To wonder where all the average children are?

[Blueoctopus]

I am beginning to wonder if my DS is the only average child in the UK.
Listening on the school playground and reading here on mums net there appear to be two groups of children the super genius level 2a by the start of year one and the SEN children.
Am I being unreasonable to think my DS is not actually only child plodding on, making satisfactory progress in some areas and not much in others? Surely other neuro typical but not very bright kids still exist?

all of mine are G&T super intelligent and well mannered.

Oh sorry did I just tell you about my neighbours 4 DCs, my 4 are great, naughty, little toe rags at times but wonderful and average means that they will learn to work hard to get what they want.

Oh DD2 who is 5 is G&T in telling lies, had parents phoning to ask if I needed help getting any to or from school whilst we waited for news of DS2 and whether he would walk again after his accident I quickly phoned DS2s school to find out my gorgeous 7 year old was playing rugby as expected and perfectly fine

I am not sure, she is only three.

She seems to be pretty similar to all the other kids at her nursery who are "very bright" though ;)

The thing is, people are more likely to start threads about the unusual things, rather than the "quietly doing ok" aspects of life. So threads talk about "How do I get the school to stretch my gifted child?" and "How can I get help with SN issues?" rather than "Well he's in the middle of the class for most subjects again"

Life isn't all about "academia" anyway, I have always maintained it's just as important to concentrate on social skills and hobbies. That's why I have a delightful HAPPY kid.

Mine is average - and lovely and sweet and tries hard. All I could ak for really

I think the prefered term is children with SEN.

I have 1 average child and 1 above average child (2A at the start of Y1 is not genius level really - there are apparently Y1 children who are level 4's!)

There are many ability groups at DSs school so many of them average with a few above and a few below - thats how it works!

No budding brain surgeons in this house either!

One boy who would make me happy if he could manage to find his 2nd brain cell to rub against the one I know must be in there somewhere.

And one girl who might actually get to be a brain surgeon or whatever if she didn't have a pathological distate for anything resembling work.

But I'm their Mum and I love them and actually so do their teachers as they behave well and give the impression of working hard!!!

Oh and I don't know any Y1 children who are level 4s, some level 3s but 4s - really????

I've got 2. They are so average it doesn't merit discussing!

Given you also said "neuro typical but not very bright kids" ie NT Kids I think anyone would be hard stretched to be offended blueoctopus

I think everyone's child has something that makes them special, simply some parents more vocal than others.

Vagaceratops - thank you, I stand corrected, out dated and obviously in need of a return to teaching course.

SEN children drives me nuts as well. They aren't defined by their special needs, they are children first. Same with "down's actress" as seen in Daily Mail. Strangely enough they did publish my rant correcting them for it. Need to find it now to see if I've been red arrowed.....

I have average children. Best in the world to me of course but decidedly average and happy with that!

My DS reads at year 6 but he's year 3 MrsSutherland but he also flushed a load of polystyrene down the toilet today just to see what would happen. Great at reading but a little fool about some of life's more practical challenges.

I have one bright and two average.

Please dont ever call your children "Plodders" - I was called this my whole school life, and can still remember it with shame.

That said, my uber intelligent brother has done nothing with his life, nor has my allegedly wonderous sister, so average can mean an entirley sucessful life ahead, so do not fret over average.

Blueoctopus, I have one very average older child and I thought the other would be too the older child most parts of education have been like pulling teeth.
it has there fore been a suprise that DS2 seems to be a clever cookie.

Debeezandbirds sorry I meant level 4 children starting Y1 not Y3?!

I love that story, sounds like my DS - sometimes he does really daft things and I love it as it shows he true age and personality rather than the very serious little thing he is at school!

Debeezandbirds I have one of those! He's 8 with a reading age of 12 (apparently) but went to run his Nintendo DS under the tap to clean the screen. I got there just in time to stop him. He's such a muppet sometimes.

I've got one who's bang on average, academically, and a super-bright one. They both have their own strengths and interests which I hope they'll get to follow in adult life, without value judgements being applied.

Still not sure that made sense, on MN once someone said my Level 3 DS (only in literacy) wasn't that bright (he was 5 at the time) as there were lots of Y1 children on a NC level 4!

my DS school seems to think that most children should be above average - I think they are the ones that need to do some maths homework given that this is statistically impossible!

Erm.... those getting annoyed about the term SEN children, everyone has just been using Average Children instead of Children with Average abilities - is that not exactly the same thing?

Sorry MrsSutherland, drip feeding, he's been like this since reception. Eventually got him moved into year six class for literacy. He can barely write though, his presentation is awful, he knows the letters and how to spell but his work looks like a monkey has been let loose with a pen.

That rings a few bells MrsReiver, DS seems to have a fascination with water, he once flooded the reception class as he pulled the hose from the fish tank to fill the lego storage containers to see if lego floated. When asked why he told me he asked the teacher if lego floated and she shushed him, so he wanted to find out himself.

I think that if 80% of the children you come across as above average, then 'average' necessarily has to be redefined.