I do know - but she still deserves to learn to spell AT HER LEVEL, and to experience WORKING on her spelling. The school does believe in teaching spelling, the other kids are learning spelling, why isn't my DD? However much time the other kids are spending on spelling she should be doing to... And though I didn't say it - WTF is my kid doing when the other kids are working on spelling?
But I think you have a different child AND a different teacher issue to us. I suspect that your DS's teacher thought she'd help him settle by easing him in to something she sees as a big deal (ie lets not make the work too hard so he can use his energy for adapting). And has continued on as she started without too much thought.
