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Primary education

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Original poster

Wriggly 6yo. How can I help teach him to sit still?

52 replies

MerryMarigold · 07/02/2012 17:51

Chat with teacher today. He's fine, progressing. Not exactly top of the class, (or even middle), but he is progressing. Her issue is that he is still very wriggly and finds it hard to sit still. In her words it is "annoying", but he's not doing it on purpose, she knows. He is not being disruptive. He's had this issue since Nursery. I did mention Dyspraxia but she said he would get his letters more mixed up, and that seems to be just normal at mo (d and b).

Anyway, so I really want to help him with this as it does lead to telling off, which can really get to him (he's super sensitive). He does need to be told not to wriggle, but I'm sure it would help his self confidence if he didn't need to be told off about it all the time.

OP posts:
ash979 · 09/02/2012 12:29

hi
Im a early years teacher. We give our wriggly children 'fiddle toys' cos when they are allowed to fiddle they can then concentrate on whats going on in the lesson. We also sit them at the back of the carpet so they have room to move if they need to. We explain to the other children that some children need help to sit still and the other children go and get the fiddle toys sometimes to help and understand that not everyone is allowed toys on the carpet.
We do a lot of work on schema ( which is a repeated pattern of bahaviour) and have discovered children with a rotation schema all find it difficult to sit still. Does he have an interest in circles, round things, running around in a circle etc We also find these children tend to have beautiful handwriting. Unfortunanetly wriggly children are often seen as a problem in school and things are done to try and solve the problem rather than accepting it as a learning style that has to be acknowledged

crazygracieuk · 09/02/2012 12:36

I had parent's evening yesterday and the teacher mentioned that my 5 year old Y1 son is very wriggly. She has a photocard which acts as a prompt for him (and others) that they need to sit still and concentrate.

Original poster
MerryMarigold · 09/02/2012 12:53

I think I do need to ask teacher if they have any strategies to deal with him, rather than constant telling off. ash, those strategies sound great. I just wish it hadn't gone on so long.

Ds1 loves to write very neatly and has very small writing, but he does not form letters properly (the most annoying one is 'c' which he does in 2 strokes, bottom half of 'c' and then top half!).

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 09/02/2012 12:58

Befuzzled - wedge shaped cushion.

Ash - what you say is very intersting.

Do you go on to track what happens to wiggly kids? Can you say by year 6 how many of them end up on the SEN register, how many of them still wriggle, still need fidget toys and how many of them end up with level 5s?

I think there's a lot of assumptions that kids will grow out of this sort of stuff - but I've never seen any stats to back that assumption up.

I'm fairly sure that most of the kids who have problems in Y6 also had problems in Y1. Certainly that's my experience.

My other experience is that none of this is tracked. Y1 teachers don't really know what happens to kids by the time they get to Y6. Certainly they'd have to stay at one school for 6 years before they'd seen it for themself.

If they're an infant school teacher they've never seen the progression.

SilentBoob · 09/02/2012 12:59

Yes, photo card prompts to reming the whole class how to sit and how to behave at the start of every session. My daughters class uses them too.

And YY to people thinking wriggly children need to be 'solved'.

IndigoBell · 09/02/2012 13:02

Another question Ash - if a child is wriggly, do you always tell their parents? Or would you only mention it if you thought they were excessively wriggly for their age?

Original poster
MerryMarigold · 09/02/2012 13:19

What do you mean by not 'solving' wriggly children. Do you mean I can't help him be stiller and need to teach strategies to help him cope with movement (like cushion and fiddle beads).

Indigo (resident expert Grin). Do you know if wriggliness goes mostly with listening? My ds is fine and not nearly so wriggly if he is looking. He doesn't seem to be wriggly during work time, but it is in collective carpet time or assembly that it seems to be most obvious.

OP posts:
jalapeno · 09/02/2012 16:09

Interesting ash, my DS does run around in circles...but then he also runs in straight lines too Wink...what might you do for a child with the circular schema?

Indigo, good point about the progression thing, I'm surprised there are no statistics to show what happens by year 6 or 7. I'm still not convinced DS has any underlying issues but would be happy to be proved incorrect if he gets help that he needs.

emmash2010 · 09/02/2012 16:39

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

ash979 · 09/02/2012 16:41

with regards schema we use to help chiildren access the curriculum for example one child with a rotation schema was not interested in art activites, we put a round table in the area and he immediately went and produced a collage where he had picked out all the round tubes and circle shapes!! very weird but true!!
straight line is called tracjectory -they might like lines, following tracks they have made, watching the invisible line made when throwing something etc
the connection between wrigglyness and rotation schema is something we just noticed last year so havent tracked it
if children are given something to fiddle with they tend to listen better and take in what is being taught. without something to fiddle with they are sitting trying to concentrate on sitting still and not moving and cant possibly take anything in
by solving I mean giving him tools like fiddle toys, cushions to use. some teachers wont allow these cos they make the child different or because its a case of how can that child have a toy and I cant. thats why we talk to all the children about it, not to make the wriggly child look bad but so the children understand why they have those tools. the children are then very accomodating and understanding

ash979 · 09/02/2012 16:42

excuse my mistakes i have my baby in one arm!

Panzee · 09/02/2012 17:41

In our school we've got loads of those cushions. Some of the wiggly children use them to great effect. Check stocks in school before buying your own! :)

Original poster
MerryMarigold · 09/02/2012 19:11

I'll make another appointment after half term, but I'm sure if they had these cushions (since it's been a constant complaint for 1.5yrs) that they would have used them.

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mrz · 09/02/2012 19:39

IMHE very few of the wiggly children in reception and Y1 continue throughout their primary school career and no greater percentage of wigglers are on the SEN register compared to non wigglers in our school (which of course may or may not reflect the national picture) It's very interesting what Ash says about schemas as I've never seen a link between one particular schema and this type of behaviour.

IndigoBell · 09/02/2012 19:48

Thanks mrz, that's very reassuring to know.

mrz · 09/02/2012 19:56

I think because we have a fairly static staff compared to many schools (and staff talk to each other) teachers throughout the school have a very accurate picture of the children we teach.

IndigoBell · 09/02/2012 20:06

I still think that all the children I know (not very many) who have problems in Y6 had problems like wriggling / sitting still on the carpet in Y1.

DSs target on his first IEP was to sit still on the carpet. At the time that sounded so trivial that it didn't concern me at all.

Of course, it turned out to be very significant.

jalapeno · 09/02/2012 20:24

IndigoBell thanks for the Tinsley House link, I've had a look and lots of alarm bells are ringing now re diet, allergies, traumatic birth, symptoms such as blinking, clearing throat etc. so I've bought the book to have a good look. We are in the SE so if we don't get any joy locally might give them a call.

The sad thing is that when he had his allergies diagnosed we were told by a dietician to give him lots of carbs. Seems that might be part of the problem :-(

mrz · 09/02/2012 20:29

My son has problems with some complex carbs plus lactose

Original poster
MerryMarigold · 09/02/2012 22:17

Oddly enough, I've been thinking of traumatic birth today. Ds1 was a forceps birth and had significant bruising (large lumps) on the side of his head. It all cleared up at the time...but perhaps it did have a lasting effect Sad.

OP posts:
tibywibs · 09/02/2012 22:34

Been doing some research too and my ds was an emergency cesarean after a 56 hour labour as heart rate was dropping. Also taken to scbu as i had a temp so docs were worried ds had an infection and had a canula and was given antibiotics for a week!
He was diagnosed with asthma at 2 but has since not used an inhaler for a long time so has now been "undiagnosed" at the same time as the asthma diagnosis, he had a very bad case of excema, although this seems never to have returned (3 years ago).
I always wonder if a difficult birth has something to do with how you are. I have previously heard this and you have jogged my memory into doing more research.

We are at the doctors on tuesday, i'm hoping we'll start with a hearing test (he couldn't hear birds singing in the trees while we were out today, or children playing in the local school playground, he said i can just hear silence!)
And i'll mention his behaviour and see what the doctor says. Ds seems to be getting worse at the moment but i'm hoping its because we've just moved and he's unsure of where he'll be going to school and there's not much structure at home. We'll see, hope all wrigglers out there are ok!

mummytime · 10/02/2012 06:24

Get that hearing test, it sounds like a real problem. When I have had problems with my ears, it has been really isolating. It is no wonder kids with hearing problems have such a range of issues.

IndigoBell · 10/02/2012 07:35

Asthma and exzema are both often comorbid in kids with ASD/ADHD/dyspraxia and dyslexia.

Other things that are correlated are traumatic birth, difficulty feeding and meeting milestones late. (sitting, walking, first words, two word phrases)

Original poster
MerryMarigold · 10/02/2012 09:49

Yup. Ds1 has both asthma and eczema. The other 2 have neither (so far). Funnily enough the asthma only started after his really rough Reception year at school.

Indigo, what brand of supplements do you use?

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 10/02/2012 10:25

These are the multivitamins Tinsley House recommends:

Omega
Zinc & Magnesium
Mutlivitamin