![]() ![]() A fresh 5-year-old is much less likely to sit still and pay attention in a classroom than a new six-year-old. Any parent of young children knows what a big difference a year can make in early childhood. It doesn’t take a Harvard degree to recognize this. “It is possible that younger children within a grade cohort may be more likely to receive a diagnosis of ADHD than older children in the same grade because inattentive behavior that is developmentally determined may be attributed to ADHD rather than to younger age,” the Harvard researchers concluded in their New England Journal of Medicine paper. Indeed, the newly-minted 5-year-olds with August birthdays were 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than those children who were born in September and were about to turn 6. The researchers analyzed data from the states with a September 1st kindergarten enrollment age cut-off date, finding that the youngest children in their kindergarten class were much more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the oldest children in the class. In 2018, for example, Harvard researchers found that early school enrollment was correlated with higher diagnosis of and treatment for Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), especially among boys. ![]() While the Times laments this kindergarten exodus, asserting that “there is no great substitute for quality, in-person kindergarten,” some research suggests otherwise. Kindergarten registrations are down in many places this year, including one school district highlighted by the Times that began the new school year on August 3rd with 42 percent fewer kindergarteners than in 2019. Kindergarten “redshirting” is when parents forgo school enrollment until their children are older, and the pandemic response seems to be accelerating the practice. This trend appears to be continuing this fall, as parents delay their child’s school entry, often known as “redshirting.” The term “redshirting” is used in college sports to refer to the practice of athletes opting out of a year of competition to allow them an extra year of athletic eligibility, while gaining skills and strength. Nearly 350,000 of them were kindergarteners whose parents decided to avoid early school enrollment and keep their children at home. On Saturday, The New York Times reported on the “kindergarten exodus” that occurred last year, as over one million students avoided enrolling in a local district school. This is especially true for parents of rising kindergarteners. Changing CDC guidelines, regular quarantines of entire classrooms due to possible virus exposure, ongoing virus concerns, and battles about school masking policies are causing parents to second-guess sending their children into a classroom this fall. As back-to-school season gets underway, many parents are wondering what to do. ![]()
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