I had a meeting at DS's nursery today, he's 5 (we're not in the UK, he doesn't start preschool until next Autumn when he's 6), and I was told that they've noticed he has issues with his processing speed, lack of confidence in telling an adult when he doesn't understand or doesn't know what to do, and lack of confidence in showing his skills to others. This is a complete surprise to me, I had no idea as it honestly doesn't sound like him at all except that I have known that he tends to think a bit before acting, but I thought that was just him being careful and thoughtful, not that he had difficulties. He's quite smart I think, he can read already in two languages (taught himself in the second language), good with numbers, good at figuring things out, but they are concerned he will struggle in school. How can I help him? Obviously the nursery staff themselves are doing what they can there, he's in an occupational therapy group there, and they use pictures to help him understand what he has to do, and the plan is to move him to the higher level of support and get the educational psychologist to assess him before he starts school, but I don't know if there's anything I can do to help him as well.
The lack of confidence is something else he needs help with, he won't tell other children if they are bothering him (for instance one friend has a tendency to get a bit rough at times but DS won't tell him to stop, or go play with someone else, he just suffers in silence instead) and there's the concern that when he's in school he won't tell the teacher if he has a problem or doesn't know what to do. How can I improve his confidence and bravery? Especially as he's very confident at home, and with people he knows very well, so its not something I really get to see.
Also commented on his lack of eye contact, he rolls his eyes upwards when he's talking to them. I'm not keen on eye contact either though so I don't know if this is just nothing or something.