5 Year old concentration

[candyfloss66]

Hi, my DD will be 6 this April & attends an independant school since nursery. She loves school but we have been called in on numerous occasions by her teacher who tells us that her listening & attention span are zero but she isn't disruptive in class. I am so worried as we saw her head teacher yesterday to be told that our DD is falling behind at school her reading is great but she doesn't listen to instruction. The children sit on a mat & are told what work to do when they are back at their desk but because she hasn't been listening quite often goes back & sits with a blank expression & says that she doesn't know what to do. They have regular non formal assesments & she didn't do well. The thing is she is an only child & get's all our attention yet when she is at school she expects the teacher to sit with her all the time & I have the same problem at home she doesn't like working independantly. We have also had problems where as she has been playing us & her teacher making out she doesn't know things when she does I have found this out through small incentives. We really dont know why she is behaving like this & sometimes it's hard to tell if she really doesn't understand what is expected of her or playing us. Her head teacher has recommended reward charts when she works well & another meeting after half term they are also going to get their learning support teacher to assess her to find out if she does have learning problems. I'm so worried & don't know if she is playing us all the time or really has problems she want's attention all the time. Has anybody else been through this thankyou

We experienced a similar issues with our DD who is now 11 YO. Initially we discovered she had some mild hearing impairment, this was fixed with grommets. We found that asking the teacher to get DD to look and focus on the person talking would help, we called this "listening with your eyes". As well as helping deal with any issues of hearing through lip reading, it will create more focus For the child when they are given a command. We practiced in the home by giving small instructions, in a casual manner, starting with the "listen with your eyes as well, and look at my face..." then something simple like "go and get your shoes on".

Her behaviour, however, has always been challenging and we found that this was actually due to her being bored in lessons. She is now on the gifted and talented register and the school now recognises that she needed to be challenged more. Since they have been giving her harder work she has fitted in much better and is taking a much more active role in lessons.

The important thing is not to panic (I know, almost impossible, we did!). All children will learn at different rates, but if she sees you getting frustrated and anxious about it then she will and is will impact negatively on her progress.

I wholeheartedly empathise with you, I remember what I felt like and the worry we had. However, it does get better and you learn not to compare yours to others (the most demoralising mistake you can make!).

Work with the school, they will have seen this a hundred times before and probably with a couple of other children in your DD's year.