Dd 7,can she ever catch up? Bottom of class nearly

[Windyjuly]

I know she is so young but, I'm also worried about why she has been near the bottom of the class.

She's done so well over lockdown with 1:1 with me. We've come on 2 reading levels. Her writing has improved. Her maths is slow but we have a tutor for that.

I've been reading that dc who are behind at 7 can't catch up.

I think she has ability, she's very active but I can't see why she has not been doing well in school.
So even though I reckon we will have '' boosted'' her from nearly the bottom of the class.... What then? Or is reading really the magic key?
Can I really help her catch up on 2 years of no learning? Does it matter once she can read and understands basic grammar and has basic ok spelling?

I've been trying to cover high frequency words, but where too next! Some days I feel there is hooe6, other days I feel very overwhelmed especially as I go back to work soon. And we won't have that time for support as much as now.

Wow, that’s great progress! It might be the school as well because in my school entering year 3 on level 8 wouldn’t be the absolute lowest. We’ve got children still on stage 4/5 entering year 3!
I’d ask about sitting at the front, ask if there’s any extra work they could send as you want to help her catch up. It’s a pain sorting extra work but I’m always happy to because I want the children in my class to catch up. Keep going with home learning and rewards. I found asking on here or on Facebook groups about authors to be helpful. My daughter is a year younger than yours and I’ve been worried about her reading and writing. I got some great ideas for authors that might capture her interest.
Well done anyway. There are so many parents who wouldn’t do what you’re doing.

The class environment might be disruptive to her.
Can the school offer resource reading time in a quieter environment 1to1 it may help.
My friends little boy is flying now he was really struggling previously, he is 8.
She pays him for every level he passes it is not great but it motivates him.

Ted, congratulations... That's wonderful. 😍😍❤️❤️🎊🎊🎉🎉.

Angelic, if it was down to the school she would be entering year 3 on level 5! I had to push them to move her to stage 6. If I had not got reading chest and her school books she would be starting year 3 at beginning of level 6.

They said they wanted to to stay on level 5 to secure the phonics sounds. But, she had read what seemed like endless stage 5 and not sounding out or struggling with any words at all and she was bored and getting despondent. It was hard trying to get her to read the book. Stage 6 was more a challenge for her. Stage 7 easy. Stage 8, right for now.

That's what I mean re school not responding quickly enough but also not listening to me. If they had their way she would be on stage 5. It's a bizzare situation.

Emerald I think they did do quieter reading sessions. Back in March she would do a couple of pages with someone in corridor etc.
That's where I would see dc with people reading in small groups etc.

I am trying one more technique as of yesterday when I was reading about age 7 catch up (and seeing all the stuff saying its very hard to catch up and how learning changes in year 3..and certain reading abilities are expected).

I read, you read a chapter of a harder book, eg for us James and the giant peach, then ask them to read the paragraph.

So I'm trying that at the moment, along side the school scheme books. To see if that also gives her a boost.

That is strange. Sometimes parents say their child is reading at a higher level than they should be as they struggle with comprehension side but it’s a balance and I’d be thrilled if a parent was reading at home as much as you are with a child in my class.

If the school is not supportive, you should seriously consider home education, or at least extra catch up tuition (or a different school)

I know it sucks (one of my DS has some undiagnosed SEN, doesn't work properly at school, thrives at home). Budget-wise, this may mean some very tough decisions, but your DD needs an education (and probably is able to be educated, with the right approach), and if the school can't provide it...

Problem with school-based education is that it tends to be "one size fits all", and unusual children often fall between the cracks. But it doesn't mean they're hopeless!

If there are any underlining processing issues this will be the year it will tell.
You're doing really well reading with her as long as there are no extra educational needs she will take off from your help and support.

I'm very uncomfortable with this concept of her being at the bottom of her school year - why would they say that? And, if the school is half way decent, if that IS a thing, she would be in a group of children they'd be attempting to deliver extra help to. So I am very concerned about your school and appreciate the challenge of moving schools but would be considering that and/or looking at alternatives such as tutoring etc.

The 7 year old thing is absolute rubbish. There's no doubt that children who can master reading, basic arithmetic etc at an earlier age have advantages as they go through school, but that doesn't mean the children who are behind can't catch up. If that was true, DS' school would have given up on him already but instead they continue to work really hard because they truly believe that he can and will get there eventually.

Also, absolutely consider seeing an educational psychologist privately. We took DS to an OT, knowing that a big part of his problem is processing, and it was life changing. But eye waveringly expensive.

Bling, after years of being told to wait and stuff and not clearly told where she was among her peers, I was extremely grateful to have some honesty and clarity at last.
It was action stations as soon as I found out. She has been in smaller intervention groups but even then I don't think they were effective at all.

And yet with me, I don't find it laborious trying to explain very dry grammar concepts? She does pick stuff up quickly, but... She gets bored and fidgety quickly and I lavish her with incentives!!
The other dc in her group have quite obvious sen needs.
The teachers at school can't tell me anything about dd!

Bling, what's an OT please.

Occupational Therapist. We went that route as we were pretty sure there was no ADHD or dyslexia and a "diagnosis" was less important to us than finding DS some help so he could cope better in the classroom. The OT confirmed he had some significant sensory processing issues as well as some issues around executive function (planning, organising etc). Then he did a couple of series of 1-2-1 sessions over a period of a year focused on supporting the direct and indirect consequences (eg, often children with sensory issues are over/underweight with very weak cores which has the knock on effect of making sitting in class difficult etc. So they spent time working on this. Ditto exercises to support executive function, visual acuity etc etc). They were extremely helpful with the school in particular noticing an immediate improvement in DS' ability to manage school after the first 8 weeks which was over the summer holidays.

But then, we also have an incredibly supportive and helpful school.

She does pick stuff up quickly, but... She gets bored and fidgety quickly

We are actually exploring sensory tools for DS to take into the classroom (it's on my list to sort out by the weekend) as he gets overwhelmed and finds himself simply tuning out. So one on one, he can learn, but in the classroom setting, he misses a LOT.

We're looking into bracelets or balls he can use to centre himself while he's in the group activities.

Also, when doing learning at home, we find (as does his tutor) that we need to limit the time with him listening and maximise the time with him doing worksheets etc. He's got a surprisingly high tolerance level to spend time working on problems, most likely because he can block out everything else while he's doing that.

It is absolutely NOT true that children who are behind at 7 can't catch up. In Finland, children don't even start school till they're 7, and they do rather well educationally. I don't know where this scaremongering began, but it's been going on for a while, and made my friend absolutely frantic when her daughter was nearly 7 and slow in picking up on reading (very likely slightly slowed down initially by bilingualism) and she read on the Internet that if a child wasn't reading fluently by 7, she never would. At 11, one could hardly talk to her, because she had her nose constantly in a book! She is now 19, studying a STEM subject at a Russell Group university, and an excellent reader. The idea that you have to do things at a specific age is simply not true.

Ddl1 I can see the logic because in our school system, r, y1 and yr 2 are all about the foundations. By year 3, to learn a certain level of reading is expected (I still don't know if dd has that yet) to learn.

They read to learn, rather than learning to read. So if they can't read and have no help, they will struggle. I also expect again in the framework of our schools, by year 3,they should have had 3 solid years of being taught those basics. So if they are not picking it up, then I guess, '' something else '' is going on holding them back.

Maybe, just maybe... My own dd has just started to click and maybe... With covid and hopefully the repetition of concepts she has done with me, that may be enough to keep her afloat now.. Maybe!.
So, so much depends on the school, the head, the teachers... Even her cohort.

"*angelique thank you.

Our school are really weird about the reading scheme. My other dd was incredible reader in year 2 and she was still shackled to low band on scheme. She didn't need it. This dd definitely needs the scheme, it's the only books she reads... But as said, she switches off if we don't work at her pace.
My other concern is that the school like to dictate the reading levels to us, so I'm hoping they can see her work, hear her read and keep her where she is!!

@notsurewhatsgoingon

I missed this comment yesterday. My other dc is top sets and I've been hands off because she's not needed further help.
My dd has been sat learning next to nothing for two + years, of course I need to get involved now and worry about it!! I've been waiting on the say of the school to just wait. Nothing happened.