Retention: 1ST GRADER BEING RETAINED

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Stephanie:  My son has chiari malforamtion 1.5, adhd, and PTSD. He was out of school for several weeks in 2015 for brain surgery. He had several complications and the school did not want to do the home bound program, they wanted him to come until 10am each day even though he would end up extremely sick afterwards. He could not get well so we chose to with draw him and home school. This worked well for almost a year but then he really missed school and begged us to go back. So in 1/2016 we allowed him to go back to public school, the school tested him to see where he was and told us he was current on everything but reading. They started all of his grades out as failing and he had to work up from there. He worked really hard everyday, reading his books and doing extra work everyday at home. I asked his teacher if he was doing good he said yes, i asked them if we needed a 504 plan and they said no that he was doing good in school. Yesterday i got text message and the end of the day saying they were retaining him. is there anything I can do?

  1. If he is going to be retained K or 1st is best. IF a child cannot read at grade level these days they almost never catch up. The reason is that 1st grade is now basically early 3rd grade which is wrong. Many of the skills the ” standards” are requiring are developmentally inappropriate for a vast number of children. Many parents are now holding their children ( boys expecially ) with no problems back from starting K so that they will be better prepared and more developed. I have a student who also has the same syndrome + some other issues. She had her surgery at age 7 and there had already been damage. So glad that he is doing well physically. One year will not make much difference in peer age. However the reason I see for retention is so that he can start and be confident in all areas .

  2. It is best for children to be with same age peers. They can differentiate and modify his coursework. My son has global delays and was 6 when entering K. Realistically, it is more important for children to learn with their same age peers and have teachers and the school specialists differentiate instruction.

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