Skills required for primary school?

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Hi. My son (HFA, about to turn 4) will be going to school in a year's time. We don't expect much help when he gets to school as you have to be in the 'worst' 5% here to get a teacher aide. So I want to make the most of the year we have left. I have found a suggested list of social skills online which gives me something to start with, but I would really like a complete list of skills that a five year old would need at school (eg self toileting, putting on or taking off own outerwear and hanging it up, etc). Does anyone have such a list or know where I could find one?

Hi DazedNConfused,

Sorry, I am not able to help as DS is 5, and this year is repeating 4 year old kinder. I was just going to ask whether your son is attending kinder, and if so, whether the teacher couldn't help you with this information, or meeting with the principal of the prospective school who could perhaps advise?

I also wanted to suggest trying 'elementary school' rather than primary school in your search, this what the American's call it, and it may (or may not) make a difference.

Good luck!

There is a test that evaluates self help skills called the Vineland, perhaps see if you can find more details about it? Please post back if you find any info!

I looked up "is my child ready for kindergarten" and got several useful articles. I also looked up "school readiness list" "school readiness checklist" and "kindergarten readiness"

Here is a good pdf http://www.nasponline.org/resources/han ... diness.pdf


Here is one short list.

Academically (pre-reading skills)
Can retell a simple story
Speaks in complete sentences of 5-6 words
Writes name or recognizes letters in name
Recognizes the title of a book
Matches rhyming sounds
Counts to ten
Socially
Feels comfortable in a group
Asks for help when needed
Knows personal information (name, age, gender)
Follows simple instructions
Recognizes authority
Is able to share
Physically
Exhibits fine motor skills (holds pencil, traces shapes, buttons shirt, etc.)
Exhibits motor coordination (rides a bike with training wheels, hops, skips)
Manages bathroom needs

I think I was 5 when my parents first tried putting me in school, it did not work and I ended up having to repeat kindergarden or maybe it was first grade...can't quite remember. But other then that I seemed to do fine at least academically speaking but plenty of teachers and students made sure it was hell for me socially. So that is something you have to watch out for, not all teachers or school staff with have the best interest of your child or anyone elses in mind and the other kids of course can be pretty nasty if they want to be.

My daughter is also 4 years old HFA/AS but all her services (OT, Speech, classroom aide) are cut off once she finishes Kindergarten. So I am holding her out a year and let her practise the basic skills another year. I am not worried that much about her academically as much as her listening and attention skills. Which I think improved immensely through her speech therapist.

Eureka, thanks so much for those tips and links - I had avoided searching with the word 'kindergarten' because over here that is ages 3-5, but wiki has instructed me that it is different in the US, so there is lots more info than I thought! Great.

Sweetleaf, I'm sorry to hear about your experiences. I don't know how my son will cope, but will get him as ready as I can, as I think he will be keen to go to school (he wants to go already!). If it doesn't work out or we think he isn't ready at age 5 then we can delay until age 6, which is a comfort. We also have a local school with a lot of experience in autism so I am crossing my fingers...

Gnomey, it's daunting thinking of life without those services, isn't it? We don't get a classroom aide at the moment, but our OT and SLT will stop at age 5 I think, regardless of whether DS goes to school then or not. But I am paying for a fortnightly private session of SLT as well, as although DS's language is actually now deemed age appropriate, he has so much to learn in terms of attention span, concentration, turn taking, listening, sitting at a table etc etc. *sigh* will a year be enough?

The biggest mistake we made was not dealing with handwriting issues right away. We are in 1st grade now and my son's handwriting was illegible until we started handwriting without tears 1 month ago. He now hates handwriting, even though we can read his handwriting now. It has definitely interfered with his learning-- worksheets lead to anxiety. Our ABA therapist says that almost ALL of her Asperger kids have handwriting issues. From what I read, it will be either illegible or take a long time to make it perfect.