6 year old is "slow" to get her work done in school

[PorkPieLove]

My 6 year old has just started year 2 in her independant school. Her teacher has just told me that DD is slow to process things and takes ages to write her work...she also said "It's all up there though" and tapped her head...so does she mean that although my DD undestands the work, she's just slow to put it on paper?

She also said that DD is always wriggling around...but was quick to assure me that most of her class are very fidgety.

I feel worried though...the teacher said DD has to speed up..that she will usually only ccmplete 8 sums whilst other kids manage 20. She said she tries not to pressure DD but that she needs to work faster. She suggested I get an egg timer to make her work faste at home when she is doing her homework.

DD is bright and very articulate...the only thing she is prolific at though is art..she draws countless pictures for hours on end.

Teacher never said she was concerned at DD's knowledge though...only at her being so slow to get it down...help! I feel worried she's going to get left behind. DD does seem very happy at school though!

My Ds is like this (now Y4). we are gradually working on improving his concentration which seems to be the main problem. All his teachers have said he is bright and has loads of ideas, knows the answer etc.. It has always been the getting it down that has been the problem - he doesn't enjoy writing. Things that have helped at different times include: reminders of the time at frequent intervals to pull him back to the work, recording his immediate thoughts (eg for story writing) on a dictaphone which he can then hear back whilst concentrating on the correct grmmar etc, use of an egg timer, using a white board to put down quick thoughts before tackling the main piece of work, using a tick sheet to mark off each sum as it is completed again keeping him on track. Things have been improving (although crap teacher last year did little to help ). He is aware of the problem and is trying hard to improve.

I had to check the date to see if this was an old post of mine - you have described my dd1 at age six perfectly. I worried, I bought books and I no doubt posted on here. In the end I hoped in time she'd change.

She did, she got very high results in her sats in yr6 and is now at a super selective grammar school.

Don't worry, don't buy books - just leave her to grow up a little.

Thank you Seeline and ThumbWar

It's really nice to know it's not serious! to be fair, I did approach the teacher and ask how DD was doing....and she told me...so she can't be that worried or she would have approached me before now.

I won't buy books ThumbWar...I was about to start googling too!

DD is unconcerned as her teacher won't put pressure on her....she told me that if DD is really having a hard time one night with homework to simply not do it....so I'm glad she is understanding.

Did the stopwatch for homework and it worked a dream...only trouble is she wants to take it to school to work with there! Have decided to let her...as she's keen to speed up I'm leaving it up to her teacher to decide this one!

Pork Pie and 1234 - my daughter used to be exactly like yours! I, too, thought "I could have written that, years ago." Over time (and I am embarrassed to think how long it took me) we discovered two things: 1. that she is short-sighted and 2. that she is a very visual learner. She is at secondary school and has largely grown out of the problem but your mentioning that your DD loves drawing rang bells with me. The third possibility is that she is just bored, being bright and articulate, and this could be exacerbated if 1. and/or 2. are true.

So I have two suggestions: do get her eyes checked if you haven't already just to rule out her not being able to see the blackboard properly ( like my DD ) and think look into learning styles (try googling). If you think that your DD might be more of a visual learner, the school may be willing to suggest suitable learning strategies for her.

HTH and good luck!

summerwilson

The blackboard was a concern as her school is independant they dont check their sight...I'll make an appointment.

I am inclined though to agree that it's combination of her being bored with the repetition ofendless additions and subtractions and also her being a visual learner

Tonight she had some new maths to do and this excited her...so she might be a bit bored...but I cant tell her teacher that! She'll think I'm one of those Mums who thinks her child is a genius!

My sister used to be like that in year 2 - I remember my mum and dad coming back from a parents evening and saying that she was definitely one of the slower ones.

In year 5 she got a great teacher and suddenly took off. She carried on like that and went to Cambridge to study maths.

So I would say to keep encouraging her but not worry too much.

change the OP to say DS and state school and you have my DS down to a tee

My school aren't concerned though they say some children even at this age develop fine motor skills slower which will affect the speed at which they can write. The bottom muscles are the last to develop so figiters are usually slow writers (DS is too).

Try the write dance programme if you can its very good for helping develop these skills.

sounds much like my ds1, also in year2 at a state school. i wnet along on a class trip last week and saw with my own eyes why he is usually one of the slower ones in class: he spends half the time looking at what the other children are doing, fidgeting with whatever catches his eye, and thinking about what he wants to write down.

your dd sounds v similar porkpielove. glad that her teacher is not seeing it as a problem. my ds1's teacher doesn't either, she actually said that she understands where ds is coming from when he tells her that he had 1000 stories running through his head and was trying to write one down, but did not get much further than a few lines. she said to me that she is mcuh the same.

the short-sightedness is a good point summersoon: ds1 used to be short-sighted, but according to the dr-s had improved much by the time he started school. wonder if it would be worth having his eye sight checked again...

Oh missed thread about the eye sight. DS has had glasses for 6 months now and has just been given stronger ones - apparently children can compensate for poor eye sight but causes eye strain. The eyes relax with the glasses and therefore child is using less thought to focus and can focus on thinking instead iyswim

I know this is an old thread, but I could have written this about my 6 year old. The teacher just told me today how slow she is. Half an a4 sheet in a week (and she had to miss the showing of big hero 6 to finish that off yesterday!).
She knows it all but fiddles and day dreams. What she does do had all the correct grammar and punctuation (although she often gets some letters/numbers the wrong way round).
Will have to see about getting her eyes checked. Any other advice?
Thanks

As has been said above this could also be because the child is bored or is a visual learner. My daughter is often distracted and slows down but if she finds the topic intresting she does really well. I was once told that children who are fast thinkers may be slow at writing because they cannot keep up with the pace of their thoughts and get frustrated.

I also suggest checking out an outfit called STEPToday. I looked at it for my DS but he is younger than the starting age.

Also look at the Potebtial Plus website and see if you recognise your DC in some of the literature. I found it really helpful. DS has to take 7+ next year so slow writing, fidgeting etc are a bigger issue than frankly they should be for a child that's not 6 yet.

Potential Plus. Obvs.