DS going downhill

[whitefingers]

When my DS (7) first started school he was very bright, he was the highest reader in his class and we were told he had the IT and maths skills of a 10 year old.

Now however it all seems to be going downhill, his reading is still good however only with words he recognises, he will not try with new words and has trouble sounding out the letters in order to work out the word.

His writting is terrible, hardly understandable and his maths is now adverage whereas before he was very far ahead.

He doesn't seem able to work things out, he just doesnt think...I don't know if it's lazyness or if its that he genuinly can't do it. For his homework tonight for instance he had to read a short story and then answer a few questions, he started it at 6pm and has only just finished and even that was down to me practically giving him the final answer due to high levels of frustration and a loss of temper from myself.

Basically the story clearly explained that "albert" was very trusting and believed everything anyone told him. It then went on to say that one day "Sid" told his friends to watch whilst he told Albert that his dad was asked to play for England but decided not to as he didn't like the colour of the shirt.

The question was "why did sid tell his friends to watch whilst he told Albert the story about his dad?".

I know he's only 7 but isnt this blatently obvious or am I expecting too much of him? We were sat there for over an hour going over the story and I was giving him as many clues and hints as I could possibly come up with without giving him the answer. "what does it say about Albert?" "was the story about the football true?" "so why did he tell him it?" etc etc and my son kept saying things like "because he likes football?" "because his friends were not looking?".

Should I be concerned or am I over-reacting?

[arsenelupin]

Don't like to see you being ignored! Can you do the homework earlier, or before he goes to school? he might just be knackered and not in the mood to think in the right way. He might also have been trying to nark you because he knows it's stressing you, and (perhaps) because he knows his teachers view him as struggling. How is his self-confidence? Do you suspect any bullying at the school, because he may be holding back out of fear of what some of the kids might be saying. What do his teachers say, and have you raised it with them?

[saadia]

I don't know if all 7 yr olds would get that. My dss are 4 and 2 so I don't know is expected of older kids but it does seem a bit of a complicated story in terms of trying to figure out Sid's motives.

[Bibliophile]

How was he taught to read?

[nearlythree]

I'm 35 and had to read through your post twice in order to understand it!

I would be concerned, not by your ds's apparent inability to grasp this but by his disinterest. It sounds to me like he is disengaging from learning, which is probably because of the way the school are teaching him. When he started school he would have been enthusiastic and had the skills that he picked up at nursery/preschool and of course at home. What have the school done to make him switch off?

[juuule]

That was what I thought Nearlythree. What is happening at school to turn him off learning? I think I'd be tempted to give the homework a miss (or do most of the work for him) and concentrate on getting back to learning in the way he did before as he obviously enjoyed whatever he was doing as he had learned so much before starting school.

[cazzybabs]

I taught a girl who was like this - she was under too much pressure. I would back off, find things that interest him - what about making a book about his fav football team for instance? Or a writing journal where it is his space - he can write what ever he likes or draw a cartoon? I wopuld talk to the teacher and see what he/she says. Also could ut juts be that some of his peers have caught up?