Told to assess my five yr old

[*Ali*]

Unfortunatly Alexis in WA kindy and pre-primary are pre compulsary so even though it is desirable a school can not actualley exclude a child that has not attended. However there is a very noticable difference between kids who have attended and kids who have not.

This is the quote from the DET website

Is attendance at kindergarten and pre-primary compulsory?
Although attendance at kindergarten and pre-primary is not compulsory (in accordance with the School Education Act 1999) more that 90% of children in Western Australia attend kindergarten and 95% of children attend a pre-primary program.

The Department of Education and Training is committed to providing a place for all eligible children.

Like others have said, I would get the assessment done, if it has been picked up by 2 consecutive teachers, then they are obviously seeing something. As teachers we do not suggest testing likely, thre is usually something that has caught our attention for us to be suggesting it. The test are not reading and writing tests at this age, more picture and conversation based.I am of the opionion the sooner the better, at least if there is a problem it is dealt with and you are on the road to finding some help for your child. Imagine how you would feel if your daughter did have a problem and a school ignore it, at the detriment to her learning!

[MantaRay]

Mayaness, I wouldn't think they'd necessarily do a cognitive assessment at that age. During our assessments so far they have suggested doing that at age 7 (although our issue is that DS is cognitively advanced and delayed in other areas, I still think that would apply). The assessments are more to do with overall development etc.

[LimeSlice]

ah I see, thanks Ali