A generation ago, skipping a grade was considered the best option for a gifted child. Since then, though, the idea has fallen out of vogue. In fact, it's become much more common to hold a preschooler back a year (often called "red-shirting") before starting kindergarten to make sure he's ready or to give him an edge.
Still, no one wants their kid to be bored, restless, or unchallenged when he starts school. If your preschooler is already reading and writing, understanding math concepts, and discussing advanced ideas in ways his fellow preschoolers aren't, you may be wondering if he'd be better off jumping right into first grade. Here's what the experts advise:
How to decide if skipping kindergarten is right for your child
For starters, take a look at the Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual, a tool that considers the kinds of factors schools weigh: intellect, achievement, physical size, peers, motor skills, and social and emotional development.
Also, notice who your child likes to be with. "If your son relates better to adults or older children than kids his own age, that's a sign that skipping a grade would help him feel like he's more among his peers," says Linda Powers Leviton, a psychotherapist specializing in the needs of the gifted.
If it seems as if skipping might be an option for your child, you could consider an assessment by a professional education therapist (ask your pediatrician for a recommendation). This would factor in what you and your child's teachers have observed, what the therapist observes, plus what you can find out about how the specific school and teacher you're thinking of handle advanced kids.
An assessment can help you make an informed decision, and if you do decide to go forward with skipping, might influence the school's decision when you make your request.
Ultimately, you should consider skipping only if your child is academically ahead of his peers and has the emotional and social maturity to handle the jump.
"Gifted children tend to be sensitive," says Leviton, "so factors like shyness, perfectionism, competitiveness, and self-control should also figure into the equation." If your child is particularly sensitive to making errors, is easily embarrassed, is very small for his age, or gravitates toward playing with younger kids, skipping a grade could be a devastating experience that leads to poor self-esteem.
Some alternatives to skipping a grade
Skipping ahead is usually not the only, or even the first, option explored for a gifted preschooler, because it can be socially disruptive. A child may miss friends he's made who are his own age, and other kids (or even a teacher) may resent a kid who's held up as a "smarty-pants."
Sometimes a stepping-stone skill gets missed, making it tricky even for a gifted child to keep up. "Plus," says Leviton, "long-term, a child who skips a grade will be in school with kids who will hit life markers earlier – getting a driver's license, dating – and there may be peer pressure to do things he's not yet ready to do."
Talk to the principal at your child's elementary school to see if there are creative ways to accommodate gifted kids that don't involve a whole grade leap, suggests Jim Delisle, author of Parenting Gifted Kids. "This can be especially useful if your child's development is uneven – if he's advanced in reading and writing, say, but not in math."
Single-subject skipping – sending a child up to first grade just during reading time – can be a good option at this age. (This, of course, works best at schools where all grades are studying the same subjects at the same time.)
Some teachers may be able to accommodate an advanced child in their classroom, letting him pursue more advanced material in his strong areas or allowing him to move through lessons more quickly than his peers.
Some schools have a weekly "pull-out" program, where a specially trained teacher for gifted children exposes them to more advanced concepts, creates special activities, gives them access to experts, or takes them on specially funded field trips.
And you can also supplement classroom instruction with summer camps or after-school classes in the subjects where your child shines.
If you think skipping is right for your child, what next?
The next step will be convincing the school to approve a grade skip. Some, but not all, schools allow grade skipping. Depending on how stretched resources are at the school, it can be a battle. Some have a philosophical reluctance to singling a child out. Some require evidence of giftedness.
Before you discuss the idea with the principal, you may want to gather evidence of your child's achievements. That could be a simple journal where you document what your child can do and collect samples of his work or an assessment by a professional education therapist. Or you may consider a giftedness test, though tests are not considered terribly reliable at this age.
Many schools have strict birthday cutoff dates for kindergarten regardless of ability, so you'll need to find out what your district's policy is. There is a little-known loophole to the birthday cutoff, though: If you send your child to a kindergarten that will take him at an earlier age (say, a private kindergarten), typically he'll automatically advance to first grade in pretty much any school the next year regardless of his age. The age cutoff usually only applies to kindergartners.
Join in the conversation with other BabyCenter parents who are considering skipping.