Has anyone had a child who was held back a grade in school?

Ask:
Unfortunately i think i am losing my battle to keep my 5th grader from having to repeat 5th grade all over again. It's a long standing fight with the school district to get her the extra help she needs,it's been 3 yrs of them shoving her thru the system to the next grade,knowing she is struggling,only now it has finally caught up to her and she's failing. So i am trying to brace myself for the possibility that she will have to repeat the 5th grade.
Does anyone have a child who has had to repeat a grade, especially an older child, in any grade above 1st? Was it a blessing in disguise, did it help them? I am so worried about her self esteem, but i also fear that if i push for her to pass this year, she will only struggle that much harder next year. HELP! Any advice? I have cried alot of tears over this
Answer:

sorry but I have not. just wanted to ask is there a summer program u can do? I would do something in another schol district or independant. what about changing schools for one year if u think your dd wil be adversly affected.

allgirls
Answer:

Gosh, I have no idea...I don't have any experience with this but I think I would go ahead and hold her back. Another year of struggling won't make it better...kwim? It might just be in her best interest academically. Have you considered a private tutor for the school year? There are two SAHM's at our school that used to be grade school teachers and they do tutoring during the year and over the summer and both have waiting lists! They're really popular, great with the kids and not expensive. The social aspect of keeping her back of it will be hard but I would try to spin it in a positive way and continue to do playdates with her friends in the 6th grade next year etc I would think that if you need to hold her back, now is the time to do it and not to wait another year.
Answer:

Yeah, My DD repeated 3rd grade. But she was in a Christian school and I took her out and put her in public school. She was tested for LD and ADD. She passed the grade, I wanted her to repeat. All the test showed that she placed at the middle or end of 2nd grade, not the 3rd grade where she was. I could not send her to 4th grade knowing she was not even on the 3rd grade level.
The public school system said they would let her repeat only because there was an aide to help the teacher in 3rd grade. She had a wonderful year. The Christian school had no extra help to offer her and we could not continue to do 3 hours of homework each night.
She always missed state specifications by a few points so she never qualified as LD. But the Speech and Language Therapist at her new school fixed it so she did qualify in the school to get S&L therapy and Occupational Therapy.
She strugggled some in middle school and more in high school. She finally graduated and got a diploma. It took us 14 years instead of 13.
She failed the high school equivilency test several times. The language part 4 times and the math part 5 times. She was already past 16 and a junior when she finally passed the math part. Of course, she tried to quit school several times and I always talked her out of it.
This is not a part of my life I would like to relive. It was one of the hardest things I have ever lived through.
She had an Algebra teacher that passed her for the year, eventho, she did not have passing grades. The teacher called me and asked me if my DD was going to college and I told her no. She told me she could see that DD was trying but was failing. She told me without me asking that she would pass DD. But, she told me not to tell DD. I never told the teacher but I told DD the teacher was going to pass her anyway. I told her because she was about to give up. I told DD she still had to do her work even if it was the wrong answer. The teacher passed her. If it had not been for that math teacher and a few others that bent the rules a little, DD would not have a diploma.
I feel for you. It is very difficult watching your child struggle.
For years my DD was a little angry at me for making her repeat a grade. As she got into middle and high school, she found out everyone had different ages and it did not bother her as much.
I can't say it was a blessing in disguise. But, I knew it had to been done. We struggled and she repeated 3rd grade. I imagine that if she had not repeated she might have quit school.
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