Multisensory Reading Clinic

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Should my child repeat a grade?

Help, Information, Tips, and Resources

for parents who have children with dyslexia

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What is the reason why your child must repeat a grade? Is it because he needs to catch up? Why does he need to catch up? Is it because of his poor academic performance? If yes, why your child has poor academic performance? Is it because your child cannot read and/or he struggles to read, write, spell, and comprehend? 

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If your answers are all yes, do you think by repeating the grade your child will catch up to his grade level? What is your child's grade level and how far he is behind? For example, if he is reading in grade one and he is in grade three, your child is two years behind. Your child might have dyslexia and he needs a different approach to teaching.

 

But if you want him to repeat a grade, does his school have a new approach to teaching him to read or he is just going to do the same again – memorizing and familiarizing words to read and spell? Do you think by doing the same again your child can catch up to his grade level? Even if the school has a new method of teaching your child to read, how effective is their new instruction? Is there a guarantee that this time it will work – that he can learn to read and spell independently so that he can comprehend what he read and that your child's reading and spelling skills will show progress?

 

Do you know that there are close to a million English words and counting and our brain has limited capacity to hold information, hence the idea of “catching up” or learning new skills is all false hope if the instruction is not geared to your child's specific learning needs.

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Also, if you were your child, would you like to repeat a grade? How would you feel seeing your previous classmates in grade three and or grade four, while you were still in grade two or grade three?

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In addition, Kelman, J. (2014) mentioned that the study ...found out that "as adults, grade repeaters were more likely to be unemployed, on welfare, or in prison." "The picture is not positive." https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/repeating-a-grade/

 

Furthermore, your child is already suffering from the embarrassment of not being able to read and you could be adding more fuel to the fire with the stigma of repeating a grade - your decision could be your worst nightmare!

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Therefore, the answer to repeating a grade is a big NO, NO, NO! There is no benefit for your child to repeat a grade, instead, it will harm him. His self-esteem, which is already at its lowest point level will even go down to the deepest drainage system of Hongkong and his lack of confidence will also plummet to the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.

 

Associated with his academic problem, he will also struggle behaviorally, socially, and psychologically. Slowly you might be seeing some changes in your child. He has no friends at school and in the neighborhood, is getting aggressive and bullying younger children and finally, he is also suffering from depression and anxiety.

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As parents of a struggling child, what are you supposed to do? Find the root cause of the problem and get the solution as soon as possible! 

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