My P2/Y1 child is so weak at school

[Zoosie]

For context was always late to reach milestones, late to talk, walk etc. I’ve always noticed him emotionally and maturity wise ‘behind’ his peers. He’s 5.

School is a nightmare. He is so weak🙁 it was 6 months into school last year before he could write his name.

This week’s homework is to learn number bonds to 8, he has no idea at all. Even with us using concrete material to show him. He also was given a blank page to write his news. No adult input allowed. He has no idea.

I printed a page of mixed up sentences from the internet and got him to cut and sort these. He can do this. He has a fairly good sight vocabulary but cannot use phonics and isn’t able sound out so I think this is holding him back more.

SChool say he has no focus, attention, concentration skills

Any advice? Is it likely he will grow out of this and catch up?☹️

What else can I do?

Have you had any professional help/input with him? Especially when he was late to reach milestones previously.

The cutting out sentences sounds like a good idea. Does he have any special interests? Mine learnt to read by wanting to figure out the models of each car as we passed. Lots of practice counting with concrete objects may help - maybe counting smarties or orange segments. Then ask him to imagine the concrete things or pretend that his fingers are the concrete things.

Maybe get him assessed to see if he has specific problems that he could be helped with?

I think I'd be looking at getting him assessed by someone, an education psychologist or whoever is appropriate. If he has some specific learning difficulties the sooner they are recognised then the sooner you can get the school to look at additional support and so on.

Have the school suggested any specific things that they are going to do to try and help him?

Are you in Scotland or NI? Is he a winter baby?

I'd get his eyes and ears checked if you haven't already. Does he get enough sleep and as little screen time as possible?

Some children just take longer to get going but if he has now been at school for a year and a half, I'd be beginning to look for specific support strategies. This is hard to come by in Scotland, but you can at least ask for a meeting with the class teacher and the member of senior management who takes responsibility for the infants.

Have school suggested any extra support/assessments? Is he a summerborn?

He sounds similar to my 5 year old (yr 1 summerborn). He cannot blend his letters or write very well (lots of letters written backwards) although he is where he should be for Maths and enjoys this. He struggles to concentrate but is not badly behaved and has lots of friends. His teacher describes him as young for his age though.

My DS has always had an IEP as he has a speech disorder so has been on the schools radar since he started last year. Since starting Yr1 he has one to one help with writing and reading plus speech therapy once a week. His teacher is going to refer him for further assessments which I am grateful for as we all feel there is a learning barrier there.

I would maybe arrange an appointment with the SENCo as if he does need further help the earlier its put in place the better. Good luck.

Is he winter born? My DS will be 6 at the end of January and is one of the "weaker" members of his p2 class- it's obvious even in wall displays etc however he is able to read by blending and can give writing a go (although spelling not the greatest). He could write his name in nursery. I'd be looking for some extra support at this stage as he has been at school well over a year now

I would focus on one sound at a time. Take it slow, use magnetic letters on a fridge. Ask your child to copy the letter in a tray of sand and look for objects around the house that begin with that letter. I would not be expecting your child to do any work independently. They are 5!!! Does your child understand that numbers equate to amounts of things. Using objects around the house start off with asking your child to get 2 cars, 5 cups etc and show the number of the amount of objects to make it clear the number relates to the amount. Your child will not be able to understand number bonds if they are not understanding what numbers are. It's all just squiggly lines on a page to them. I have a book on Amazon called Supporting Practical Maths which was written specifically for parents it includes assessments for you to do to see where to start and lessons. Be careful with the language you use are they understanding your instructions, model first what you want your child to do.

I would ask to have a meeting with his teacher.
Tell her what you have told us. Ask if it is the same in school (though if it is, , you need to ask why this is being sent home as homework if he can't access it).
What did his report / his parents evenings say last year?
Ask the school how they are differentiating for him.
Ask them if there are things you might be able to do to support him.
Ask what additional support he might be getting in school time.

Have a child who is 10 now. In reception and year1, he was below the level required. I started to teach DS myself. It took a lot of patience and time. We failed a phonics screen but learned how to read & understand text; explored calculation and study approach.
As results, we did a great jump at the year 2. Now, the boy is ok and we hope he would get a place at grammar school.
Everything in your hands because you are a parent.

I would get his eyes tested. My dd is the same age as your ds and she had a lazy eye that was really affecting her in school.
For blending one thing that really helped my daughter was getting magnetic letters and she had a garage with a ramp and pushing the letters down the ramp to make words e.g get her to sound out as i pushed the sound down so that at the end we would make a word like cat car bus etc, then I would let her pick 3 sounds and I would sound it out to get the word. We used to play games like that every night for 5 minutes and the difference after about 6 weeks was amazing.
I would also ask for an Ed psych to view him. My daughter is now getting assessed for adhd since the Ed psych viewed her.