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Preschool or "Kindy Readiness"

MirandaHobbesMirandaHobbes member
in Special Needs

DS is doing well in his integrated preschool class. He is almost 4 years old. I received a note from the school that this summer he can start in a new classroom that is specifically "kindergarten readiness." It is "more structured and focuses on skills needed for kindergarten readiness." Or he can stay in his current classroom until he's in kindergarten. His class currently has 3-5 year olds and while it is structured, focuses on "play-based" learning.

How do I know if he's ready to move up? At his IEP meeting they noted that his strength appears to be academic (while he doesn't know his numbers or letters very well- he kindof guesses). His challenges are staying on task while doing desk work.

I know I need to talk to his current preschool teachers and get their opinion, but I was curious what you think the best course of action is. I feel like if DS was NT I would absolutely send him to the pre-kindy class, but I'm not sure if it's better to hold him back here. Redshirting preschool, heh.

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Re: Preschool or "Kindy Readiness"

  • MirandaHobbesMirandaHobbes member

    Thanks for your reply- good things to think about. You're right about him seeing himself as another adult in the room- his interaction between other kids is usually limited to bossing them around or telling them they aren't following the rules.His setup now is 9 hrs a week of a private ASD classroom; and 15 hours a week of public ASD classroom. The rest (25 hours) is integrated. We'll continue with the ASD classrooms as normal, so we just have to figure out whether the integrated should be preschool or preK. I have seen the preK room in action - the kids do seem older and more mature, lots of worksheets and such that DS currently needs many, many prompts to get through. All of his artwork looks suspiciously teacher-completed.

    In his preschool class he plays with the just-turned-3 year olds. They actually play somewhat appropriately (since play at this age is a lot of giggling and chasing each other). It's pretty obvious to me that he's about exactly a year behind in maturity. He has a 3 year old neighbor that he enjoys visiting and going to the park. Again, it's limited to boy stuff- bikes, chasing, crashing trucks. This other boy is moving on to the next step after Duplos and DS isn't interested at all.

     I sent out emails to all of DS' teachers asking them what they thought and got one reply- she said she and his other teachers are going to meet and discuss it- which to me means they don't think he's ready. I'm inclined to push him  since he's an only child and too often gets his way, but I know once we make this decision it'll be final and I don't want him to be miserable or his new teachers to find him a nuisance. It might be good for him to be king of the castle for another year in preschool and start preK next fall or even next winter.

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