Principal won't answer question
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Anonymous
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To play devil's advocate here: wouldn't you want to know if, say, your child who is old for his/her grade was considerably less mature than the other children in the grade (who are, for argument sake, much younger). This could be helpful information for a parent to have. A teacher might believe that it it completely normal for a group of 1st graders to have a wide range of maturity levels...but a parent might have real developmental concerns if her child (who is 14-16 months older than most classmates) is considerably less mature.
A parent might have legitimate motivations to assess her child relative to age in a way that a teacher might not. I don't think it means the parent has some sort of nefarious motives. |
Anonymous
Yes, I would, but you don't need birthdates to make that kind of assessment. If you have concerns, then take them up with your child's teacher. Teachers are great resources and can let you know if your child is less (or more) mature for his or her age WITHOUT REVEALING INFORMATION YOU HAVE ZERO RIGHT TO HAVE. |
Anonymous
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I think it is a valid question if the parent has concerns about the child's maturity. A study in British Columbia of almost 1 million 6-12 year olds found that students who were the youngest in their grade were more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and medicated.
Influence of relative age on diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children Richard L. Morrow, Jane Garland, James M. Wright, Malcolm Maclure, Suzanne Taylor, Colin R. Dormuth Abstract Background: The annual cut-off date of birth for entry to school in British Columbia, Canada, is December 31. Thus, children born in December are typically the youngest in their grade. We sought to determine the influence of relative age within a grade on the diagnosis and pharmacologic treatment of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Methods: We conducted a cohort study involving 937 943 children in British Columbia who were 6–12 years of age at any time between Dec. 1, 1997, and Nov. 30, 2008. We calculated the absolute and relative risk of receiving a diagnosis of ADHD and of receiving a prescription for a medication used to treat ADHD (i.e., methylphenidate, dextroamphetamine, mixed amphetamine salts or atomoxetine) for children born in December compared with children born in January. Results: Boys who were born in December were 30% more likely (relative risk [RR] 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23–1.37) to receive a diagnosis of ADHD than boys born in January. Girls born in December were 70% more likely (RR 1.70, 95% CI 1.53–1.88) to receive a diagnosis of ADHD than girls born in January. Similarly, boys were 41% more likely (RR 1.41, 95% CI 1.33–1.50) and girls 77% more likely (RR 1.77, 95% CI 1.57–2.00) to be given a prescription for a medication to treat ADHD if they were born in December than if they were born in January. |
Anonymous
You can still go about getting information on where your child is age-wise relative to the other kids in the class without asking for birthdates from the principal or teachers. The teacher can tell you whether your child is one of the younger children in the class without compromising personal information. I see nothing in this study that says the actual birthdate is relative, but rather where the child falls in age with respect to the cutoff for the academic year. Still see no need for requesting birthdates. |
Anonymous
| 14:23 again. I'll also note that I despise studies like this since all they do is point to validation for over-medicating our children. I'm the parent of a child who will be one of the youngest in her class based on the cutoff for our county. She exhibits some pretty typical ADHD traits, but doesn't miss a trick in Pre-K. She just is a lot like her father, who managed the school system just fine without meds. |
Anonymous
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The school should not answer your question OP. The answer is none of your business.
I agree that the school is handling it in a bureaucratic way, but I am sure it is borne of years of experience with parents who get this information and then use it to their advantage if it suits them, and ignore it if it doesn't. It's a no-win situation for the school. I have two kids, both of whom were born right before the cut off. I red-shirted one because I thought he needed it. The other is the youngest (or one of the youngest) in his class. Occasionally, I am curious as to how old the other kids are, and how many others have been red-shirted. I think this is due to some natural parental curiousity, and a bit of an inclination to compare kids. But I know better than to ask, because the right answer is it is none of my business. |
Anonymous
In all fairness, OP didn't ask for actual birthdates. OP asked how many kids in her child's class had a birthday that fell before a certain date. Her exact words: "I asked how many students have birthdays prior to X date. Just the number of students. My reason - wanting to know where my child stands age-wise in the class." |
Anonymous
I agree. This info is none of your business and you should not have access to it. Move along, and mind your own child's business. |
Anonymous
OK, fine. Technicality. But OP still hasn't given a good enough reason to need this information. If the teacher tells you your child is on the younger side of the class, who cares exactly how many are older, or younger? At the end of the day, what really matters is where the child stands relative to where the child should be at his or her current age and not as compared to the other kids in the class. Stop being obsessed with others and focus on your own child. |
Anonymous
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Isn't this a bit like a situation where a parent wants to ask the school "how many kids in the class have brown hair, or are shorter than 5', or are asian etc." and the school says "none of your business.". So a rational person would go look into the class and figure it out.
If I am Asian and don't wanbent child to be the only Asian student, for example, I would ask "how many Asian students are in kindergarten." The school will probably say "we won't/cant answer that question b/c it's none of your business." That's understandable, but the parent can still look for answers elsewhere - observing a class, talking to parents, etc. Op should just do the same here: start talking to parents and figure it out. You aren't looking for their social security numbers! Talking to the parents will get you the info you want. Problem solved. |
Anonymous
that's all well and good to know but OP doesn't seem to mention whether her kid has any of these issues and just because younger kids can get diagnosed more doesn't mean you can't discuss that with your child's teacher when or if that happens. Good parenting involves asking good questions in those situations but you don't need to bring in all the other kids in the class to do it. If you were to actuallly sit down with your teacher because your child might be seen to have ADHD or something, you could then say....but developmentally isn't this behaviour normal? Compared to other kids their age? and then ask are there many other kids in his/her age range? What impact might that have. But there seems to be very little smoke for this particular fire.
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