Calling all Parents and Educators (Houston, Katy: middle school, vs, move)

[rubynicholson77056]

It's the end of the school year for Katy ISD and I am faced with a dilemma. My daughter is 6 and in first grade...she will not turn 7 until the 1st week of 2nd grade so she is, indeed, the youngest in the entire 1st grade class. Her grades are good...she is passing and will pass on to the 2nd grade; however, she has needed additional help in math and reading. Her teacher explained it to us as 3 tiers: 1) frustrational, 2) instructional and 3) independent. She feels that my daughter is between 1 and 2 in reading and they would like her to be a strong 2 or 3. She does need additional help with reading comprehension; however, her fluency is great...actually above level. Math has gotten much better since we hired a tutor and spelling and language arts have always been strong. Her teacher told us that she would move on but would struggle...she feels she needs to "mature" more b/c of her short attention span and lack of focus...of course as parents we don't want to see her struggle so we are considering retaining her based on her teachers suggestion. I am concerned about whether or not it will help b/c all of the studies I have found (NASP) concluded that kids actually did worse when retained. This is a tough position to be in and of course her teacher and tutor do not have any experiences they can draw from. She has had a tutor for about 3 months now and we also work with her as well. She works better 1 on 1 and needs a lot of guidance sometimes...she's a day dreamer! I have already enrolled her in Katy GT academy for summer enrichment but wanted to know if anyone had any experience with retention and the results of it. Thanks!

[EasilyAmused]

She sounds bored. Move her to a challenging school and test her for dsylexia.

"Lack of Focus," "frustrates easily" are public school catch term for dsylexia. Most dyslexics are
above average, but just think differently.

As you can tell from this "bored," I have family who are dyslexic, and I am as well. We think differently.You may find our grammar/spelling poor, but we can out think and perform most.

[rubynicholson77056]

I scheduled an appt to have her tested for ADD/ADHD so I guess I will discuss the possibility of dsylexia with the psychologist as well. Thanks!

[notready]

I agree that a comprehensive evaluation should help you figure out what is going on. When we had my son tested around that age many thought it might be too early to pick up some issues, but that was almost 10 years ago.

With strong spelling, language arts and reading fluency, your daughter doesn't fit my son's dyslexic profile, but anything is possible. The evaluation should give her results normed to her exact age, so should help you sort out maturity in a class of older kids vs attention.

If there is a learning difference/issue, I don't believe retention is the solution unless you are seeing it as a year to apply different teaching strategies.

Good luck and good for you for being on top of her education and actively trying to figure out the issue and think through next actions!

[EasilyAmused]

You can be strong in language arts..you just have to concentrate more than the average child. I was a strong speller until my teens. Regurgitation is a SKILL... typical public school education survival. "Focus" is a learned skill. Most likely you are doing 20 other things at the same time. English was one of my minors at SMU, and I made straight A's in it. I still don't force myself to focus on non-important things...ie message boards.

BTW, I had two majors, three minors. It will all turn out ok.

[houstonfan]

Please, at that age, it's hard to label a kid's development. Not all kids develop equally in all areas at same rate. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with them. The fact that she's passing and strong at some areas and if you haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary means most likely she'll be ok. Math at that age consists of addition and subtraction, doesn't prove or disprove anything. Labelling a kid as challenged and making her stay back will probably have more detrimental effects on her self esteem and self expectation than anything. It's a well known fact that kids who were randomly labelled "advanced" ended up doing better academically than their peers, eventhough the label was randomly chosen as part of a psychological experiment.
I'd say let her pass, keep an eye on her and continue giving her help where she's weak. SOme kids have shorter attention span than others, it's not necessarily ADHD. Have her evaluated if you have real reasons to be concerned other than what one teacher said, but take all advice with skeptism.

[Ellen Pitts]

I agree with Houstonfan that developmental ability is probably a factor here. But for the same reason I would hold her back a year, not advance her. I have never heard of anyone who regretted holding a child back but it is very common to regret advancing when they are not ready. I think that if kids have to struggle they see themselves as not as smart as the kids around them who are not struggling. But when placed at the appropriate level they feel empowered.

Think of when your child learned to walk. If a child is not walking at the same time as the average child, a doctor wouldn't tell you to give her extra walking lessons. He would say leave her be, she'll walk eventually unless their is something hindering her development. I think that most people agree that there is a wide range of developmental academic ability before third grade. By third grade most kids are on the same page. Being 'behind' in first grade has no bearing on her intelligence or future success at all. IMHO, advancing her prematurely may have some negative impact, though.

Doing the evaluation to check for physical issues or a learning disability is a great idea, but also check her diet. Many food colorings and preservatives can cause symptoms of add/adhd. I've known many parents who have had success with the Feingold Diet which is a diet specifically for add/adhd.

[350days]

Originally Posted by rubynicholson77056

It's the end of the school year for Katy ISD and I am faced with a dilemma. My daughter is 6 and in first grade...she will not turn 7 until the 1st week of 2nd grade so she is, indeed, the youngest in the entire 1st grade class. Her grades are good...she is passing and will pass on to the 2nd grade; however, she has needed additional help in math and reading. Her teacher explained it to us as 3 tiers: 1) frustrational, 2) instructional and 3) independent. She feels that my daughter is between 1 and 2 in reading and they would like her to be a strong 2 or 3. She does need additional help with reading comprehension; however, her fluency is great...actually above level. Math has gotten much better since we hired a tutor and spelling and language arts have always been strong. Her teacher told us that she would move on but would struggle...she feels she needs to "mature" more b/c of her short attention span and lack of focus...of course as parents we don't want to see her struggle so we are considering retaining her based on her teachers suggestion. I am concerned about whether or not it will help b/c all of the studies I have found (NASP) concluded that kids actually did worse when retained. This is a tough position to be in and of course her teacher and tutor do not have any experiences they can draw from. She has had a tutor for about 3 months now and we also work with her as well. She works better 1 on 1 and needs a lot of guidance sometimes...she's a day dreamer! I have already enrolled her in Katy GT academy for summer enrichment but wanted to know if anyone had any experience with retention and the results of it. Thanks!

YES! If I were you I would move her ahead. Redshirting is very popular in Texas. It happens alot with boys, but I believe you mentioned you have a daughter. Unless a psychologist tells you this is appropriate for you to do, I would go with your instinct. Teachers are not psychologist. Expert psychologist feel that this is not a good thing to do re holding your child back because in the long run it will cause the child to have behavioral and social problems being in a class where all the students are a year or more younger.
Teachers just need to teach and work with the child on an individual level. I know one parent who held her kid back and she said she did the right thing because he is an advanced student on a 4th grade level in 2nd grade. Well her son is not on an advance level 2 grades ahead when he is suppose to be in 3rd grade. But whatever makes her feel better about her decision works for her. She was also told by a teacher when he was in second grade that she needed to have her son tested because he wasn't paying attention in class. Nothing was wrong with this child. Something was wrong with the teacher, so the teacher ended up quitting in the middle of the school year. Please be very careful about teacher recommendations on something like this. Remember teachers are under pressure to make sure students do well on the TAKS and on other standardized scores, so whatever they tell you is not to help your child, but make things easier for them. It is sad, but true. I know people who didn't hold their child back and they are doing fantastic.

[350days]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

She sounds bored. Move her to a challenging school and test her for dsylexia.

"Lack of Focus," "frustrates easily" are public school catch term for dsylexia. Most dyslexics are
above average, but just think differently.

As you can tell from this "bored," I have family who are dyslexic, and I am as well. We think differently.You may find our grammar/spelling poor, but we can out think and perform most.

Nobody on this message board is a trained psycholgist or educational diagnostician, so please don't self-diagnosed. If you have some concerns the best place to start is at your pediatrician's office. On the annual visit discuss your concerns with this person.

[350days]

Originally Posted by houstonfan

Please, at that age, it's hard to label a kid's development. Not all kids develop equally in all areas at same rate. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with them. The fact that she's passing and strong at some areas and if you haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary means most likely she'll be ok. Math at that age consists of addition and subtraction, doesn't prove or disprove anything. Labelling a kid as challenged and making her stay back will probably have more detrimental effects on her self esteem and self expectation than anything. It's a well known fact that kids who were randomly labelled "advanced" ended up doing better academically than their peers, eventhough the label was randomly chosen as part of a psychological experiment.
I'd say let her pass, keep an eye on her and continue giving her help where she's weak. SOme kids have shorter attention span than others, it's not necessarily ADHD. Have her evaluated if you have real reasons to be concerned other than what one teacher said, but take all advice with skeptism.

I agree. Just because your elementary child is advanced does not mean this will be the case when they get to middle school. Things start to even out once the students reach middle school, the work becomes much harder. I haven't seen many message boards with parents being concerned about their child being advanced in middle and highschool. In elementary you will see all kinds of learning abilities.