What does 'emerging' actually mean?

[Dreaddy]

Got my son's end of year report today. He's working to 'expected' in most areas, 'exceeding' in maths, but 'emerging' in listening/attention/understanding, fine motor skills, self regulation, and writing. Had no idea he was struggling with writing or fine motor skills but fully aware of the attention issues. Wondering if I should be doing anything about it? He's suspected to have ADHD, but still very young. He's oldest in his class. Should I be doing more writing with him? I'm working on the focus/self regulation but think this will take lots of time/perseverance.

In order to pass students had to achieve an Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E) or Acceptable (A). A Poor (P), Dreadful (D), or Troll (T) were failing grades.

It just means he hasn't met the required level for that age group.

My DD (age 8) got the same for writing so I'll be working on her writing over the holidays. I've printed out lots of handwriting sheets for her to do daily then we'll have a go at some descriptive writing.

It's normal parenting to help your child with stuff they find challenging.

Which is exactly why I'm asking...

When I asked for some information about my DD's Y7 report - this was what I got from the HOY - a definition of what the words 'exceeding' etc. meant!

My DS is AuDHD and I suspect in retrospect he has dysgraphia. He is also hypermobile. His handwriting was always way below his attainment in other areas and this obviously affected English writing skills. I agree that the issues with attention don't help as you can't hold your attention long enough to work on something you find difficult. On top of poor often illegible and wonky handwriting, he never wrote very much. He used to get pain in his hands, and sometimes arm and back when writing. We got him a special pen that helped a little:

www.thedyslexiashop.co.uk/products/stabilo-easy-original-pen

When in secondary, he was eventually allowed to do all his work on a word processor/laptop, including being given a special keyboard for notes in class and that helped things, and he was very lucky to get an excellent English teacher in year 9 who completely turned around his, but then, hatred of English, and he started to love writing and his standard swiftly improved. He eventually got an A in English GCSE!

He now works as a journalist believe it or not, and his handwriting is still terrible!

So I think what I am saying is obviously try somethings to see if they help, but it's not necessarily the end of the world. English skills are more important than actual handwriting in today's world. If you can't crack the handwriting and it's holding him back, then look to see if there are ways you can bypass the handwriting so he isn't held back from learning written language skills (grammar, punctuation, spelling, use of language etc).