My son is advanced, but he is not gifted..?

Question

He is not reading, however..he knows his alphabet and numbers. He can identify words. His teachers say is he advanced for his age. His birthday is late-November. I'm afraid he will need to take 2 yrs of kindergarten before he can attend 1st grade. Anyway around this? Is there any kind of test he can take that will help him get into 1st grade sooner?

Answer 1

so he is in preschool now?  He's only 4 - lots of kids are 6 before even starting kindergarten now.  there are a lot of pressures in kindergarten that we didn't have to deal with as kids.  Let him be 4 and enjoy him -he'll grow up soon enough!

Answer 2

Consider private school for a year or two.

By age 5.5 (start of kindergarten), advanced kids should be able to:

1. Count to 100

2 .Count to 20 by twos

3. Hop on one foot across the room

4. Add single-digit numbers, thru 9+9

5. Most CVC (consonent-vowel-consonent) words, like dad, mom, dog, cat, had, has, hat.

6. Rhyme many words

7. Assemble discrete scenes into a cohesive story

8. Draw from scratch a detailed picture of themselves, including many colors, fingers and eyelashes.

9. Play nice in the sandbox

This is part of the assessment our son will go through to get into private school, which accept one student for each seven applicants.

Answer 3

Find out what your state or school board rules are in terms of early entrance into kindergarten.  If he gets a psycho-educational assessment and it is determined that he is ready for kindergarten then I don't see a problem with him going early.  They will most probably require testing.

Answer 4

sounds like your son is age appropriate and you are putting too much pressure on him.  at age 4, he should be running and jumping and singing and playing.  he isn't physically ready to start learning.  take some parenting classes and let him be a kid.

Answer 5

You haven't said how old your son is.

A lot of kids around here take 2 years to start kindergarten or start kindergarten at the latest possible date. It's not a big deal. And if the school he's attending requires that he read at a certain level before getting into grade 1, then it's in his best interests to wait until he can read at the level they require. Btw, do you even know for sure that he has to be reading before he goes into grade 1?

What you can do to help him is purchase a program that will help him learn to read. Reading Reflex and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons come to mind. Phonics Pathways is another good one. Work with him daily on it.

Answer 6

Check your state laws. I know Pennsylvania allows such late-born kids to be admitted IF THEY ARE educated in private school.  Private schools (like Chesterbrook in PA) will take the kids based on academic evaluation.  If your kid is advanced, he will breeze thru the evaluation.  State laws may allow the child to be "possibly psychologically evaluated" for admission (my kid was not evaluated, but just admitted) in the first grade.  I also know state of Georgia will take kids (born after September of the calendar year) in second grade or later - only if they are educated outside of the state.

Check your state laws.  Montessori schools and really good private schools can also help in socially advancing the child as the general myth in the U.S. is that when young, boys are emotionally less matured for their age than girls.  Lack of emotional maturity will hurt when the kid is in third grade or later.  (I heard from a December born girl who is now 13, how she hurt in 3rd grade for being the shortest in class too!).

You will know if/when your child is ready.  Good luck!