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Parenting
with Gary & Anne Marie: Preschool
The Why of Developmental Placement
Contributed by Robyn Vander
Weide
Chloe is reading simple
words, yet she looks down and turns away if another child approaches. Jason
is everyone's buddy at the playground, but a simple game of match reveals he
couldn't find a pair of turtles if they poked their heads out from under the
squares. Just as each child is unique, so is each child's rate of development.
Some children develop more rapidly, others at a slower pace. Rate of development
is different than mental ability. You may have a child of average to above average
mental ability whose rate of development is similar to his chronological age,
faster than his chronological age, or slower than his chronological age. Proper
developmental placement will offer the following benefits:
Offers Greatest Opportunity
to Reach Potential
We've all imaged that Kodak moment when, pigtails flapping in the breeze, our
little sweetheart flings herself off the big yellow bus and dashes up the drive
with a Rembrandt-like masterpiece draped over her arm and a sharpened heart-covered
pencil pressed oh-so-grownup behind her ear and declares, "School is simply
the best, Mom!" Snap. That moment is more likely yours when the child is
developmentally ready for kindergarten. Then and only then is she able to get
the most out of the educational experience.
Such children understand
what the teacher is teaching. They find the assignments challenging and enjoyable.
Learning is exhilarating. They feel smart! When children are not ready for the
academics of kindergarten, they feel frustrated by the teaching. They think
school is boring and the activities are too hard and not worthy of their effort
or time. They would rather be outside playing. Schoolwork does not make them
feel smart; often it is quite the opposite. They tend to compensate for what
they perceive to be a lack of smart thinking with naughty behavior, acting out
in class to offset their perceived identity. Any child would rather be known
as class clown than class dummy.
Developmental placement
helps to optimize a child's educational experience. If the class clown above
were properly placed (meaning starting school a year later), he would more likely
have been at the top of the class, enjoying his learning experience and forming
a completely different and wonderfully positive classroom identity that would
see him through the next twelve years. The point? What a difference a year can
make.
Limits Learning Difficulties
You only get one chance to make a first impression, so the saying goes. So it
is with school. A child's first experience with school can leave an impression
that lasts for an academic lifetime. Some have estimated that as much as 50
percent of learning difficulties can be eliminated through proper developmental
placement. Let me explain. It appears that some children develop mental processing
difficulties when they are placed in academic environments that require skills
they have not yet developed. Other children develop learning difficulties when
the pace of the curriculum is too fast for them to thoroughly process. They
have trouble learning the new concept being taught because they have not yet
fully mastered the previous concept. These children feel constantly bombarded
with new information that does not get properly stored in their memory and then
cannot be remembered when needed.
But this is nothing new
to an On Becoming Babywise, Toddlerwise, and Preschoolwise audience.
Gary Ezzo and Dr. Bucknam have repeatedly advised parents of this developmental
fact. In On Becoming Babywise II they wrote: "Children interpret
new experiences in relationship to knowledge formerly acquired. That means learning
is progressive, and a child only gains understanding when new information has
meaning in relationship to previous experiences. Routine and orderly transition
at each stage of the child's development aid the marriage between new information
and a child's understanding."
In all my twenty-five years
of education service as a teacher and school principal, I have never come across
classroom evidence that runs contrary to that developmental truth above. Not
only does preschool training establish right or wrong learning patterns; those
very learning patterns ultimately influence developmental placement and your
child's future.
School Is Appropriately
Stressful
In an adult's busy world, stress is usually perceived as negative. Actually,
stress can have either a positive or negative effect. Consider any stringed
instrument. It is the stress on the string that produces the beautiful sound.
The key, though, is appropriate stress. If the string is too tight, the note
will be sharp. If it is too loose, the note will be flat. School should be appropriately
stressful. If children are developmentally ready for the concepts being taught
and the work being assigned, the stress is stimulating, and future scholars
are nurtured. If a child is not developmentally ready, the stress can be too
much. School becomes frustrating and learning is stifled. I can say with confidence
that the parents who bathe themselves in the principles of On Becoming Babywise,
On Becoming Babywise II, On Becoming Toddlerwise, and On Becoming Preschoolwise
will have children that enter school already ahead of the curve. Stay with it.
Time for Extracurricular
Activities
When a child starts school before he is developmentally ready, he may have difficulty
understanding and completing the work assigned. If this continues for any length
of time, the child falls behind. Also, many schools send home packets of simple
assignments for students to complete and return. Yes, even kindergarteners may
have homework. If the student did not learn the concept in school, what should
be a simple assignment can become a nightmare for both parent and child, and
as a result, completing homework takes far more time than the teacher intended.
As this pattern continues, the child does not have time for after-school sports
or music lessons. All extra time is devoted to schoolwork.
At this point, the joy in
learning is zapped, and any additional activities that require effort, practice,
and mental exertion are very low on the child's want-to-do list. There's simply
nothing left for spontaneous interests. For these floundering souls, the television
is a tempting soother, requiring nothing in return
Article
by Gary Ezzo / Anne Marie Ezzo
