Can a child 2 years behind accademicly ever catch up ???

[bizzey]

Hi I have posted on before I think (or SN?)..but I have a bit more information now and just wondering if anyone has had any expierience of this.

DS3 is yr4...at the end of yr3 the week before his 8th birthday he was assesed by literacy support service(LEA) and I got her report a last week.

It was as I expected he is 2 years behind mothers instinct and no tests

His decoding/reading accuracy was 5.11 yrs

His Text comprehension was 5.09 yrs

They have not been moitoring his levels accuratly as when I was told his reading level(before I got above report) was 3b I just burst out laughing !!!

He has 1/2 hour lit support ix week with external teacher and I am given lots to do at home...but he also is given extra from TA (who is not his TA but help him last year and knows I/we want it and sorts it out in her own time !)

I suppose what ireally want to know is ......will he get there in his own time...ever ...or will he always be 2 years behind no matter how much I do at home with him .

He is under SALT/Comm pead/genetics/physio/OT as he has hypermobility issues...

I had bettter stop now as I wil just ramble and go away from my origional quetion !!!

I have asked for ED PYCH and got lots of nodding heads in agreement......but he hasn't appeared yet !!

Thank you for reading....honest opions please...I can take it!!!!

I expect he'll catch up, just maybe not when you want.

I think it's very important you don't compare, you'll do your head in.

Famous family story: in mid-primary years, in the space of a calendar year, my dad & his twin went from 2 years behind reading target to 2 years above the expected.

lljkk, what did your dad & his twin brother start doing differently that made them make so much progress?

I'm not sure if its at all useful, but I was a year and probably a bit more behind when I was about 9 I think? My dm purchased all the text books the school used and we worked through them every night, unti the point when I was slightly ahead of lessons! By the time I was in y6 I was fine and in sync with the others, and in high school was top set. There is no way I would have caught up without the extra work!

Hi Bizzey,

I know how you feel. My son needs some catching up in school too but he is only in Y1. I too, ask the same question, will he ever?

After speaking to my husband and his family, they all knew my son has so much similarly to my husband when he was at DS age. Did not do well in school, can't engage with something he was not interested even though he would politely sit quietly and listen. His grades shot up when he was in secondary school as certain subjects (science in his case) became more "interesting". He has achieved well since.

I can't be 100% that your DS's school grades will change in the future but certainly it can happen! Try not to worry too much - I know it's super hard! Give as much support to them is the only thing that we can do now. hugs.

Spons, it's good to know your hard work paid off... did you enjoy doing the extra work everyday?

I am doing some extra exercise with DS everyday now, try to do just enough not to put him off! I sometimes feel a bit guilty of making him work extra hard but I guess it's all for his own good for the future...

According to my dad, Grandmother took them to the public library very regularly, she found the right books to interest them (baseball). I suspect there's more to it than that but it's all my dad particularly remembers. And mostly they just grew up a bit.

I think with reading a huge part of it is having something they want to read. Then they have a reason to figure it out, and something to hang the rules on.

So - can you find something to read that he loves ? In one of my DS's case it is car magazines, and for the other is it anything to do with owls.

Once they have an incentive (ie they enjoy it and get something out of it) they come on in leaps and bounds.

At the end of yr 4 my son was assessed as 2a for writing. Reading and maths are fine (3a and 4c), So we're ploughing though apples and pears as his spelling is poor, and he's seeing one of the school TA's for private tuition. Hopefully this will bring him back up to the standard required.

Anecdotally, I have heard that boys can have a surge around Yr 5 and 6

Thank you all..
Emily yes that is my worry ...putting him off school and learning...he does aday at school and then come home and do catch up AND his yr4 work (which I basicly tell him the answers so he has got something to hand in with his peers so he doesn't feel excluded !!)

But compared to his anxiety/panic attacks 2 /3 years ago about even having to go to school I supposed we have progressed(he doesn't hide the car keys now so we can't go !!)

I KNOW he is not thick and I know it is a processing problem ...but at the moment just seem to be banging my head against a brick wall in knowing what to do /help

We were doing the clock the other day ...visually he could point to me which clock face was "half past 6"(I said the words).....a bit later I asked the time on the picture ......he said "6 past half " ?

He wants to learn ...but it is frustrating to him when he knows it is not right ??

Hey Emily, hmm I didn't really like it, but I HATED being the only one working from a text book the others had finished last year and not understanding what was going on in lessons! Plus my dm was v v patient, I wouldn't say she made it enjoyable, but she made me see the bigger picture?

derek...you have given me hope !!

Hello bizzey. I can't really say about your DS, but all I can say is that DD3 was many years behind at the age of 14 (reading age of 8), then she became ill and was unable to get to school for 2 years, so ended her official education with absolutely nothing and it all looked a bit hopeless. She then found that she has a real flare for hairdressing, has been at college for 2 years now and is doing her level 2 qualification this year, loving it and is really fulfilled and happy as she never was at school. I have come to realise that you just need to help them find their niche in life and things will work out for them. Academic success is not the be all and end all.

Bizzey I would push for an ed psych report as all the extra work may not be as useful unless the underlying problems are known. Can you try and pin the school down to when the ed psych might be coming into school. We were constantly put off with excuses such as he is very busy you know, there are other DCs worse than yours etc. All these facts may be true but you have stats that show how far behind he is, so one would hope this would mobilise them into action.
My son did slowly catch up but like you are doing now we did a lot of extra work at home and all through secondary school. We also encouraged him to do things outside of school from your DS's age and this helped build his self esteem which had a positive effect on his school work. Good luck!

Dsd left primary school with a reading age of 7.5. She had extra English at high school and worked hard. She achieved a grade C at GCSE in both English Lang. And Lit. So yes, it is possible to catch up.

Thank you all....I suppose I am having a bit of a funny moment as I am about to go off to ds1 parents evening where he is 2 yrs ahead in all subjects(yr7)..and wishing the brains could have been evenly divided !

Positive attitude.... all he has ever wanted to be is "an ice cream van man "..when I reminded him he needed to add up how much all the ice creams would be...he said (with a withering look) "I would use a calculator !" and therefore does not need mental maths !!

Clowdy ...thank you

Bizzey, we never thought she would achieve her C grades and we were so proud of her determination. She's at college now and we are currently wading through university paraphernalia! She isn't the most naturally academic kid in the world but she has other strengths and we just wanted her to be at a point with English and maths where it wouldn't hold her back from pursuing her talents (she's studying art).

Bissey - It is so hard to know that your son is two years behind. My son couldn't read until he was nine and achieved very little until he was 15. He passed his GCSEs and A levels. He now has a good degree.
Children fall behind often, because they cannot read. Help him with decoding if you can. Play a simple game with him - ask him to tell you the sounds in lots of simple words like cat, dog, lost, desk etc. If he can't hear them, he will not be able to read. Show him how to say each sound. There are lots of simple fun things you can do to help him.
I was 14 when I learnt to read!

He may catch up.

But equally he may fall even further behind. If he's progressing at half the rate of his peers by the end of the year he'll be 2 1/2 years behind not 2 years....

No one here has a crystal ball and can tell you where he'll be when.

I think a good way to move him forward is to get him addicted to books. Find ones he can't put down and the literacy should improve.

In your shoes though I would seriously look at putting him in the year group below. He is young for his year anyway so would only be a bit older then his new year group. It will do his confidence the world of good in the long run. I know he would leave school a year later but he would leave with better grades.

Thank you all for your good words of advive !! Sorry I have not replied till now ,I was out with ds1 P/Evening...I know I want a magic wand or book to make him his "average level"....but you are all right it will happen when his brain say's so ...and not when "poeple above us"(govement/LEA and other people)
say it should .

His confidance is building and I should focus on that ...but I would still LOVE to hear what ED PYHC has to say !!!

Let me qualify this with I am no expert at all in this.

If he's behind because of a processing issue, then unless he can find a way to process things "better" then it will be hard for him to catch up - work progresses quickly in the upper primary and not having the basic skills could lead to a bigger gap between him and classmates.

If he's behind because things haven't clicked together (or he suddenly finds a way to process things that works for him) he will catch it up in leaps and bounds.

Doing things he can do, consolidating and building confidence will be great for him - reading books a bit easier that he can sail through (making sure he understands the concepts/story not just the words), times tables that he knows, the more practice he gets and can do it, the more he'll be feeling like he can do the next step.

At the end of year two I was told in parents evening that dd was a year behind. It's was the first I heard of it. I asked for support and was told she didn't need it. I pushed and they said ok but did nothing. Halfway through year three I put her in another school.

She passed her 11plus last year so she caught up. She also went to Kip McGrath classes for a bit but to be honest I think it was the new school that sorted her out.

If you're not happy with the school I'd move him. Best thing I ever did for dd.

I think Ed Psych assessment would be helpful too as the tests they do help you to work out where the weaknesses are.

Slightly sideways thought here, but ask your son what he sees when he looks at text/ white board, so ask if the words stay still or not. I hadn't heard of it before and was amazed when my DS said the words were moving. We'd had his eyes tested by a normal optician and his vision is fine, but this is different. Something to do with visual stress, but it was making reading very tough for him. He reads with coloured overlays now and we might move onto tinted glasses. It's made a massive difference to his speed and accuracy.

I am aware it is bad form to resurrect a zombie thread, especially after 7 years but I wasn't sure whether a PM would be even weirder, sorry.
Essentially @bizzey your child will be year 11 now (unless you did end up home educating) and I wanted to know
a) whether they did catch up eventually
b) what you know now that you didn't know back then
c) what advice you would give to another Mum in the same situation
I do hope that you are still on here in a different guise and that you can reply or if you would prefer to PM me. Thanks ever so much.

Anyone else with similar stories I would appreciate any feedback. My son is in year 2 when his starting point is reception and I am trying to ascertain whether I need to let matters take their course or whether I should be advocating more (the 2 years discrepancy is due to moving back to the UK but he is also atypical wrt fine motor skills, sensory issues and anxiety). He has made a lot of progress in only a month but I am wondering whether long term with such a deficit I should already be advocating for him more than I am now.
Thank you in advance

Yes they can catch up but it’s a slow slog for all. Ds 1 is now emerging 4 at start of year 5. He was down in the 2s. For him it meant specialist help at the deaf unit for English. He really has grasped the concept of levels so was a bit disheartened when he saw them on report but cheered once I showed him how he far has come!