victory

After some trials, tribulations, and much discussion among therapists, teachers, Ben's principal and our family, we have been granted our wish to delay kindergarten for Ben.  With special ed services involved, the decision and debate are more rigorous than when they're not, but in the end the decision was left to us.  We would very likely have chosen this path because of Ben's gender and late birthday and his language and developmental delays just deepened our resolve that this was the right choice for him.  He will be at the same school and will be in a 4 year old, full-day classroom.  We will work up to the full-day part slowly depending on how successful he is and what his particular classroom's schedule is.  I will work closely with the principal in the coming weeks to attempt to chose a teacher that will be a great match for Ben.

I have slept better after the outcome of this meeting than I had in months.  As parents, we have to trust our gut and never forget we are the first in line to advocate for our kiddos.  More than half of Ben's current class is nearly an entire year older than him but because of an arbitrary line on the calendar, they will automatically attend kindergarten at the age we had to put up quite a fight for.  We are blessed to have such a great principal and look forward to lots of growth and deeper kindergarten prep after a Summer full of adventures that can't come soon enough. :)