Dreamy distracted five year old

[TribbleNamedDave]

Is this a cause for concern? My five year olds teacher keeps saying that he's very distracted and is hard to keep focused.

I will admit that we have this issue at home, he is so off in his own little world that it's hard to get him to turn into reality FM. However, he is pretty much me as a child and I spent the vast majority of my childhood lost in my own little world.

He's got a very big creative streak in him, always telling stories, creating games, dancing and adventures. He's very sociable and he gets a lot of children saying good bye to him at home time.

I don't know, she's raised it but I'm not sure what, if anything, to do about it? Or even if I should be concerned.

Does he fidget?

if so, this thread might help

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/2477312-DS-constantly-fidgeting

Kohl he plays with Lego, and puzzles etc. He does have a bit of screen time, he's so exhausted when he comes in that he just wants to slump on the sofa. I have no idea if he's making progress, we haven't had any real sort of communication from the teacher apart from brief conversations at the door. He talks about some things at school, but not many. He'll engage with us over books and games. But most of what he says are stuff we talk about at home.

He is a fidget, always has been.

You have nothing to lose getting a referral to a Paed.

If there's nothing wrong I'm sure you won't regret it, but if there is you could regret not having acted more decisively in the future.

A pead Nightsky? That feels a bit extreme over a five year old being distracted. Can I ask why you would advise me going down that road?

Well, it could just be perfectly normal, after all he is only 5 and lots of 5 year old boys don't have the best concentration especially if they are summer born (is your DS summer born?), however it's also possible that the lack of concentration and fidgeting could be a red flag for problems such as AD(H)D. Given how slow getting anything done on the NHS can be, I'd have thought it would be prudent to take a look online about these issues and unless you can totally rule it out, have a chat with the Paed?

What do other posters think abut the idea of seeing a Paed if OP can't rule out medical problems?

I'd be asking the teacher for a more detailed explanation of her concerns and recommendations.

DS had very poor concentration in reception. I would have described him as very 'dreamy'.

We had him assessed and it turned out he had low muscle tone which was making him very tired all the time. The low muscle tone was not obvious to me at all - he actually seemed to be quite active.

He did a lot of physio this year to build himself up and is much better now - and although he is still very imaginative he is no longer 'far away' in his thoughts all the time. Because his body is stronger hisins is more alert.

I would place a lot of importance on what the teacher says as she is seeing your son in the context of a class full of children his age - and is noticing his behaviour stands out and is causing your problems for your child.

I firmly believe in getting things checked out just in case - as if it turns out there is nothing wrong with your DS then at least you have the reassurance of knowing that.