Friday, December 6, 2013
Students Skipping Grades
I remember when I was in elementary school, the thought of being able to skip a grade seemed to be very appealing. Less time that I had to be in school, but you never think about the implications of having to skip a grade I was recently talking to one of my next door neighbors who has a nephew and he is a high functioning autistic boy. He has the ability to skip up to three grade levels if he wants to, but his parents are deciding to keep him in his current grade level. The boy is teased at school because of the fact that he is autistic in the first place. He would be ridiculed even more if he was three years younger than individuals in this own grade. By the time he is in high school, he will be grade above his classmates. At that point it is up to the teacher to become creative with their curriculum in order to keep these types of student engaged.
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I think there is a lot to discuss about students skipping grades. While there are intellectual pursuits that a child needs to have available, I think that social development is almost more important. When student skips grades, they are now separated from two groups of students-- the group from which they left and the group to which they are trying to belong. It can be a difficult transition, and I think that is usually best to keep students at their respective grade levels.
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