Delaying School May Protect Against Developmental Disorders

A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia, which analyzed more than 300,000 school children found that children who were born in the last month of the recommended school year intake were roughly twice as likely to have been prescribed ADHD medication than children from the first month of intake

A population study of almost one million Canadian children found that the youngest boys were thirty per cent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD

these are the traits that young, healthy children are naturally wired for.

Young children, at least until the age of seven, need to spend most of their time playing. They need to climb, explore and move their bodies to allow normal brain development to unfold

Through her research, Dr. Carla Hannaford has found that the same regions in the brain that are responsible for movement are the regions that are involved in higher level thinking. She suggests that there is a link between children having plenty of time for free play involving whole body movement and their ability to perform higher level thinking such as problem-solving, creating and designing, anticipating outcomes, curbing impulses, and delaying gratification.

Scandinavian countries recognize these needs. They are famous for being among the most literate (and happy) people on the planet, while also delaying formal teaching of skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic until children are seven years of age. Research that examined the efficacy of starting formal education at age seven in Denmark and the US found that it dramatically reduced the number of students who were displaying attention and hyperactivity problems

there is no evidence to suggest that reading at age five leads to greater academic success. In fact, the opposite may be true