My well-meaning and loving parents, along with a progressive school system, skipped me from second to fourth grade many years ago. I had been a great student until then, but from that moment on I was out of my element socially and had trouble keeping up scholastically, even in college.
I'm sure some kids adapt, adjust and do well. My friends were all in a class level below me; I wasn't part of much of my own class' social life because everyone was older; and my natural shyness was made all the easier to manifest itself in a daily setting where I wasn't part of the social interaction of my classmates.
It wasn't until much later that I even realized how skipping had impacted my life.
The greatest issue to be addressed is the social issue, which can have a lifelong impact. If a child can adjust and handle it well, that's fine. If not, the child will be an outsider for a good part of his or her scholastic career. - Bad Experience
Answer: Skipping has fallen out of favor, as schools now tend to keep high-achieving children in their normal grade placement. It has been replaced with curriculum enrichment, gifted and talented programs, separate classrooms for gifted children, and advancing a child in one or more subjects. Each program has its plusses and minuses.
The few studies done on skipping children seem to show that children are not usually adversely affected socially, even though you were. In fact, very bright children often enjoy being with their intellectual equals. There are, of course, no guarantees that skipping a child leads to a smooth social adjustment.
The best-adjusted children in every classroom are those who fit in comfortably with their peers. Therefore, it is wise to think of the social side of school when making any decision that will have a child be either the youngest or the oldest in a class. This includes early or late admission to kindergarten.