Seeking a Psycholigist

Talk with your pediatrician or call Children's Medical Center and see if they can recommend one for this expressed purpose. It wouldn't hurt to ask the school district for a recommendation as that will be the person who's opinion they value most, and ultimately it will be the school district's decision to accept your child for early admission. You may find that you are faced with this same testing, if they are admitted early for kindergarten, when they go to the 1st grade. Most school districts say they must by 5 by September 1st to enter kindergarten and 6 by September 1st to enter 1st grade. My brother had this happen to him and he was required to be enrolled in public kindergarten rather than being allowed to attend 1st grade after he had completed kindergarten in a private school. I wish you both the best!

I don't have an answer for you, but ran into the same issue. None of the schools would entertain testing, so we had to wait. I'm happy we did, though.

Some schools will test for early admission. Friends (retired teachers) have said they waited and gave their child the gift of an extra year of childhood. My in laws (also retired teachers)kept dh out of k until he was 6...and he has a July 3 bday)
My son misses the cut off my 24 days so I feel your pain. We have chosen to homeschool. It is a huge blessing! He gets to work at his level in every subject, not at what some government agency (yes the schools too are under governmental guidance) says he should be at. Sunday school has let him go to the higher grade, AWANA does not. He actually doesn't mind this much...he gets 2 sets of friends! I keep tabs w/the SS teachers and explain the situation and so far has not been a problem. At home we work to his abilities. We do participate in a co-op that does hold to the grade levels set by the schools, but groups the kids in 3 grade sections (K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12)so it's not too bad....this year was his 3rd year in the youngest group. He did feel older/taller etc, but it's only 1 day/week so he dealt w/it well. Next year he will be the youngest year, but older than any of the new ones in that group. Oh well, I'd like to push him, but the idea out there is the emotional maturity that tends to come around middle school...and the height issue. I figure it's one day a week and he's ok w/it. At home I challenge him where he is.
I do have him tested every year. At the end of what would have been kindergarten, he aced the 1rst grade test, after 1rst grade he took the 2nd grade test and came out basically in the middle of the pack, he just took the 3rd grade test and felt really good doing it, we have to wait for the results. My plan is to take it year by year, knowing that at some point he may take the same year test a second time...we'll see if that ever happens.
Hope you are able to get what you need for your dtr..just wanted to share my experience w/you.

Good Morning K....so I guess I'm in the same boat of why are you wanting to push it through. I do know that if your child starts Kindergarten next year and is just soooooooooo advanced for her age they will recommend she bump up a year. My advice would also be to just let her be a normal kid and start Kindergarten on time. If you make a bunch of fuss about it then I think it can give her the idea that something is not normal about her...this can go either way. Either she thinks something is wrong with her OR she gets the feeling that she is better than everyone else. Both can have pretty significant social consequences.

That's just my two cents...you have to make the decision that's right for you.

Good luck!

L. H

PS...I'm a sahm to 9 and 5 year old girls. The 5 year old's bday is in December so she was a little close to the cut off too (not as close as yours I realize).

I am a former teacher of K-1. My birthday is also September 1. I went to school as soon as I turned 5.

So this is my experience from both angles. Wait--Unless your child is an older girl and VERY mature and ready.

These are my reasons. Kindergarten these days requires alot of sitting and desk work. Boys at five are not developmentally or physically up to most of it. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Boys are more into large muscle skills at that age and need to explore those skills.

My self, it took me until late elementary school to really catch up with my class. I was a dreamer and really not ready. But if you have a very mature girl who has some of the skills that a pre-K child needs-like experience in preschool, able to write her name, other pencil skills, able to be away from you, able to ride a bus, and follow teacher directions, perhaps your daughter is ready.

But even if think that your daughter is really ready to go, check with yourself about pushing her into this next year. Are you going to have to do this every year? What happens if she ends up having to struggle to keep up?

Good luck in your decision. W.