My dd is seven and for the last week I have had tears at bed time because she is so stressed about SATs. My dd has had a real battle to get where she is, she has a speech delay which took two years at primary to get the relevant support put in place. She's doing so well now and has caught up within nine month of her peers with her speech sounds but her vocabulary is at an 11 year old.
However, the impact of the speech is that she fears anything new, or something she perceives she can't do. School says the kids are not aware of sats but I find that very hard to believe.
Currently, her class has been sent home with a book to practice times tables in as preparation for the weekly times table tests. Thus has caused melt downs of epic proportions. She struggles so hard with her maths and almost has a phobia because of it (ie tears, tummy ache etc). I am finding it hard to find a balance for her. Obviously she will benefit from the practise, but she also needs extra time to unwind as she has to work that much harder to communicate in class.
Homework seems to be ridiculous, she had fourteen pages of English sheets over Easter. My ds in Yr 7 had an art project. This weekend she has times table practice, reading, English and Maths homework. On top of this, dd has speech exercises to be done. She buckling under it all. Help!
I am going to see deputy head on Monday as she oversees the maths curriculum in school (also much easier to talk too). But in the mean time, can anyone suggest how I can help her with this anxiety?