Slow worker - why?

[NorhamGardens]

One of mine currently just coming to the end of Y3 is very slow to finish everything. The teacher said they are the child they always know will be the last to finish a task etc.

Their work is generally of a high standard, very neat well crafted writing etc. They tend to write perhaps one to two paragraphs when a whole story is required etc, etc. They seem to be able to focus quite well too.

They seem to physically be able to write quite quickly and I just wondered if others had faced the same issue? It's not a problem yet but I sense it may be next year and as we go into upper primary.

My DS1 wrote slowly but that was partly due to some mechanical issues which an Occupational Therapist has helped.

Other thoughts - excessive "thinking" time at the start of the task

Are they a perfectionist so are working slowly to avoid making any mistakes?

Yes to the perfectionism although I wouldn't say this was a very strong trait.

Without seeing them operate at school it's hard to know what the problem might be. The teacher has said they really don't know what might be the cause.

Is it a common issue I wonder?

How about you set them a piece of work to do in the holidays and just watch what happens. Then, if it takes a long time you can talk through why this is the case.

My elder DD was excessively slow as a young child, mainly because of thinking time and faffing about - she is now 16 and exceptionally fast, writes very quickly and a lot!

Second DD writes slowly because she is dyslexic, though she has speeded up since starting secondary. If she types (which is is allowed to do in English) she is obviously a lot faster.

As the other poster said, I would watch what she does. If she is spending ages doing beautiful handwriting or thinking through everything first, perhaps you can give her techniques to help her speed up; brainstorming, plans, mind maps etc.