teacher needs help with bright year 2 boy who cannot focus on/do work

[Bronte]

I teach a year 2 class. The boy in question will sit through an entire session and have achieved nothing on paper unless an adult directs him constantly.
He struggles to sit for a sustained length of time and will always be looking around at other children.
I have asked our senco to assess him for potential attention deficit problems.
In the meantime is there anything I could do to alleviate things to help him achieve more?

Some things which may help:

Look at your classroom routine. Make sure that there is some physical activity prior to and after a sitting exercise. You can even engineer some physical activity, ie. 'Tom, could you help me please? This stack of books needs to go over in that cupboard.'

Look at his seating - is it comfortable - does he fidget? SENCOs can get wobble cushions, which give sensory feedback and stop the need for moving around.

Can he read now? Could you give him a prompt card with the task broken down, so that he is not having to tackle the work as a big block?

break the task down into very small sections... and give verbal reminders,( or visual reminders? ) using his name..

sand timer?

bribery and corruption? if you write 2 sentences before play you can have a go with the... ?

a maarble in the jar (etc) for everything he completes.

remove the requirement for him to write the date/title, but he gets on with one specific thing you want.

have you tried repeaating the instructions to him using his name, so he knows it applies to him too?

has he had hearing test?

have him do the work on the computer/ipad

can he do it with objects and you record with photo?

until he has been assessed and you know where the problem lies, it is difficult to know what to do to help.

somewhere along the path of listening to the instructions, understanding them, remembering them, concentrating long enough to do them, getting organised enough to have pencil and paper, using his fingers to write, knowing what to write, getting the message from his brain to his hands, there is problem.. the difficult bit is working out what it is.

do you need to draw the lines on the paper so he knows where to write? a dot where to start?

can he record what he wants to say and then someone writes it/ he writes it?

Thanks for all the suggestions. Like the marble and sand timer idea.
Never heard of wobble cushions!! Off to google them now!

An assessment is a good idea. How is his reading and writing when supervised? Does he show any signs of dyslexia, or is it just a lack of attention that is the concern?

While waiting for an assessment, you could provide a visual/written cue card with instructions for him to follow in simple steps. If you laminate it, he can mark it off with a marker as her goes through it, then you can wipe it off and use it again.

Another thing is to give him something to "fiddle" with. I used to lack concentration in school and uni lectures until I did the most amazing course which put a little stress ball in front of each participant when we walked in to the room. I grabbed it and started playing with it (just rolling it around in my hand, not throwing it lol!) and then the trainer brought up about tactile learners who needed to physically manipulate objects to enable them to learn and pointed out just how many of us were actually fiddling with the ball. It was actually quite a revelation to me that needing to fiddle wasn't being bored or misbehaving, but actually a way of improving my learning. I now have a stress ball on the desk of each student on their first day in my class so I can see which students need that sort of activity, and I never tell my kids off for fiddling. Long explanation, but it might be worth a try with him (can't hurt either).

Good luck OP.