Should my child skip a year?
- Why an evaluation?
- Stages of the evaluation
- Intelligence test for young children
- Intelligence test for children
- Intelligence test for adults
- Personality tests
- A gifted child
- Giftedness in adults
- Therapy for gifted people
- Choosing the right therapy
- Who asks for it?
- Can IQ be improved?
- ***
- Clinical psychologist, Psychoanalyst Paris
Often the question of whether a child should skip a year arises. What are the best conditions for a child to skip a year? There are several aspects to consider.
Taking into account the child's intelligence
The child's intellectual level needs to be higher than the intellectual level of children his or her age. This level is measured with the intelligence test for young children (WPPSI-IV), for less than 6 year old children, with the intelligence test for children (WISC-V) for less than 16 year old children and adolescents or the intelligence test for adults (WAIS-IV) for older students.
Taking into account the child's maturity
The other important aspect to consider is the maturity of the child. Skipping a year requires sufficient emotional maturity so that the child may adapt to his or her new class and so that the child might not suffer from the age difference. The tests that allow to have a clear idea about the maturity of the child are personality tests (Rorschach, CAT, Black Paw, TAT). The combination of an intelligence test and personality tests constitute psychological assessment.
Additional factors to take into account
A number of other aspects are to be considered, such as the ability of young children to acquire writing or reading skills. It is important to anticipate possible difficulties in reading and writing acquisition. Clinical psychologists have to take this aspect into account in their psychological assessments.
Should an intellectually gifted child skip a year?
Skipping a year is often considered for intellectually gifted children. Adapting schooling to gifted children's characteristics is complex. Some will need a class with a small number of students, others will need a particular kind of teaching, others will need to skip a year. Repeating a year is never a good idea for these children, since they will just be even more bored in class.
