Any other 2013 summer born parents deferring entry to reception?

[Bouncearound]

Our dd was born July 2013 and although we still have nine months until she would start reception I just don't feel she will be 'ready'. She is due to see a speech therapy due to pronounced stammering and is struggling socially because of this. She's very shy and lacking in confidence and rarely talks outside the house.
We've applied for entry as advised by our LA but have no idea where to go from here. She has a sibling link at our local school so there shouldn't be any issues getting in this year or next. The LA keep emphasising the point that secondary schools may not accept entries out of year so it could impact on secondary admission, which would be worse.
Is anyone else considering this or already done it?

Not a parent of a 2013 born but commenting as a therapist. You dont say in your post what the alternative is to your DD starting school. The question should not be "should she start school or defer?" but "what environment would be the best place to improve her confidence, shyness and encourage her to talk to peers (and adults)?". Will the school, nursery, playgroup work with her with the advice/exercises the SaLT gives? Will she get SEN support at school or at a nursery? If she is already at a nursery, and doesn't speak there, what are they currently doing to help and do you think another year there will benefit her?
Sorry, that turned into a mass of questions rather than answers.
I know one child deferred for speech reasons a few years ago (private 4-18 school rather than state so no age 11 transfer issues) and it did work for him but the private school was able to recommend a full time nursery with appropriate support which he attended instead.

Thanks for your reply.
At the moment she attends both playgroup and nursery for four x five hour sessions. Both have said she could continue there for another year. They weren't overly helpful to start as because dd is so quiet she didn't talk much and they didn't witness the speech issues but are now on board (one setting more than the other) and are doing lots more observations and one to one work (where she is ok but still stammers) with a view to building up to small group discussions. I get lots of feedback and they communicated with one another to make the referral to salt.
My gut instinct is that a large busy environment with 29 other children wouldn't be best for her at this stage but I don't really know what the best option is as an alternative!
Thanks for the reply, food for thought

Mine is already in school, but he was selective mute in nursery. He never spoke to any children, didn't interact, etc. What nursery did was asked us to send him in 6 hours a day, 5 days a week . They also recommended us attending a lot of classes for social/speech skills. He was under speech and language therapist as well. It worked well. We had meeting with school prior to him starting school. He still had a bit of problem starting school, but now he is doing totally fine in yr4.

Obviously ds' case is totally different from yours, but just sharing the experience.

Not same age as your DD but had premature twins which should have been born in July but were born in April (born at 27 weeks). DS was also referred to a speech therapist at age 3 for quite a pronounced stammer and often let his sister do all the talking. I just wanted to say that there was a massive improvement in a relatively short period of time (around 6 months) once we were following the speech therapist's advice and doing the various exercises she set for us. 9 months - at age 3/4 - is also a long time and they can come on amazingly within that period.

We live in a selective area where children taken entrance exams for state grammar schools and there was lots of uncertainty about how deferred start at primary would impact on that - at the time, the general consensus was that they would probably have to skip Year 5 or Year 6 (which were crucial years imo) so we decided against it quite early on. They were absolutely fine as it turned out and now, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been a logistical nightmare for them to be in a different year group than their peers, particularly for DS who is massively sporty and wouldn't be with friends if he had to be in the Under 9 team etc.

I would keep your options open for as long as you can and see what progress your DD makes before you have to make the decision.

I would talk to the school and see what they advise. Putting off things for a year may / may not be the solution. 9 months is a long time when you are 3.
DD has 3 children in her class who were born at the end of August (one on the 31st Aug!). And now in Year 2 you can't really 'see' who is the youngest any more. Good luck with the stammering. My husband has a speech impediment and our 3 year old son had one for 6 months but luckily it seems to have 'gone away' now (touch wood). So we know what a lot of stress it is.