Based on my many years of teaching pre-K and K children, as well as having taught first grade, social and emotional maturity does matter because lack of confidence, sense of security, and social competency can affect a child's academic performance down the line when children find social demands overwhelming. Often, they get help in public school only when they meet certain criteria as having need for special accommodations and support. I have had children who did not meet the criteria by a slim margin, so they did not get the support they really needed at that particular moment in their development. Parents had to get support for their child on their own - e.g., private services outside of school. Not everyone is able to have resources to do that. While it is true that parents are the experts of their own child, teachers are the experts of the children as a collective as well as individuals. I also check my thinking and practice to make sure that the focus is on the needs of the child rather than the wants of the grown-ups, i.e., parents/guardians and educators (which includes myself, colleagues, and administrators). Keeping children with their social peer group vs. their academic peer group has often been my philosophy as a teacher of young children, and that seems to make sense for the children, their families, and teachers. One cannot hurry children in their social and emotional growth. As another contributor to this discussion said, some children need to play more. This is certainly true. For these children, they need the resource of time and some social support or "a boost" in their social and emotional development. They may understand specific ideas or concepts at the cognitive level, but may not be emotionally and socially ready to accept and manage the implications of such ideas on their young lives. Helping children develop a more solid sense of self, sense of security and self confidence will ground them as they prepare to face the increasing demands of their social and academic future.
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Lynne May Lim
Eliot Pearson Children's School
Chestnut Hill MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2019 12:11 AM
From: Temesha Ragan
Subject: Kindergarten Retention
It's the end of the year and I am seeing a lot of parents asking for advice on either holding their Kindergarten aged children back due to social and emotional immaturity or delaying their entrance into kindergarten due to social and emotional immaturity. When I attempted to find research on this (besides what I believe from working with young children) I was surprised that while it is a common recommendation I was hard pressed to find research on that EXACT reason. So I wanted to know what you guys thought:
Should children be retained or delayed due to social and emotional immaturity?
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Temesha (Ms. Tessie) Ragan
Family Child Care IF Facilitator
Perfect Start Learning
Family Child Care Provider
Edwards, CA
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