My son is 4. We had enrolled him in preschool this past fall, but it didn't go well. After just a few days, the teacher diagnosed him with autism, sensory integration, and other behavioral issues. So I went to school with him to observe. What I saw shocked and disappointed me, but not with my son... with the teacher!! (I won't go into the details here unless you need more information, but just know that the teacher's had labeled him and treated him as such.) We ended pulling him out after about 6 weeks of school. We did have him evaluated for those "issues" and he passed the tests and observations just fine.
We signed him up for TaeKwonDo classes and he is doing amazing! He follows direction, listens very well, takes his turn, waits in line, sits patiently in a group, raises his hand, and interacts with the other kids perfectly. (Everything the preschool teacher said that he couldn't do.) The worst thing he has done is to talk while the instructor is talking. The instructor will tell my son to "shush" and he does. The instructor keeps him challenged, interested, and directed.
My son will turn 5 this summer. He could start kindergarten in August. We have the option of holding him back a year as with his late birthday, that is a common option. Our cut off date is August 1. I feel that an extra year of maturity could only be beneficial to him if we waited... not only now, but down the road. However, some (my husband, Mom, sister, and most who meet him, included teachers) feel that he's ready and I should send him this fall. They feel he is academically ready and needs to get in there to let the social part fall into place. Academically, he is more than ready. He can count in 3 languages, read/spell, write most letters, sounds out all words he sees, can do simple math, tell basic time, knows his left from right, knows colors & shapes, does large puzzles, etc.
Our school has a kindergarten screening and the preschool teacher is the one who does that. She would probably not pass him even if he did pass.
Did I do the right thing by pulling him out of that preschool or did I over react and step over the line?
Should we try a different preschool or just let him enjoy his TaeKwonDo classes for now?
Should we send him to Kindergarten this fall or wait a year? Or should I homeschool?
This all started out about ten times longer, but I edited it down a LOT as to not bore you. There really is so much more to this story, but I'll wait to see if that is needed/wanted before I write a book that may not be of interest to anyone. :-)
