Dr. Sylvia Rimm is a child psychologist, clinical professor at Case University School of Medicine, author, newspaper and magazine columnist, and radio/TV personality. Her advice column appears regularly in 2e Newsletter. You can visit her website at  www.sylviarimm.com.

To find out more about my new book Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child (3rd Ed.) or for a free newsletter about gifted children, send a large self-addressed, stamped envelope to P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI, 53094, or go to  www.sylviarimm.com for more  information. 

If you have a question for Dr. Rimm, please send it to: DrSylvia@2eNewsletter.com.

Q

We have a 6-year-old who has just gone into kindergarten this year because she missed the cut-off last year by one month. We have half-day kindergarten here and she’s very bored. She’s already reading; and while I don’t believe she’s a genius, I do think she’s ahead of most of the other kids in her class. She’s already been singled out for her handwriting and her reading abilities. That said, the school district doesn’t test children for IQ or assess them until third grade. Should we be concerned about her boredom in kindergarten and insist that the school provide more advanced learning for her?

A

You should surely be worried if your daughter is reading and bored in kindergarten. If she continues without challenge this year, first grade may be even worse. If the school psychologist won’t test her, you can arrange for a private psychologist to conduct a psychoeducational evaluation. If she’s in the gifted range, the school psychologist may be able to advocate for you to arrange appropriate curriculum. Depending on the testing results, it may be possible for your daughter to attend a half day of kindergarten and a half day of first grade. It’s also possible that the testing results would show she’s a better fit for first grade than kindergarten.

When children are both academically and emotionally ready, research indicates that they do better if they’re accelerated or grade skipped. I can’t recommend grade skipping for your daughter without an evaluation, but it would be appropriate to find a psychologist who specializes in gifted children to conduct one.

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