It seems that your child’s performance at the beginning and end of the Foundation Phase (that is, the end of Grades 0 and 3) of school can be a reliable predictor of future academic success. The reason for this is logical. Higher academic skills depend on fluent reading, writing and mastery of numeracy, which is why the ‘three R’s’ have been emphasised through the ages. Truly, the early years of school create a firm foundation for what is to come.
Many countries realise this, which is why schools are, for example, trying to introduce reading skills into the Grade 0 curriculum. Is this good or bad? Some children will be able to gain reading skills at this early age but there is a good chance that a percentage of young learners will struggle with the pressure of early academic demands.
This will lead to some children being held back because they are considered to be immature. Repeating the grade is believed to give them time to ‘catch up’ and mature further. Very often, however, the child will be a year older but still immature in certain significant ways.
The maturity needed for academic tasks concerns the central nervous system – with the brain being a crucial part of this. The development and maturity of the brain and its functions depends on the internal wiring of nerve connections that allow us to function in ways recognised as human skills. This includes speaking, listening, perceiving, moving, and balancing as well as learning to get along with others, read, spell and calculate.
If this network of brain cells has not developed optimally by the time a child enters school, it can impact negatively on that child’s ability to cope with classroom demands. The process of brain development is widely referred to as ‘neurodevelopment’.
We are well aware of the importance of early childhood and the need children have for stimulating the brain. This comes through the senses so that the brain is activated to grow, insulate and make connections between cells. Active engagement with and exploration of the world with adult intervention is an important component of brain growth, but there are also many circumstances that can impact negatively on brain development. These cause delays in the brain ‘wiring’ that will result in the child’s lack of learning readiness.
Included in, but by no means limited to, the list of possible negative circumstances that children face in our modern society include our technological age, our internal and external chemical environments, nutrition, factors during pregnancy and birth, and many others. For example, the fear of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) led to parents being urged to encourage babies to sleep on their backs. This led to babies becoming less inclined to want to be on their stomachs, consequently spending less ‘tummy time’ in infancy. The spin-off from this is that some infants fail to mature certain neck reflexes that cause problems in later years. The greater majority of hyperactive children are found to have immature reflex patterns that create physical discomfort when trying to remain still. There are many other similar examples of ‘what can go wrong’.
A year repeated in a grade might help to some extent, but what is needed is careful assessment of what is lacking in the child’s neurodevelopment and then using the information to give the brain a second chance to develop optimally. We are not dealing here with a child’s chronological age. Another year of growth does not guarantee better brain networking.
A neurodevelopmental approach helps tremendously in enhancing and mastering abilities that ultimately provide the learning readiness that is needed to succeed in school.
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