8 year old struggling academically and struggling with communication

[Tillytoes14]

Hi, I have an 8.5 year old son, who struggles academically and with communication. He struggles with school work, often having to stay behind lunch times to complete his work, it can take up to three hours to complete a piece of homework at the weekend, with my help, he gets additional homework too, to help support him. Generally, most weekends end up with us arguing, he then throws his homework and pencil on the floor, shouts at me, stomps upstairs and cries, he's never physical towards me. Is this normal behaviour? Or is this him showing he can't control and express his anger and frustration well? He also struggles to communicate effectively, he's very vague when talking about things and expects us to understand him and know what he's talking about, this leads to him becoming frustrated and angry. Is there anything I can do to support him? Thanks for any feedback.

[Clobbered]

Extra homework and staying behind at lunchtime for a child who is struggling doesn't sound like a very helpful (or kind) response by the school. No wonder he is getting upset and frustrated. Has he been assessed for learning difficulties?

[heather1]

Sounds very familiar to me and I understand your frustration. Very similar to my 9yo Ds. I would recommend contacting afasic and and also I can. They are both communication charities for people who have difficulties with all sort of communication.
I have found them to be quite helpful.
My son is having speech therapy for his language issues.

[girliefriend]

It sounds quite normal to me, my dd is 8yo and it is a similar battle to get homework done.

If I were you I would arrange a meeting with his teacher and explain the issues you are having. He sounds overwhelmed tbh and I expect his confidence is quite low.

[Tillytoes14]

Thanks for all responses so far. Clobbered-We are thinking the same, the amount of homework he's having seems unfair, we will be attending his parent's evening tomorrow, so we'll speak to the teacher and see what she suggests, he hasn't been assessed for learning difficulties, as the teacher hasn't mentioned it, but I will raise the question. heather1-Thanks for the recommendations, I will have a look at them tomorrow, I am worried about him not getting the help, which I personally think he needs, I also think it's better he gets the help sooner, rather than later. He's also generally not very confident and I think his struggles don't help him. Thanks again ladies :-)

[Littlefish]

Have a meeting with the school. Agree a set amount of time that he will spend on homework - say 30 minutes. Stop after this time.

Keeping him in to finish work is really bad practice if it's being done on a regular basis, even though they recognise that he is struggling.

Does he have any kind of education plan at school?