Brandon's Preschool Conference

On Tuesday afternoon Stu and I went to Brandon's school to have his conference with his teacher. Overall he did really well on his report card. He got mostly 2s (developing) and 3s (proficient) with a few 1s (beginning) for some fine motor skills. He has had a subsitute teacher all year since his teacher has been on maternity leave. Her last day is tomorrow since his teacher is coming back. She has done a great job with Brandon and I know he will really miss her. She did mention that we might want to consider sending him to an extra year of private preschool after his two years in the public school preschool since he is one of the youngest and smallest kids in his class. Some kids are already turning 4. He will turn 4 in July but shouldn't have even have been born until October. He is currently receiving speech and occupational therapy at school and I have heard that if we choose to send him somewhere else when he has an IEP we would lose services which we don't want to do if he still needs them. Also, academically he would have no trouble in kindergarten. He already knows his capital and lowercase letters, all letter sounds, can spell and read at least 40-50 words, can count to 40 or higher, recognizes numbers to 40 or higher. I have seen huge improvements in his speech and even his fine motor skills. He colors in the space now and actually has interest in coloring now. He also was able to put the lace in and out of the holes in his lace up animals over the weekend. Brandon still has 1 1/2 years of preschool and I know so much can change between now and then. So we don't have to make a decision yet. Our district also still only has half day kindergarten which I think would make it easier for Brandon. And he could always repeat kindergarten if it came to that.