Help! Concerned about son in Year 1.

[MariamaMay]

Hi,

I am getting more and more concerned about my 5 year old. He is in Year 1 and his performance at home does not seem to match that at school. I have posted recently about his reading levels. He can read a level 6 ORT (and sometimes a 7 or 8) book and yet at school is on ORT stage 2! However, this gap between home and school seems more pervasive than just reading levels.

I am becoming inreasingly concerned by the fact that that things he was doing with ease in Reception now seem more difficult for him. For an example, - I might ask him very similar Maths addition sums that he could do mentally and quickly before whereas now he struggles to do them. I understand that he might be finding Year 1 more challenging but its not that, its the fact that he seems to have actually LOST skills. Also, his ability to write/spell (difficult I know at this stage) also seems to have somehow taken a backwards step.

I find this change/loss of skills incredibly confusing and worrying. The added complication is that he doesn't tell me what he does at school or that people tell me he his bright. The latter may or may not be accurate but doesn't matter. But beginning to lose skills just seems strange. Has anyone come across anything like this before?

Any thoughts/ideas about the above would be much appreciated.

Also, he will then say things that are insightful or look at the digital clock, see it says :48 and work out that its 12 minutes to the hour without even hesitating. He can sometimes work things out so rapidly. It all just doesn't add up.

All children perform to a lower standard in the classroom than they do tucked up cosily at home one-to-one with a parent, if that is what you are asking?

It is also completely normal for progress not to be linear. There is always backwards as well s forwards movement

It's not unusual for a school to assess a child very low at the beginning of year 1 so they can show big 'progress' at the end of year two.

Thanks Longlost. It is partly the gap between school and home and yes, I can see that 1:1 at home is different to the classroom. But sometimes the gap is rather large. But its not so much that, its the fact that he now seems unable to do things he could do with me easily. So we might have done additions at home whilst he was in reception. He now seems to struggle to do these with me at home. Its like theres been a shift in what he CAN do. So at home with me / 1:1 and there seems to have been a LOSS of skills. It just doesn't make sense. Its almost as if something has switched him off somehow. Does that sound weird? Not sure if I am making sense.

Its hard to put my finger off. But it does feel a bit like he has switched off. Even with reading - so as an example, recently, he couldn't make sense of a simple picture even though with a more complicated book, he was demonstrating good understanding / recall / able to predict etc. Arghhh!!! I am concerned as my gut is telling me something isn't adding up. Though, I could just be worrying unecessarily!!!

Ooops - finger on and not off!!! One tired Mum here!

Have you been working with him during summer?
Children can learn something new quite quickly, but can also forget it quickly as well.
My ds was once addicted to teaching clock. He learned to read clock both 9:45 and quarter to 10, etc. Lost interest, and few months later, he didn't know how tell the time. And I am saying this as a mother of very mathematically gifted child.
Something he was able to do, he can forget, but I'm sure he get it back really easily once he started to do it regularly..

Maybe he's bored? Is what they're aksing him to do too easy?

This happened to a friend. Son
regressed to the point of stopping talking at which point he was referred to a psychologist who quickly identified that he was understimulated.