Repeating Kindergarten??

[HawaiiMomof4]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about holding a child back to repeat kindergarten twice? He's not been diagnosed yet, but I'm fairly sure he has hyperactive ADHD (based on my experience with his older brother). He's also the youngest in his class (made the cutoff by 3 days), and about a head shorter than his classmates. He's very behind socially and emotionally. He has a fantastic teacher this year and has done really well in his main class, but he's had many behavioral problems at other activities (art, music, PE) and at afterschool care. He's not academically behind. I'll also look into developing a behavioral plan, getting formally assessed, and perhaps an IEP - I know all that will be essential no matter what - but the retention decision is coming up much sooner than those things. Thanks for any thoughts or experiences - I really appreciate it!

[Tiredagain1]

We had a similar thought with our son, as he was also close to the cut-off and therefore on the younger side to be in Kinder. We also heard that with ADHD, the emotional development is about 70% of the physical age, and we see this. So a younger, just 5 year old, Kinder stdent has the emtional age of 3 1/2.

Do not lose hope though and repeating is a personal choice. There is no stigma or negative label to it. We found the right meds and the right school program are the greatest path to success. Having ADHD kiddos in general education classes (which Kinder is) does not provide the right environment, at the moment, but remains the goal.

We are fortunate to be in a school district that has a specific Behavioral Intervention program run by someone with their Masters in teaching and further educated in child behavioral analysis, and is supported by two para-professionals.

Again, the right meds (not overdoing meds) and the right school environment is key.