Do I need to worry about lack of concentration at six??

[littlemadam]

Ds is in year two and doing very well academically, he is top of his year and on extension work for every subject. However his teacher has recently expressed concern he doesn't concentrate or listen, and he is relying on natural ability.
I'm pretty laid back, he's only 6 and has homework every night, so I think thats enough. He's my eldest and my inclination is to not worry, but at the back of my mind is a niggle I might be responsible for blighting his future if he gets left behind. I've always told him that I don't mind how well he does as long as he tries his best. How does it work....someone make me feel better!!!!

If he watches tv on weekdays, I'd change that. It would make a difference IMO. Does he concentrate well at home if he's say building something with lego? Might be a bit bored at school. It may be too easy for him.

Blimey - shouldn't the school be taking some responsibility ? I mean if he is ahead on everything - why aren't they stretching him ?

I wouldn't worry myself - my dd is just 6 this week and as dreamy as anything - but she's doing OK, not as well as your ds though, and I just think she's in her little fantasy world - let he enjoy it as she'll be under pressure soon enough !

And - sorry I meant to say - he hasn't got to the top of year 2 by natural talent ! They aren't born being able to do maths or read fgs - he must have been concentrating at some lessons !

Some people are naturally not that good at concentrating 0- I'm not - but it doesn't mean I can't just that I have ashort attention span ! I think they need to manage his individual personality (like NLP for teaching) and work to his natural attention span.

I just wouldn't worry - but would suggest thje school does something to help !

My ds had this and still does sometimes, he is a day dreamer - as soon as something gets boring especially at school. He suffers alot when the slower kids are reading out loud, he says it's painfull to listen to and he has to twiddle his thumbs alot while the teacher explains things to the class that he already knows. In one way he is probably alot further on than most in his class but he isn't far enough to go up a class as he still makes spelling mistakes.
I would suggest going and saying to th eteacher that you are afraid his lack of concentration is boredom. I went to ds's teacher and asked her toplease give him some other extra work if she can because he is losing interest out of boredom and I was lucky because she agreed, now he is in class 3 but gets some work from class 5 to go through when the others in the class take too long on a subject.

IIRC (from my teaching degree - it was a while ago!) a child's attention span is their age plus 1 or 2 minutes. So the maximum your ds should be physically able to concentrate for is 8 minutes in a row. If he can manage to stick to a task that he enjoys for 6 - 8 minutes without being distracted then I would doubt there's anything wrong with his concentration.

I'd be questioning the school a bit more about what they are doing to stimulate him and get his brain working if I were you. It sounds as though he's being left to drift a bit, and he may just be bored rather than not concentrating. As BlueBeetle says, he hasn't got to where he is purely on his ability. It might be worth asking the teacher to start giving him some kind of problem solving activities that will encourage his lateral thinking skills and give him something to get his teeth into. 'Harder' work won't necessarily encourage him to think and put his abilty to use.

Thats really helpful. I can't say anything to the other mums at school as they would just think I was boasting, so MN really helps!!

I think the school is just concerned he might not reach his potential. You are probably right on the problem solving, he loves that sort of thing. What might turn him on??

He does watch TV, but mythbusters and how its made, which seem pretty interesting. I do think he doesn't listen, (certainly doesn't listen to me!) but neither does my husband!! He has a big imagination and loves pretending. I am so glad others are the same...Also he wants to be "cool" so I wonder if thats part of it?

You could do some work on extending his contrecation span if you are really worried about it, though personally it sounds more like boredom to me. Try getting him to read books that have chapters, rather than pictures. A good starting point might be The House at Pooh Corner, which requires being able to follow a complex story over the space of several readings. The point of these books is there is no reward to be gotten from abandoning a chapter half way through. You've got to get to the end to get the joke.