Da hopeless at writing - here is an example.

[Notmymuse]

Further to my previous thread ds (5) wrote this today. He self corrected a number of times and at the end went back and changed 'to' to 'two'. It took him around 5 minutes and says:

Jesus went into Jerusalem. He had the last supper. Judas betrayed him. The Roman king put two criminals up together. 'Which one shall I release?' said the king. Sadly Jesus was crucified.

Apart from criminals - which is spelt insanely - I'd have been able to get the rest but the handwriting continues to be horrific. He's 6 in June. This looks quite behind to me. Should I press the school for some further help? Certainly compared to all the beautiful work on his classroom walls he is behind.

There is absolutely no reason to define him as academic or non-academic. There are university professors with dyslexia who use Microsoft word to spell! Are they suddenly unacademic?

My mother used to have lovely handwriting, but she now can't write much without pain. Do people magically become unacademic if they develop joint problems like arthritis, RSI, etc? I know a young man with dyspraxia (it's almost as painful to watch him hold a pen as it must be for him to write) so bad that he was given a laptop to do his A-level papers on. If he woke up able to form letters as fluidly as your son, I think he'd be ECSTATIC! But he got As in very difficult subjects.

for goodness sake he is FIVE years old, what's the problem?

Bloody hell op, he is 5, don't slot him into some box marked 'not academic, but good at sports'!

I appreciate he is 5 but so much is expected of them it's unreal. If you're struggling at 5 then you need some sort of early intervention because if you're left behind in year 1 then it's very hard to catch up later on and the gap only gets wider.

OP just make sure that you tell him that his best is good enough. Always.

Good enough for teachers, for others, for you and for himself. That's all he needs to know.

There are some lessons you can't learn in school and self esteem will have a bigger impact on him than anything else.

It will affect everything he does, his friends, his jobs, his family and all his relationship.

You can give him the gift of good self esteem by accepting him just the way he is.

if you're left behind in year 1 then it's very hard to catch up later on and the gap only gets wider .

I'm not convinced that's true. DD2 struggled in y1 & 2 (you should have seen her spelling and handwriting). But actually something clicked around about y4, and now in y5 she is progressing well.

Some children just mature later. And tbh I think you are worrying over a non-existent problem.

Did you not read my last post OP?

Lots of children potter through infants playing a lot and uninterested in work. They will often be on the bottom table in infants, then jump to the top table by year 6. Learning isn't linear, it happens in random jumps. Sure some kids will have been hot housed in preschool/reception/year one but there comes a point in juniors when natural ability steps in.

Also your particular school may not reflect a national average year one group? If your schools particularly middle class, it's likely there will be an awful lot of high achievers

He's not behind though.
He's just five and his motor skills are still developing.
Children do not develop along some straight line, they develop in their own time. Some may master one skill quicker than others. It doesn't mean one is more advanced than another, they are just different.

He isn't behind!

I think you would struggle to convince school that he needs 'early intervention', his writing is fine!

As others have said, it isn't linear - my dd2 is dyslexic, so struggles with the mechanics of reading and writing (although she has come on loads in year 3) - but her comprehension skills are way ahead, she has a huge imagination and a lot of creativity in her writing.

I feel for you OP - it's hard not to worry, but I really don't think you've got much to worry about, particularly if he wrote that with all the correct grammar and punctuation at his age - that's really impressive!

I'd probably be more concerned that the school is coming down far too hard on children tbh.

Also you may find that his presentation varies depending on what/why he's doing. My DD is 10 and whilst she's advanced in terms of ability I sometimes cringe at what goes into her homework book (admittedly I'm a bit anal about presentation), to the extent that I was planning to raise it with her teacher at a recent parent's evening.

Then I looked at her class books and they are beautiful - it appears her presentation skills take a back seat when she's at home and there are the more pressing matters of Minecraft and guinea pigs to be dealt with !

I think he's doing very well, OP. Direct speech, and words like 'criminal' and 'betrayed' - surely that's exceptional for a 5 year old? (Although we are in Scotland so my 5 yo is a very young p1 and is just about forming 4 letter words.)

Are all the other kids really doing so much more? I find that slightly sad, if I'm honest, although I can understand it could make you worry. I hope you've had some reassurance from this thread.

This thread is depressing to me.

Op your DS seems bright and able, and yet you are worried about him as he seems average in his group.

Fwiw, I also come from a country where kids don't even start to read and write until 7 as they are encouraged to play, form relationships and be children before that.

I am so glad my dcs aren't in chains in some English school, with parents tripping over themselves with anxiety because their performing monkey is only average at 5 years old.

OP, I think you need to open your hand, close it and get a grip on yourself.

You need to learn to sit back and not compare your ds to other children. Can you not hear how everybody says that he is doing fine?

Notmymuse I teach year 1! I'm the literacy coordinator and SENCO in my school. I work with other schools to support literacy and he is not behind.

OP, everyone has told you your son is doing well - but you still insist that he's not academic and needs early intervention.

A charitable interpretation of your posts suggests that you're not listening to us because you're so worried you can't see the wood for the trees.

A less charitable interpretation may include the words 'stealth' and 'boasting'. Are you trying to tell us that your son goes to one of those highly selective pre-prep schools that get name-checked in the Sunday Times or Tatler?

you're left behind in year 1 then it's very hard to catch up later on and the gap only gets wider.

In cases where a child has an unrecognised disability, and receives no support for years, then yes. But that's not what's happening. Your child writes like a bright five-year-old.

I actually have a year 1 child getting writing intervention, and I am not this worried about his future! Especially as he's a 21st century child who will be doing his secondary school work using a keyboard, like everyone else!

I think you really do have it in your head that there's a problem hence consoling yourself with the fact that he's good at sport! There isn't a problem as far as I can see.

My DS is in exactly the same position as yours - insofar as he is behind (he's not) it's because he's a year younger than most of the class (lots of Autumn birthdays and no one else born after May apart from him and he's late August).

And as someone said, their development is not linear. It goes in leaps and spurts and while they don't seem to be learning much in one area, they are developing in another and then switch around. DS hasn't made much progess in his handwriting this year and his reading has plateaued recently - but his gross motor skills have come on a lot. I'm guessing the handwriting and reading will accelerate again later in the year.

I know he's on the second to bottom table (he doesn't) whereas my Oct born DD has always been on the top table. But that's a) age-related - she has always been a full year ahead of him in every class - and b) fine. He's doing brilliantly considering his age and my job at this point is to keep him enthused and excited - not easy when he's already having to do much more than he should at age 5.

" Are you trying to tell us that your son goes to one of those highly selective pre-prep schools that get name-checked in the Sunday Times or Tatler?"

yes that did cross my mind too jeeeee, some kind of stealth boast?

And again, ability to write legibly means... that other people can follow your shopping lists. Inability to write legibly is not the barrier if was in ye olden days.

And at 5, your child CAN write legibly. I could read it. Can't read mine's but I can read his.

This us an example fro. The DfE for Year 1

And this

And thus

"But that's not what's happening. Your child writes like a bright five-year-old."

Yy to this.

No links mrz!

There were pictures! Argh!