Holding Back a Fourth Grader

When my son was in kindergarten, the school recommended that he be held back. Now he is in fourth grade and still has problems with his schoolwork. We had him tutored for a while but stopped because of the expense. My husband and I are talking about holding him back next year. Would this help? -- Wondering
Answer: Four years ago, a teacher advised that your child was not ready for kindergarten. While retention studies show that retained students rarely "catch up," an earlier retention probably would have worked better than retaining him now. It can be extraordinarily upsetting for a child of his age to be retained -- as upsetting as losing a parent or going blind, retained children report.
In a perfect world, your child would have been carefully evaluated by the school, and an effective program to help him would have been initiated in kindergarten. Everyone needs to know what his learning problems are and how best to get him on track. Reading often is the problem.
Expect the school to give some help to your son. For tutoring, look into free or close-to-free help available in the education programs at local colleges. Also consider using a bright high-school student or yourselves as his tutor.
You have between eight and 10 weeks of school and this summer to see if you can help your son improve his skills. The school also should be using interventions to help him. Insist that they do. If none of their interventions help him to improve academically, ask to have him tested now to find out if he has a learning disability. Having more information will help you and your husband in making your decision.