Parent-Teacher Conferences

Today was parent-teacher conference day at Ben's preschool. I was surprised to hear from Ben's teachers that they think he might benefit from doing a pre-kindergarten year next year instead of going to kindergarten. A word of background - Ben would be a "young" kindergartener, since he turns five in June and students entering kindergarten in our district must be five by August 31st. However, I always planned to send him at five, since 1. that's when I went (my birthday being the end of July), 2. he always has seemed developmentally on-target or ahead of the curve in most areas, 3. He's already taller than most of his same-age classmates; if he were older than most he'd tower over them even more, and 4. I don't want to pay for an extra year of preschool!

Anyway the reason why they are concerned is because he is far behind the other kids in his fine motor skills, specifically the ability to write his letters. He recognizes his letters, but writing and drawing I already knew he has trouble with. For example, yesterday he brought home a drawing that he and his friend Maya had collaborated on. Ben had drawn a whale, and Maya had drawn a person. The person was clearly recognizable as such, if childish. Ben's whale was basically a big scribble. If you ask Ben to write his letters, he can only do a couple of them recognizably. If you asked Ben to draw a person, no way would he be able to draw one like Maya had done for him. It would probably be a big circle with a couple of other circles inside and a couple lines coming off at random places. (When I relayed this to Joel he said "That's how I still draw people!")

But I digress. The point is, I am not sure if I should take seriously the teachers' concerns. They also mentioned he is one of very few kids in the class who is not showing a clear handedness preference, which also I have noticed. But other than the writing/drawing/handedness, they have no concerns - in every other way he seems perfectly bright and mature. So I don't know if having trouble in just this one area is enough to hold him back a year. Coincidentally, we got a flier in the mail today about a "kindergarten readiness" seminar next week, so I am thinking I should attend it. I am also thinking of talking with his pediatrician, to see if they have some sort of kindergarten readiness assessment we could have done to get a second opinion. Decisions, decisions.