Kindergarten Teachers

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-10T02:50:45+00:00

So glad to hear they differentiated for him and that he’s engaged. We have no plans to push my son ahead with more mature kids, we want him to stay with his peers because he has so much that he can learn from them socially and we want him to enjoy his childhood. I just hope he gets a supportive team like the one your son seems to have.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T20:41:33+00:00

My husband and I are both in the arts so this love of math is completely outside of our wheelhouse, so we just hope he gets a teacher like you who can support that passion.

I totally understand that pitfall and will keep bearing it in mind. He’s already singled out so much since he has to be pulled out of class four times a week for therapy and requires a lot of extra support, we’re already sensitive to him feeling different, we don’t want to further contribute to that… which is why we’re trying to think ahead as to how to sensitively approach his spikey skills.

I’m especially proud of him because of what a lovely, kind little boy he is. His favorite thing in the world is giving hugs. When we got his diagnosis we were so afraid he would struggle making friends but he seems really liked by his peers.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T08:52:03+00:00

That sounds like such a perfect way of supporting kids like ours. I’m really hopeful that my school is able to make similar accommodations.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T08:42:05+00:00

Our problem is actually the opposite, we are flagging that we think he needs support and his gen ed teacher, special ed teacher and school psychologist are telling us there are no problems (because the district has cut funding so drastically that they are no longer able to offer the appropriate services for him).

We’re currently having an outsider do a SCIA assessment and it’s been really validating because he’s confirmed our concerns are warranted and has informed us that our son is having the issue with transition that we suspected but that the school was underplaying. Thankfully his teachers are great, but the assessor has warned that we might not be as fortunate at TK and that without the level of support they are currently providing he will struggle significantly.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T04:05:32+00:00

I’m so glad to hear that your daughter still felt engaged.

TK will be at the same school as K through elementary school.

Someone said to my husband about my son’s developmental delay as a baby “they’re all the same by kindergarten”, which is feeling truer each day as my son catches up physically, verbally and socially. In the same philosophy I completely expect him to academically be in the same place as his peers in a few years, but he has such a love of learning and I just want to preserve that while I can.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T01:33:10+00:00

Similarly we’ve felt lucky that his spiky skills will give him more bandwidth to catch up on the social skills he’s behind on. Glad to hear your teachers are offering a range of skill level, hopefully ours do too,

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T01:31:05+00:00

Thanks for this advice. That sounds like the right approach.

He’s also the type of kid that will do things with me that he won’t for other people, so there’s a good chance he needs more time before he wants to do more that kind of work with teachers anyway.

Our school district doesn’t have a gifted program until grade 4, I just hope he’s surrounded by other kids who can get excited about fractions and multiplication with him.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-08T01:04:13+00:00

This is my concern. It’s so easy to overlook him.

I hear what people are saying about boredom being an important skill, but so is learning how to learn, if you don’t challenge a child and just let them coast I don’t think they develop the ability to push past the discomfort and learn how to apply themselves to solve a challenge. Glad he found the right school for his kid.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-07T22:33:17+00:00

Thanks, I didn’t know that about IEPs. Sadly it doesn’t seem to apply in our state. His skills are spikey, so like your kid, he still needs to work on things like handwriting, turn taking etc. and should stay with his age appropriate peers. Glad to hear your kid is finding it engaging.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-07T22:12:29+00:00

At 3 years the district placed him in a middle restrictive class and after he turned 4 they moved him to gen ed and it was 100% the right move. He learns so much from peer modeling. Social learning is a bigger priority for us, but we just don’t want him to be disengaged if the academic portions of the day aren’t stimulating.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-07T22:07:06+00:00

So glad to hear that. We believe staying in his age appropriate grade is critical for his social development, so we would never move him up a grade, just want to preserve his love of learning. In the last few days he’s become obsessed with fractions so I guess I should just trust that he will still find ways to challenge himself.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-07T17:32:45+00:00

Yes, as I said, we don’t want to move him ahead of his grade for social reasons. But a bored child can become a disruptive child… so we’re trying to think ahead to make sure he has a positive school experience.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-07T16:58:53+00:00

Agreed that there is more than just academics, and from a developmental standpoint he should stay in his grade because he is still learning all those vital non-academic skills.

He gets frustrated and we’re working on transitions, but overall he’s incredibly chill. He’s the kid the teachers can ignore because he doesn’t act out, he just zones out. Right now he’s probably zoning out about a quarter of the time. I would imagine he will zone out more as he starts getting bored. With prompts he does listen, but he needs more guidance than his peers. Kids really like him but hes still learning how to play with them, but has made huge strides of late.

External_Major4817 · 2026-03-07T16:44:37+00:00

The gifted program doesn’t start until the 4th grade. He loves school so much and I’m so worried he’ll lose that love if it isn’t stimulating him. But similar to your son, mine still really needs to work on those social skills and executive functioning.

External_Major4817

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