Q. Why is so much emphasis placed on the first year of school?

A. The first year is the educational foundation upon which the remainder of a person's life preparation is built. Success breeds confidence and self-assurance, while failure leads to frustration, uncertainty and a feeling of inadequacy. Children who begin an academic program before they are ready may suffer for the rest of their lives because of this one mistake in timing.

Q. Even if my child isn't ready developmentally, why can't he catch up during the year? After all, children are highly adaptable.

A. The child placed in first grade before being ready developmentally feels pressure to perform beyond his present abilities. He finds he cannot do what is expected of him, no matter how hard he tries. He begins feeling stupid and inadequate and trapped. He knows his parents are disappointed in him but he can't do anything about it, and because he is humiliated by failure day after day he soon hates school and eventually himself. Such self-deprecation can cause lifetime emotional scars.
This child is usually an early candidate for remedial classes, where more often than not his feeling of unworthiness and inadequacy block his learning there too. An unready child is sometimes made to pay a very high price for his unreadiness.

Q. What is maturation and what is meant by maturational levels of development?

A. Maturation is the process of orderly growth according to the individual's own biological "time table." Physical, intellectual, emotional and social development follows a sequential pattern which is determined by genetic factors. Maturation can take place without learning, but learning must always be preceded by maturation.

Q. Isn't too much importance attached to maturation?

A. No, maturation is an essential ingredient of all readiness. We can neither produce it, hurry it, nor ignore it. The only wise course is to wait with patience for it to develop.

Q. Is it true that children vary greatly in the rate of development?

A. Yes, normal first grade children may vary as much as two years. Generally girls develop more rapidly than boys. At six, the average boy is six months behind the average girl. However, one must not assume that all girls develop faster than boys. These are only the averages.

Q. My little boy won't be starting kindergarten when all his friends do. When I did my best to explain today, he cried quite a bit and just looked sort of hurt, as if he couldn't trust me. What can a parent do?

A. At first he may be terribly disappointed, but as educators and parents we have the responsibility of providing what is best for our children. We certainly wouldn't let a child ride a bicycle in the street before he could control his balance … even if it did disappoint him. How can we be less intelligent when thinking of his education? Most important is the parent's attitude. If parents accept the placement, feel it is best and support it, the child will more readily accept it.

Q. What are the long range advantages of developmental placement?

A. At every grade level the child will experience academic success which should make him more interested in school. The student will be more able to make mature decisions all through his school career.

Q. Why aren't most children taught reading in kindergarten or before?

A. Reading is a complex process which must take place amid a myriad of mental and physical activities. Most of these can be performed only after maturation of nerve, muscle, visual, auditory, coordinating and general intellectual components of the child's anatomy has taken place. Oral language is the foundation upon which written language is built. Readiness activities include listening, hearing, seeing, feeling, moving, experiencing and expressing in an organized environment.