Finding support/extra resources for children who can easily do their schoolwork?

[tealandteal]

I’m not sure if this is the right section but I have just received DS’s school newsletter and they will be working on addition/subtraction and counting in 2s/10s. DS is 5, a summer baby, in year 1 and currently waiting assessment for ASD.

The issue is, he can already count in 2s and 10s for as long as I am prepared to listen to him. He can do his 2,3,4,5,7,9 and 10 times table to 12, understands negative numbers, square numbers and cub numbers. I do not understand some of these things but he absolutely loves it. He watches numberblocks, plays with a number blocks set he has and is always asking me maths questions. Some of which I have to use a calculator for.

He is on a par with some of his friends with reading I think, he will read Matilda or similar books to himself and has just learnt to read in his head over Christmas.

I have tried asking the school but they don’t seem to be able to offer him anything extra/different. Is there anything I can ask for or any phrases/advice? Are there any websites or apps anyone can recommend that he might enjoy? He doesn’t understand why his friends aren’t as into as he is.

Preferring to interact with older children and adults can be a sign that a child is struggling with their social skills. Older children are more tolerant and more able to make allowances for a younger child.

Primary schools often offer groups to help children work on their social skills. They are relaxed and fun with snacks. Maybe you could add this to your list of ideas for things to help your DD.

We found we had this problem from reception to Y3, but now in Year 4 it has become a bit less of an issue. I am a teacher of secondary too (for over 16 years) and think that the older students get, the more the work provides differentiation by outcome as work is more open-ended. Even in Year 4, work has become more open-ended in subjects like English and Science (but maths can sometimes still be an issue). For example now the may be set to write a story in English and there are no barriers on what they do with that. Or design an investigation in Science: openended again. At home, from reception onward, we have challenged outside of school by ensuring lots of challenging extra reading, music lessons, extra maths, so that she has been used to being challenged from reception onwards. Otherwise, there is a danger of never facing any challenge and then not being able to know how to cope with it when the challenge eventually presents itself, which it inevitably does. The time at which that comes will be different for different students but they will need strategies of how to cope with challenge and persevere, which may otherwise be alien and a bit scary. This is when gifted kids suddenly start to underperform.