To be a little worried about DD's school report?

[allisgood1]

Dd1 is in reception. I work in education but not mainstream so I'm in two minds here about whether or not to be worried.

Dd is exceptionally shy. She is one of the oldest in her class but definitely not the most confident. She has always found number recognition hard (only mastered 6-10 about 6 months ago or maybe even less).

Her school report had three areas: emerging, expected, and above expected. She has all "expected" except for: speaking, reading, writing, and maths.

AIBU to worry? In my country she would be "above" in those areas as she is learning to read, can write, tries to spell, etc. Children her age in my country wouldn't even be learning that stuff right now.

AIBU to push her with the academics over the summer? Her numbers are often back to front, I.e. 21 instead of 12, and she struggles with recognizing 13-20. Half her letters are atill backwards, but I've been told by friends their children's are too and they are older than her. Do I need to find a tutor or send her to a learning centre?

Do I need to find a tutor or send her to a learning centre?

Definitely not. She is only in reception so please don't worry about it. Many children reverse their numbers and letters at this age.

I have a child just finished Y2 who still makes these mistakes - constantly. In reception it is surely very acceptable.

Hope you both have a lovely relaxing summer
X

My dd mirror wrote in reception. Lovely teacher just said don't worry, one day she'll stop and she did.
Read lots of books together, sing songs and nursery rhymes and draw pictures with some words on.
And have a lovely time enjoying her company.

I would look at her speech as in school they use phonics if she cant say the sounds it will hinder her learning to read. I would look at any other signs she could be dyslexic.

If you think she is not dyslexic and she had her hearing and vision tested and it normal then I wouldnt worry as children develope at different rates and she will get there.

You could also go into school and talk to her teachers. Ask where and why they think she needs help in these areas.

*some schools lower these reports to show improvement in y2 reports so I would ask other parents if this is the case with their reports too!

Where are you from? Is English your dd's first language?

English is her first language and there is no difficulty with speech at all. I know they wouldn't even touch a diagnosis of dyslexia until age 7, but I'm not worried about this. Has had hearing checked but will get her a vision check.

The thing is that she is always drawing pictures and "writing" stories at home. I can make out some of it but not all but I thought it was good that she was "writing" stories.

I think it's way too early to worry about this. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

You said she is expected in everything expect speaking, reading, writing and maths. So were they graded emerging or above? Were you expecting her to be above? I don't teach that age group but from what I understand very few children are "above".

It's so hard not to worry, but please don't. In a couple of years you will wonder why you gave it a second thought.

I wasn't expecting above in any anything. It's the "emerging" that's worrying me (unnecessarily I think).

It's actually really difficult to get expected in literacy and maths. Being expected in the areas you say means she's likely perfectly able, just not quite ready to excel in academic areas. Most likely she will gain the skills she needs as she matures in year 1. Children do all develop at different rates.Tutoring could be too much pressure and put her off learning. Better to spend the summer playing number games (snap, number bingo even snakes and ladders) and enjoying sharing books and stories together.

My DS mirror wrote in year 1, he also learnt reading only by end of year 1 and really struggled. He just finished year 8 now, entered his school of first choice with special recognition from them for his results in math, science and English....
Too early to worry....

Get her eyes tested. My DD was the same....turned out she needed glasses and had quite bad eyesight.

I wonder why they even have grades in reception.

I wouldn't worry overly to be honest.

All children are different and master things at different times.

If she is 'emerging' then she's getting there.

Over summer I would enjoy looking at books together (bedtime stories? ), play together and perhaps talk about numbers in everyday situations e.g. can you count 6 apples into the bag for me etc.

She's too young yet to get worried.

Enjoy the holidays x

alli as a mum who hasn't gone throught the British system I would say the following.

• don't worry yet about any issue on an academic pov. As you say, they are still small and children that age do nature at a very different speed
• but do spend time speaking with her, organise meet ups with some of her friends during the hols, encourage her self esteem so she finds it easier to speak in class (and can make friends too)
• and follow it up. The British system is such that they won't tell you directly if there is an issue. I would have a chat with the teacher this year, ask her what the evaluation means, if there is anything to be worried about. And then follow up with the teacher next year.

My ds is coming to the end of Y1 and although has no problem with number recognition he writes 2,3,5 & 7 back to front almost every time. Also writes 31 for 13 etc, too. I'm just assuming it will click one day..

My son was "emerging" in all the academic stuff this time last year - pretty much identical to your daughter. At end year 1 he's above the expected levels. He just had a big spurt, that's all.

I have PM you.... I think!

Sounds like you have nothing to worry about OP.

As you indicate the English system pushes quite hard on academic milestones (so numbers, phonics etc) much earlier than other countries.

My understanding is that verbal skills are the most important aspect to work on at that age - hence France for example not teaching writing in school until later. Enjoy your summer with her and don't worry.

We go to the park everyday after school and so do a bunch of kids from school. You can definitely see her "coming out" in this environment. Her confidence has come on loads (this is in the report) and she is speaking louder to her friends and familiar adults. Still struggles with unfamiliar adults but that's just her, so I'm not worried.

We do read every night, taking turns. She has a new ipad app where she can "tell" stories and is doing this loads! What I don't do is sit her down and do workbooks or practice correct formation or do flash cards. Tried this at the start of the year for numbers 6-10 and it totally put her off. I don't want to go back to that "place" with her so pleased you are all telling me not to!

It's hard to know what they are looking for, I think. Did you get an explanation?

The Early Learning Goals are detailed but the teachers must see the child do these things independently, rather than because a grown-up has asked them to:

Speaking
"Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events."

If your DD is very shy, then it's quite possible that she hasn't quite done this at school, but you could probably give 10 examples of this at home?

Reading:
"Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read."

Again, if she isn't confident enough to talk about the stories, perhaps that's why she isn't yet 'expected'?

Writing:
"Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible."

Maths:
Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing."

Honestly, at this stage the range is absolutely huge. I really thought my DD3 would fly with reading - she seemed so ready and is very bright. It's still painfully slow, I think because she wants to get it all 'right' so she won't just take the risk, or alternatively that she guesses from the picture to speed things up. She'll get there. DD2 is 'academically' much less switched-on, but she's really fixed on 'rules' so she found reading a breeze comparatively. She just applied the rules and didn't really care what the pictures/story said!

Thanks lougle. I can see now why she didn't get expected for the academics. She is no where near writing sentences (!!!) and definitely not subtracting (!!!). Why so advanced??

I know for a fact the speaking is due to being shy. She far exceeds that description at home.

I wouldn't worry at this stage.

I also think there is no need for a tutor or extra home learning at this age either.

If you have an iPad and she likes working on that Pocket Phonics is a good app - it has the phonics sounds on and letter formation too.