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Dear At Wit's End,
For some reason your daughter
is not functioning in her kindergarten class. Without knowing
anything more about her or your family situation or the
class she's in, I can only suggest that you check all of
the following: Is her
kindergarten a well-run program in which the other children
are functioning well and are happy?
Is there anything going on
at home that might cause her to be unhappy and to exhibit
that unhappiness in school by not doing her work?
If she's in a good program,
has a warm, caring teacher and everything is fine at home,
you should check the following:
- Is her eyesight okay? There
has been a strong link discovered between problems with
seeing and children's behavior in school and their learning/reading
abilities. Check with an optometrist, especially one who
keeps up on the professional literature.
- Is her hearing okay?
- Does she have trouble concentrating?
This can be a sign of Attention Deficit Disorder. It's
not as scary as it sounds. There are many different levels
and if it's caught early it can be dealt with easier than
if it's caught at an older age.
- Has she been tested for
learning disabilities? Threatening to deprive her of privileges
will have little effect if she has real trouble doing
the work she is given.
- Are there children she plays
with in kindergarten? Feeling friendless can contribute
to non-functioning in school. If that seems to be the
problem, encourage her to invite friends home and make
them feel welcome.
Some of these possibilities
send parents into denial that such a problem can exist.
Don't be afraid; be brave. Everything mentioned above can
be treated, especially at the age of six. Check it all out
and whatever the solution: Go for it!
Good luck,
WholeMom
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Dear
"At Wit's End,"
I can sense your frustration
with your daughter's difficulty in completing her schoolwork.
As a trained preschool teacher, I was somewhat surprised
to read that a child is getting a significant amount of
schoolwork to complete in kindergarten.
To be honest, I am not a fan
of assigning homework in kindergarten. I feel that before
first grade, children are not always developmentally ready
to sit and complete assignments. After-school time should
be spent in free play and relaxing activities. If assignments
are given, they should be short and fun activities.
You may wish to speak with
your child's teacher and tell her that your daughter may
not be ready yet for formal assignments. Speak to the parents
of other children in her class. You might discover that
the assignments are hard for other children. If so, perhaps
a group of parents can speak to the teacher and mention
that the work seems a bit hard for the children.
Perhaps your daughter is not
developmentally ready for an academic program, but next
year, after another year of maturation, she will do well
in academic studies.
Do not be concerned that your
daughter will be left back because of not completing assignments.
Occasionally, there is good reason for a child to repeat
kindergarten, but at age six, any decisions about academic
placement should not be related to school assignments.
As WholeMom mentioned, it is
always wise to check out your child's development and possible
difficulties with the appropriate professionals. You may
want to have her developmental skills tested by a child
psychologist or it may be enough to just mention any difficulties
to her pediatrician and see if her doctor has any concerns.
If your child does have learning problems, then the sooner
you take care of them the better.
It is possible, however, that
the difficulty may lie in the school your child is attending,
rather than in your daughter's capabilities.
Good luck and best wishes,
Esther Boylan Wolfson
Director, Early Childhood Development Center
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