Reply to Boys with August birthdays and Kindergarten at MCPS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A friend of mine has a K boy with an August bday and she recently told me he's having a lot of trouble and she may have to have him repeat K. He had been in highly regarded, 3-day-a-week preK program in Bethesda and knew his letters but not his letter sounds and did not know how to write more than his name.

My friend thought her son would be okay given that many people told her that it's normal for entering kindergarteners to be in this stage of pre-reading/writing. Well it apparently wasn't normal at his school and she said she got called in a few weeks into the school year by the teacher who told her her son was really far behind. The situation has been terrible for her son's self-esteem.

I'm not saying you should hold back your son, OP, but that it might be helpful to look at the demographics/abilities of the K students in your home school before making a decision. It really varies a great deal in MCPS. [/quote]

This is really awful. I feel like some schools want the children in KG to already know what they are supposed to learn in KG. [/quote]

It could be that the friend's son has a language-based learning disability, such as dyslexia. My son was the same way - knew the letter names, but couldn't do the sounds. Could NOT write. Was terrified to be near a pencil. Or sound out a word. We had lots of tears in K and 1st when it came to spelling HW.

The teachers simply don't know anything about language-based LDs. He was in 2nd grade before I finally raised hell when he had correct answers marked wrong on a science test due to spelling... even though the school has this policy about "spell to your best ability. It's okay to spell a word incorrectly... just sound it out!" I even asked the teacher "Do you think he could have dyslexia?" And she looked at me, point blank, and only said "Why would you think that?" BECAUSE HE COULDN'T SPELL!  I then had him tested and all my thoughts were confirmed - 2 language based LDs.

So to the PP who said some schools want kids in KG to already know what they're going to learn... [b]I submit that nearly every school has no idea what to do with kids who just can't "get it" on their own.[/b] We were repeatedly told that his delayed handwriting was "normal. Don't worry about it. Especially boys!" And that his inability to sound out unknown words or nonsense words was "typical for boys."

[/quote]

Every school?  Based on two examples?  And really, what does this have to do with OP?  Should she hold her son back because he might have a language disability?

It is not "typical for boys" to not be able to match sounds with letters, once it has been taught.  I can't imagine any teacher saying that, and if one did, then he or she was not being professional.  I'm sorry that experience has turned you off, but I wouldn't automatically apply it to "nearly every school."  There are plenty of interventions in kindergarten.[/quote]

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