Advice needed from Reception teachers and parents

[littlestgirlguide]

Im worried about my DD. she started reception in September after turning 4 in June. she had been attending nursery 4 days a week since she was 7 months old while I work. All the time she was at nursery she was a happy, well adjusted child, and there have never been any reports or concerns from the staff about her attention span, behaviour or learning. By leaving nursery she was able to read and write some basic words, recognise all her letters, count forwards and backwards to 20, etc - I have no doubts that she was learning normally. They never once mentioned any problems, and I have never noticed anything at home or with friends or family, she's generally polite, cheerful, enthusiastic and friendly. She was looking forward to starting school and started happily.
At the end of the first week I called in after school to ask the teacher how the first week had gone. She told me that DD seemed 'tired, lethargic, not very intetested', this worried me as it just didn't sound like DD.
I have popped in a couple of times since, and get similar replies, the teacher also adding concerns about DD's attention span and that she can't seem to concentrate for more than a few minutes on anything, and today told me that DD had been 'naughty', that she was continually having to ask her three or four times to do things before getting a reply, that she kept being distracted and behaving badly while they were sitting on the carpet poking other children, fiddling with things etc.
She suggested I get DD's hearing tested.
DH and I have noticed in recent months that DD doesn't always seem to hear us first time as well and so I have booked her in at the doctors for a hearing test next week.
Can anybody with experience of this age group/the transition from nursery to school help? Does this spun normal, or should I be more worried than I already am?

Do u think she could be tired?

I would organise a hearing test and go from there. If you've never noticed anything yourself I wouldn't be too worried. When my ds was nursery aged we thought he was starting to misbehave quite a bit but he had been unwell with swollen glands etc and it turned out after quite an upsetting hearing test his hearing was really bad! He had glue ear but it cleared of its own accord thankfully.
Hope you get sorted soon, it's not nice thinking they're not settling but I'm sure you'll find the reason.

Plus if she was only 4 in June she'll be one of the younger kids in the class which will be more tiring.

DD is 4.3 and has very selective hearing if she's concentrating - i.e. if she can't see the benefit in what you're telling her/asking her/ trying to chat about, she will just ignore it.

It sounds like your DD is tired to be honest. If she can read and count backwards from 20 at her age I'd have no concerns. Either that or she is bored - isn't reading/writing at her age quite advanced?

It's very common for children this age to suffer for intermittent hearing loss so sources estimate that there will be 6 children with hearing problems at any point in reception

Get her hearing tested - it's a really simple procedure and if she is hearing impaired it's better to find out sooner rather than later. Dd2 is partially deaf, but still manages to be in top spelling, reading & maths groups. School were convinced her hearing was fine because she was doing so well academically, hearing loss was more obvious at home & in social situations. It could be her hearing or perhaps she's not being challenged enough at school, either way, it's better to check hearing esp if teacher has asked you to.

Thanks, I've booked her to have her hearing tested on Friday.
She does see to generally like school - singing the songs they've learnt, telling me about her friends and so on, so I hope it's just a combination of tiredness, immaturity with possible glue ear thrown in, rather than that she just isn't settling.

I would also suggest eye test too as working really hard to see the board could also contribute to these problems. I was like this and needed glasses and had glue ear too!

Is it just the afternoons? Does she seem like that when she's at home? Could also be a sign of diabetes. Shouldn't diagnose over the internet, I know, but my mum had a child like this in her class and they couldn't work out what was wrong.

(Reception teacher here)

I suspect she is just tired. Reception is a big jump for very small children. Even for those who have done school-length days at nursery.

The best way to help is to just spend a few weeks with an empty diary on the evenings and weekends. Early to bed on a weekday, with a nutritious tea in her. Then weekend lie-ins if she can, and low expectations of what activities she should be doing. ie: Just let her play, watch tv, take naps. Follow her lead. If she seems tired, encourage her to nap.

Certainly no extra-curricular clubs after school, or long weekend jaunts. She needs her down-time more than ever at this age/stage.

It's also possible that she's slowly sickening for something. If she seems peaky in the mornings, do keep her off for a day or two. It won't do her any harm and might just be the "re-charge" she needs.

Don't worry. What she's doing/how she's acting seems completely normal.

Thankyou for your reply Zingally. Unfortunately I can't limit her after-school activities, I wish I could. I'm working 4 days till 5, which means she's at after school club till 5.30 on 3 days, then one day my mum picks her up at 3.15 and then I do on my day off. I'm finishing work for maternity leave just before Christmas and will then be off till November, so standard 9-3 days, but until then I can't change my working hours. The more I think about it the more it seems like 'just' tired.

It worries me that there are 28 children in her class though - are all the other mums having this concern and similar comments from the teacher, or is it just me and my Dd?

Hi littlestgirlguide:

Absolutely have been there with DD2 (now Year 4) and exactly the same thing happened.

Have the hearing test. If there is no problem let the school know and suggest that there must be some other issue - i.e. the classroom noise levels are too high to make hearing your name easy, there is so much milling about that it doesn't appear structured/ organised to a 4 year old, etc.... [NB don't say this kind of thing quite so openly].

DD2 had about six months of being labelled inattentive which we didn't rise to and never complained about, but patiently suggested that we found this contrary to our experience or the University creche (which is award winning and had had her daily since age 9 months). We suggested they contact the nursery repeatedly, which they didn't. But then actually raised it with the nursery and had them ring the school.

Problem was solved almost immediately. Turns out when there is a lot of background noise/ people moving about/ playing children struggle to know what to pay attention to. Go figure?

The teacher eventually solved it by having a special sing-song way of saying DD2's name which was so distinctive that DD2 would immediately come to attention (she admitted a few years later - that the Head of our former nursery had suggested it as a solution and she now uses it regularly).

DD2 has gone on to do very well and her ability to ignore the chaos around her (sorry but it is that kind of school - teachers shouting, children walking about for no reason, etc....) and just get on with her work has actually been a really important survival skill long term.

HTH