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Original poster

DD who has ability but absolutely no concentration

26 replies

smartiejake · 13/02/2009 10:27

DD (12) is at a small independent secondary in year 8. The classes are small and the teaching of a high standard.

We have just attended yet another parents' evening where I was told all the same old stories about her lack of concentration and inconsistent performance. All the teachers say she is able but really not achieving her potential. Her English teacher says she is not making progress and really doesn't know what to do with her.

DD was convinced that she would get a better report this time and claims that she tries her best. She says she has really tried to improve her concentration but the report we had was worse than ever!

She handed in an essay this week that she was very pleased with and thought she would get a good grade for. It took her 3 hours to complete.But her teacher said it was worse than the one before and gave her a D.

She does have mild fybromyalgia which I know can come with concentration problems but she's not really suffering with this at the moment so don't want to let her make this as an excuse.

I am really rather concerned about this now as she will be starting her some of her GCSE courses next year (they start some of them in year 9).

Any suggestions? Tips, ideas anything???!!

OP posts:
gigglewitch · 13/02/2009 10:36

two things from personal experience - one, get her a blood test if at all possible, if she's anaemic for any reason this can send your concentration into the bin! recently I've been dx with it and believe me it is unreal. DS1 has food allergies and has been mildly anaemic since he was 1yr old -this is kept fairly well in check with a good multivitamin + iron.
Two, find out if she has any traits of dyslexia. this might need to be an independent assessment from the educational psychologist in your area, as she's not in the state school system.
Feel free to disregard these if you think they're not appropriate... obviously you know more about your daughter than anyone else. You're on the ball and heading the right way to be exploring the possibilities, so hang in there and definitely don't give up because your mum-instinct is usually right. All i can say is that with experience of really bright children who underachieve, dyslexia is often found to be a cause.

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