Teachers: Kindergarten Readiness Assessment and Underlying Issues

Meeting children where they are at

There is no single aspect of development that defines if a child is ready for school. In a broader sense school readiness depends on emotional maturity as well as scholastic ability. Kindergarten readiness assessment is a sliding scale that depends on so many factors.

What are the school’s standards? What will your child’s new daily routine comprise? Has your child ever experienced daycare or preschool? For most children, kindergarten is the first formal educational environment that they enter and it is quite a transition from preschool or daycare.

In this article we discuss kindergarten readiness and we look at underlying issues that may become evident down the line which are often overlooked in children’s early development. It should be noted that school readiness is not a goal but a process and it is split into different areas.

A child is likely to have some readiness if they have reached developmental milestones such as the ability to pay attention, explore new things through their senses, communicating how they feel or controlling negative impulses.

Continue reading the full article and find out more about the underlying issues that has an impact on school readiness and what you can do as a parent to support your child during this developmental phase of their life.

Underlying Issues That May Become Evident

Sometimes children have struggles that parents can’t see. Of course, we don’t mean that the parents are too busy to notice or care. What we mean instead is that quite often, parents have adapted their daily lives to their children’s seamlessly.

So when parents are getting ready for kindergarten to start, they may easily overlook some underlying issues that might become more apparent as the school year progresses.

We’ve all lived this…(perhaps without realising)

We’ve all had an experience at some point or another that’s similar. Imagine a time when you’ve worked in a group project in school. Or perhaps in learning to share a home with another person. In your family or even among colleagues at work.

There are some things that are just easier for you to do than to wait for someone else to do it. Or perhaps it’s a colleague that doesn’t know how to use the new copy machine. So, you simply run her copies while you’re doing your own. And, over time, no one notices that she’s never learned to use the copier.

Another example might be more physical. Perhaps you know someone who didn’t know for quite a long time they were losing their hearing. Because their body adjusted to compensate by being more aware visually and reading context clues, they didn’t realise.

Here are some things that children may struggle with that often go unnoticed. Importantly, these are things that may affect their kindergarten readiness.

The Following May Affect Kindergarten Readiness

1. Inability to Sit Still and Focus

For some children, getting ready for kindergarten should focus on socialization. Kindy may be their first exposure to a new room surrounded by toys. There are new people and all kinds of fun new games to play. They just can’t seem to sit still. They are overexcited, intense, and hard to calm down.

But, perhaps a particular student can’t seem to adjust to his new environment over the longer term. If after an hour or so each day or after a few weeks, they still can’t settle, then letting the problem persist won’t do.

Here are some things to consider trying, observing, and touching base with his or her parents if no progress is made:

• Is the child getting enough exercise during the day? (At least an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening).
• Is anxiety causing the child to be distracted and fidgety? Try changing seating arrangements throughout the day, offering sensory breaks, movement breaks, and soothing meditation or yoga.
• Is self-regulation what needs to be addressed? Try using our curriculum for teaching self-regulation – the How Do You Feel? Chart – to implement strategies for re-centering their energy and emotions.
• Are coordination or muscular development issues such as dyspraxia (Read our article on Dyspraxia) causing the child to have a physically hard time sitting still?
• Could movement breaks (such as those demonstrated by a program like the CoordiKids Classroom Course) be a solution to classroom focus problems in general? All of your students may benefit from proper movement breaks that incorporate self-regulation and motor skills work.

2. Struggles with Speech

Communication is another area of kindergarten readiness where parents tend to bend the rules for children. Maybe a word that makes little sense to anyone other than the parent isn’t simply lingering baby talk.

Perhaps it is actually a speech issue that is inhibiting their academic progress? This could certainly result in a child struggling in kindergarten.

Obviously, if improper speech is lingering, it should be discussed with parents. Speech issues can fall along a long continuum of severity. Issues can range from orthodontic issues to dyspraxia to anxiety, to simply never having been forced to speak properly. Kindy is usually the first time to start considering intervention in lingering speech issues.

3. Toileting Problems

A major part of kindergarten readiness includes whether a child can navigate toileting on his/her own. This is a tricky and embarrassing issue for parents and students alike. So, it must always be handled with care. A seemingly sudden regression of toileting habits can sometimes accompany the beginning of kindy.

Children might start soiling themselves or having difficulty using the restroom alone. One thing teachers might consider is that this is a good example of an area where parents have adapted. Parents may simply and unknowingly have adapted their life subconsciously to their child’s needs. Maybe they find themselves moving things closer to the child at home so he or she can reach things easier or struggle less.

Maybe parents have been helping him dress and undress because he takes too long. Perhaps they just don’t have the time to wait. It’s quite easy to fall into the habit of helping our children dress and undress, even at potty time. So, the child may be simply out of practice and the parents haven’t realized it.

Along the same lines, problems with coordination or fine motor skills will make toileting difficult at school. Could it be that the student isn’t able to undress quickly amidst the excitement of the school day? If so, he or she may start wetting themselves uncharacteristically.

Fortunately, this is an easy place to start getting ready for kindergarten schedules. Here is the opportunity to suggest the parents encourage the children to practice self-toileting routines at home.

At home, they can practice with patience and calm on their own. This helps to ensure their child can manage the buttons and zippers on their school clothes.

4. Not Eating During Lunch at School

It’s sadly quite common for teachers to report early on that a student isn’t eating enough or at all during lunch breaks at school. This tip came from Sarah, whose son with SPD had the hardest time with lunch. She said, “My son struggled with lunchtime almost the entire year.

The noise level and chaos were too much for him, and he often came home without eating. ”Teachers who notice this can suggest parents could use white noise during mealtimes at home. Then, they can gradually raise the volume day after day. There are even sites like Coffitivity.com or Youtube.com that can help.

These are sties where you can play restaurant and cafeteria ambient noises for free at home. Doing this can help to desensitize the child. In the meantime at school, investigate the option of having meals in smaller groups in an outside area until the child is eating regularly.

Another consideration is that the student might be struggling to physically manipulate the lunchbox. Lunchbox clips are notoriously fiddly. So, opening packaging and feeding him/herself may be a challenge. This may sound silly for a 4 or 5-year old.

But after spending their whole life so far eating at home with parents doing the bulk of the prep work, they might struggle with some of the cafeteria foods or packaging. It would be such a shame to find a child struggling in kindergarten over such a fundamental problem.

And, over a problem that could have been addressed during the parents kindergarten readiness assessments.

5. Getting Frustrated with Sports or Team Activities

In group settings like team activities and sports at school, any gaps in physical development might become more obvious. Such a noticeable difference will likely result in the child struggling in kindergarten. These differences can be very apparent to a sensitive child.

Read more about many reasons children in elementary school might start avoiding group physical activity and sports in our article: Why Do Some Kids Avoid Sport and Physical Education Classes?

It takes four times as long to intervene in fourth grade as it does in late kindergarten because of brain development and because of the increase in content for students to learn as they grow older.

(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

This is why we think Kindy teachers have such an incredibly important job! They are the barometer, reading our young children and helping parents know when to intervene.

If you’d like a consultation with early childhood development experts, whether you’re a teacher or a parent curious about whether a child you love may benefit from therapeutic intervention, check out our online consultation option.

How CoordiKids Helps with Kindergarten Readiness

For many kids, CoordiKids helps to close gaps in development to give them the leg up they need in their academic challenges. But it’s not necessarily the only support for kindergarten readiness all children need, so don’t hesitate to turn to your village of teachers, principals, counselors, parents, friends, and yes, us occupational therapists (Click here for a consultation).Our aim is to bring world class occupational therapy to children wherever they need it – in their home, playground or classroom.