Best thing to do if your child is falling behind at school?

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I've said I'm going to buy some workbooks and going through them with me will be non negotiable.

I am dithering in which ones to buy.

I could buy the school text book and workbook. Obviously the advantage is it is exactly what he needs to learn for school but he is so totally disengaged with it that it might be better for him to have a different approach.

So, I could buy a generic workbook for his year group and assume it covers the main topics.

Or I could buy the textbook so we have it for reference and hope he will look at it plus a generic workbook.

As you know, my DS is unlikely to be doing the school system where I am (going home looks likely now) but my daughters both did primary and the maths stars was the workbook for 2nd year....the maths usually confounds me as the system of working out can be different, not sure if that is the case where you are but going through this with DD2 now and all I can suggest is repeat, repeat, repeat.
My eldest resat a year btw, many do, all come out the same in the wash Best of luck to you x

Does he know the sequence of numbers - ie can he count to 200 in order and backwards?

Because adding 1 is just going for the next number in the sequence. Adding 2 is just counting 2 onwards.

Mine are both very mathematical so might not work with less mathematical child.

I sometimes did maths with objects rather than just numbers - so coins and add them up (works especially well for sweets ). Later on for fractions cutting up say a pizza or a fruit.

The UK syllabus is on Mathletics which you can subscribe to online - you can set the year they are at - in his case as he's far behind would set it to reception. He maybe at year 1 level here but best to build his confidence first. Praise him a lot and try not to force him, much better if they find it fun. I wouldn't do before breakfast maybe 30 mins after school 3 times a week followed by a reward.

It sounds to me like he needs more practical maths than work books. He is still at the concrete stage. Look up concrete, pictorial abstract for ideas on the things you want him to lnow and stick to the concrete ideas at home.

Ooh yes, montessori use little stones (the sort you get from garden centres) and ikea still sell abaci (? plural of abacus)
Number square is a good visual prompt
www.theschoolrun.com/what-number-square
times table square for later
www.teachingideas.co.uk/number-patterns/multiplication-square-patterns

Where we are for long addition and subtraction they are taught 3 different ways of doing it. I can imagine for someone with SN it becomes far too complicated which method to use so I would opt for one and stick with that teacher probably hates me

because I sat next to him and timed him.

I meant how did you gauge it is 10 minutes work?

concrete, pictorial abstract for ideas I've been doing this for the past 3 years with him. I don't know what else to do except say, that's enough, now you just have to learn it.

Does he know the sequence of numbers - ie can he count to 200 in order and backwards He can count to 100 without errors and backwards mostly without errors or correcting himself.

After discussion with teachers, he was supposed to bring home his book every Wednesday. We've had it home once.

Fruit, I didn't gauge it, I timed him. I said he could start and after 10 mins he could stop.

I still don't understand how you know it took him nearly 30 minutes to do 10 minutes worth of work? Do you mean he concentrated for 10 minutes?

Yes, every time he started complaining it was too hard or looking out the window or at what Dd was doing or complaining she was being noisy (she wasn't) I stopped the timer.

We've had it home once
you might have to pop in and raid the classroom then OP
Fridays might be easier for him to remember and bring books back rather than midweek - with a huge Post It on his pencil case/folder/bag.
DD is the same but fortunately the teacher sends back books regularly and work that is not completed in class. Left to her own devices DD would bring nothing back ever.

His TA is supposed to put it in his bag. They chose Wednesday because that is when she is there.

I would be totally on board with them sending incomplete work home. But they don't, and then next lesson just carry on with what the rest of the class are doing.

Would Numicon help - so he can see relationship of numbers up to 10 and beyond?

I know UK primary school mine have gone to have worked a lot at all the number bonds - 6+2 6+3 6+4. (They weren’t great at teaching place value – hence why we turned to on-line sites plus it taught the "new" methods as well as the ones we knew.)

Finding columns easier doesn't surprise me - mine used to put them into columns from line sums - as they've got older they don't need to write them in columns but do them in their heads (I still struggle with this dyslexia means my short term working memory isn't great) but they are doing the same thing even carrying number over in columns in their heads and that's happened due to lots of practise.

I'd try going in and reminding the school again about the books coming home - anyway hope you find something that helps.

It sounds to me as if he hasn’t mastered the pre requisites to more advanced concepts.

If you concentrate on the basics and he really gets to grips with the simple stuff he’ll catch up on the more complex parts.

Don’t worry so much about the current workload but look at fundamental numeracy.
Does he know the “story” of each number 1-10? The story of 4 is
0+1
1+3
2+2
3+1
4+0
Does he know that if he needs 4 forks to set the table and you give him 3, he needs to get 1 more?
Can he make dot patterns for 4?

For each number a child needs to grasp strongly the fourness of four etc with absolute certainty.

After that level:
Can he count in 2’s
In 10’s
In 5’s

Can he count in ten starting from anywhere eg 7,17,27,37

Does he know that 2+3 and 3+2 are the same sum?
If you say a number can he tell you one more and one less?

If all this is in place then I’d concentrate on learning tables. Dull but utterly essential to maths success.
There are loads of ways to practice- stamping, marching, playing trains, stacking, bouncing..,

Let him teach you if he’s resisting you teaching him. Teaching is just as effective a way of learning.

While you’re working with him break it into 3 parts :
Organisation skills- what do we need to do this task? Where can we find a pencil? What else do you need?

Working on the task

Feedback: praise first and find at least 4 things to praise. (You started without complaining/ you concentrated well/ your work is neat/ you made a great effort...)
Then ask him what needs improving (1 or 2 things)

Physical stuff:
If he’s sitting at a table make sure his feet are flat on the floor or on a box or step. This makes a massive difference to postural muscles and to things like concentration and hand writing.

If he hates colouring check his fine motor coordination. Is his handwriting neat? Can he keep between the lines? If not he may need to develop shoulder strength (crawling/ climbing/ baking/ washing windows/ digging/ painting walls up high/ pulling rope on a pulley, wheelbarrows).

Sorry to throw so much info at you in one chunk.

Does he know the “story” of each number 1-10
I could drag it per of him with very leading instructions.

Does he know that if he needs 4 forks to set the table and you give him 3, he needs to get 1 more? yes, once he's put them on the table.

Can he make dot patterns for 4? Yes.

Can he count in 2’s. No
In 10’s yes
In 5’s no

Can he count in ten starting from anywhere eg 7,17,27,37 Hit and miss.

Does he know that 2+3 and 3+2 are the same sum? Sometimes
If you say a number can he tell you one more and one less? yes

If he’s sitting at a table make sure his feet are flat on the floor or on a box or step. yes, ha a Tripp trap at the table.

If he hates colouring check his fine motor coordination. Is his handwriting neat? No
Can he keep between the lines? No
If not he may need to develop shoulder strength (crawling/ climbing/ baking/ washing windows/ digging/ painting walls up high/ pulling rope on a pulley, wheelbarrows). He's been doing physio and OT once a week plus daily exercises for a year and a half. Not really sure there's much more we can do.

I sat in on his "maths" lesson today. The first half of the lesson was taken up by a dad who had brought his dog in to meet the class. The second half of the lesson they were asked to copy a text into their writing book Not really the point of me being able to sit in on a maths lesson...

The first half of the lesson was taken up by a dad who had brought his dog in to meet the class. The second half of the lesson they were asked to copy a text into their writing book that is so frustrating. They really don’t seem to be taking this seriously at all.

I know this isn’t what you’ve asked for advice on, but would you consider taking the department of education to court to provide appropriate education for your ds? In Ireland the right to education for children with autism was fought through the courts. It was only by court rulings that the dept of education here started providing for SNs.

But back to the immediate problem: don’t focus too much on where his curriculum is currently, but take it back to basics.
When you’re working with set the level of work so that he can get about 75% right, and praise him every single time he does.
I know it sounds cheesy but if you can change his expectations from “I’ll probably get this wrong” to “I can probably do this” he’ll learn much more easily.
When he gets one wrong, tell him the answer in a neutral tone and keep going.

Don’t move to more complicated things until he’s really on top of the simpler stuff.

If you can build up his confidence in himself and his trust in you not to knock him, you’ll be giving him a safe learning space which he’s going to need more and more.

Sorry if I sound very bossy They’re only suggestions!

We used to play maths games on this website [http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/maths/]

Obviously it’s an English primary school, I know it’s won some awards in the past but we used it 10 or so years ago.

It basically makes maths in to games have no idea if any good to you but it was a really fun way to learn for our DS when he was little.