Naivemum I think you will find that at that age the assessment has a lot less to do with actual reading and writing and more to do with more basic skills - things like can the child listen to a question and answer appropriately? Can they look at pictures and say what's happening in the picture? Do they know any colours or names of shapes? Also things like do they make eye contact when they are talking, do they pay attention when the teacher is talking. Sort of basic things that come before reading and writing.

"Normal" children at this age perform at different levels right across all these sorts of skills. An assessment is useful because it will give you an idea of where your DD falls within the range - could be she's within the 'normal' range for some things, at the upper end of the range for some things, and at the lower end of the range for some things (many kids are). At least if you've had the assessment you will know, and then if there are decisions that need to be made you will have the info you need to make the best decision.

If I were in your situation, I would have the assessment AND I would also get a second opinion. I agree 3 hours is not long enough for anyone to know your daughter well enough to make that judgement, BUT these teachers have seen hundreds of children that are brand new to kindy so they *might* be onto something.

There is no embarrassment in finding out your child has a special need. My DD1 had a speech delay and it now also turns out she has a problem where speech sounds get jumbled in her head. When we finally found out about it, we were able to talk to her teachers and make sure she sits in a spot where the teacher can check she understands what they are talking about. Not a big thing but it has made all the difference to how she is going at school.

By the way, don't fret too much about starting grade 1 next year. Many kids repeat reception/kindy/preschool year because it helps them cope much better when they do start grade 1. In fact in SA they have it set up so that many kids do more than 1 full year of the first year of school (called reception here) - just because it's good for the kids to do so.