Going downhill at school

[whitefingers]

When my DS (7) first started school he was very bright, he was the highest reader in his class and we were told he had the IT and maths skills of a 10 year old.

Now however it all seems to be going downhill, his reading is still good however only with words he recognises, he will not try with new words and has trouble sounding out the letters in order to work out the word.

His writting is terrible, hardly understandable and his maths is now adverage whereas before he was very far ahead.

He doesn't seem able to work things out, he just doesnt think...I don't know if it's lazyness or if its that he genuinly can't do it. For his homework tonight for instance he had to read a short story and then answer a few questions, he started it at 6pm and has only just finished and even that was down to me practically giving him the final answer due to high levels of frustration and a loss of temper from myself.

Basically the story clearly explained that "albert" was very trusting and believed everything anyone told him. It then went on to say that one day "Sid" told his friends to watch whilst he told Albert that his dad was asked to play for England but decided not to as he didn't like the colour of the shirt.

The question was "why did sid tell his friends to watch whilst he told Albert the story about his dad?".

I know he's only 7 but isnt this blatently obvious or am I expecting too much of him? We were sat there for over an hour going over the story and I was giving him as many clues and hints as I could possibly come up with without giving him the answer. "what does it say about Albert?" "was the story about the football true?" "so why did he tell him it?" etc etc and my son kept saying things like "because he likes football?" "because his friends were not looking?".

Should I be concerned or am I over-reacting?

Hi, personally i wouldn't be partciularly worried if my 7yr old didn't quite 'get' this comprehension.

I would definitely arrange a meeting at the school if you feel he hasn't been progressing and is now falling behind.

Good luck.

I wouldn't spend an hour doing homework with a 7 yr-old, if he couldn't do it with little help in the allotted time (20 mins?) I'd send it back in uncomplete with a note to explain.

I must admit though I would be concerned about the situation you describe. You say that age 5 you were told he had the maths skills of a 10 yr-old, but now "his maths is now average" ... ie that of a 7 yr-old? Something is going wrong somewhere. I would ask for a meeting with his teacher to discuss this all. (Is he in a UK state school? Just a thought - maybe he's just fed up and bored by the emphasis on preparation for SATs - which are pretty mind-numbing and unchallenging for most 7 yr olds, let alone a bright one.)

I wouldn't be surprised if a 7 year old couldn't get the comprehension - it sounds quite tricky to me. And I agree that half an hour is long enough to spend on any one homework task - if they can't do it in that time then IMHO there's something wrong with the homework, not the child!
When he was 5, could he really do percentages, fractions, decimals, simple algebra...all the sort of stuff that a 10 year old should be able to do? If so, and he's lost those skills, I would go and talk to his teacher as soon as possible. And if I didn't get any joy there I would go to the head.