Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Gifted but behind in Kindergarten?

I think the thing that makes this so hard is that it's SO unique to the child and also very changeable. A year ago I would have told you I had one who'd been skipped and desperately needed it, and one who was MG/2E and I'd always regret not holding back (she's so young for grade she could easily have gone either way in our system). Last week at her parent teacher interview I was astounded to hear that her teacher's only problem was how to extend her enough, especially in literacy. This is my child who was nearly held back in yr2 for literacy, who was finally diagnosed as dyslexic in yr 5... During yr 6 we were talking about repeatig yr7 through a school change... Start of yr7 and her teacher's only concern is that he's not extending her enough. In literacy. To say I nearly fell of my chair is an understatement.

PG kids are singularities. But so are the 2e kids, especially the ones where it's so hard to tell for sure if there IS an LD at all... I'm not saying your child has an LD I'm saying some kids are late bloomers and its really hard to tell whiteout the kid right in front of you, and sometimes even then.

My MG child hasn't started looking actually gifted until yr7, yr4-6 we could argue that her catching up instead of falling further behind was a sign of how bright she was. But she was absolutely behind in kindy and yes it seems she really is MG and is finding her feet and showing it at last....

Honestly, it doesn't sound like much fun to me, either. He's five, right? If you and the school keep working with him, and looking for opportunities to make learning fun, I would expect a lot of growth within the next few years (which will like occur in short spurts of big leaps forward).

I would not hold back a gifted child because first grade is writing intensive. This is one issue with schools... I have had several teachers tell me that many young boys just aren't physically comfortable writing in K, 1 or 2. It doesn't mean they should stop learning while their writing catches up. This is one of the things that's great about our son's 2nd grade teacher... she gets that he's not going to love it yet, but works through it.

BTW, our PG son consistently says lunch and recess are his favorite subjects... although recently he's been telling us good things about his accelerated grade math class.

Honestly, is that's really how the teacher is expressing this, I'd be wondering if maybe there's a teacher fit problem. He might be retained because he's at level but not "confident" yet?? That's not a reason to retain a kid. If he needs to be more confident, or if he's not quite at level, he should be getting extra help from reading specialists, aides, or special ed teacher. Retention shouldn't even be part of the discussion until the school has provided extra help in this scenario.

For heaven's sake, I wish I had one of my daughter's second grade spelling bee lists for you. I'm pretty sure "cake" was on there last week. Also "den." The very hardest word on the entire list so far has been "tasteless." And our district is high COL and high achieving; our school's test scores are among the highest in the area.

Here is a resource site for a typical 1st grade reading curriculum:

http://www.primarygradesclasspage.com/first%20grade%20harcourt.htm

Note that even at the end of the school year, they are still reading beginning chapter books like Frog and Toad All Year and Poppleton. Do you know who his 1st grade teacher is going to be? Can you go knock on his/her door?

I'd be wondering if maybe there's a teacher fit problem. He might be retained because he's at level but not "confident" yet?? That's not a reason to retain a kid. If he needs to be more confident, or if he's not quite at level, he should be getting extra help from reading specialists, aides, or special ed teacher. Retention shouldn't even be part of the discussion until the school has provided extra help in this scenario.

I highly recommend the Toe by Toe reading manual by Keda Cowling. It is available on Amazon for $40.

The gifted/dyslexia experts Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide recommended it for my son and his improvement has been amazing.

My son's teacher, who has over forty years of teaching experience, has never seen kid improve so much in such a short amount of time. She is recommending it to everyone.

It only takes working with him at home twenty minutes a day. If you got it now, he would have time to make a lot of progress before first grade.

Five months ago my son was stumbling through Bob books guessing based on the first letter and the picture on the page.

Now he can actually read and is getting better everyday. Today his teacher mentioned that now he always has his nose in a book.

My DD's whole class was reading Frog and Toad mid year in 1st, in a very high-scoring school. (I mean, that is why we left, in part. But you see my point.)