There's a lot of controversy over whether children with summer birthdays should start reception class in September or whether it should be deferred to later in the academic year because their development is behind children with autumn birthdays.
This argument almost always centres around a child's academic development and overlooks their social and physical development. The reality is that children develop at different rates academically, socially, and physically. It is a myth and a misconception that children in reception class (assuming they all start in September) with summer birthdays are almost always behind children with autumn birthdays academically. It's not uncommon to find many children with summer birthdays who are academically ahead of children with autumn birthdays but are behind them socially and physically.
The situation can be more acute with children with high-functioning ASD who usually excel in reading and mathematics at a young age, so are interpreted as being clever or gifted, but are behind socially and sometimes physically.
I can remember when I was in reception class I was considered talented because I could read lines of text and do sums normally expected of KS1 children but at the same time I couldn't ride a bike without stabiliser wheels and I did not interact well with other children in the playground. A classmate who was about two months older than me could ride a bike without stabiliser wheels on the day he started and interacted well with other children in the playground but he was still reading flashcards on the last day of reception class and couldn't add two single figure numbers together. Was I more developed than he was or not?
Do you think that society places too much emphasis on children's academic development and overlooks and downplays their social and physical development?
