I would suggest that you do some research on what can happen beyond the first year of holding a child back. The picture might look good that year, or the next, but if you look at the data for kids who where held back a little later, the picture is not so rosey.
www.wrightslaw.com scroll down the left, click on "retention" and read.
Children who might have reading issues may suffer an huge blow by holding them back, and this may gaurentee their reading failure. Intervention is provided by grade, not age, and with reading, the window of opportunity to learn to read without great difficulty closes between age 8 and 9, so if you delay intervention for a full year, you may limit the time that targeted, effective reading intervention can take place. It is a real risk, and one that I would not take.
Likewise, look much further into the future, to grades 11 and 12. Kids that are older than their peers at this age are more likely to drop out, use drugs and have contact with the juvinile justice system.
Read about risks, next year will be over and gone, but there is much to come in his life with more impact than kindergarten. Before you buy into the hold them back trend, make sure you know for sure what you may face in 3 years, and in 10 years. More importantly, these could be things that your son lives with for the rest of his life. Read.
M.
