Is this usual for a 5 year old - or am I right to be concerned?

[haggisaggis]

dd started P1 in August. I have been a bit concerned myself for a while taht she doesn't seem to retain things very well.
ie. she still muddles up black and white.
She doesn't know her numbers yet - despite having done them last year at nursery. WHen she started school I practised the first set of sounds at home with her and she appeared to know them - on checking now she only knows "a" and "s". She has forgotten teh words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - despite having had it sung to her since a baby. However she can retell a story and has good memory for other stuff.
School say she is struggling a bit - and have given extra work. Otherwise she seems average to me - has a good vocabulary although still uses "her" isntead of "she" and tends to miss the start of some words.
Is this all normal early school behaviour or should I be concerned?

[suwoo]

My DD started yr1 this year and this is her 3rd year at the school. I don't normally answer these threads, as the only qualification I have is as a mum and that is pretty subjective. I do feel that perhaps not knowing her numbers would be more worrying than some of the other things you mention. In DD's class, I think all of the children are now able to recognise the sounds/letters. I hope someone more knowledgeable will come along. Good luck.

[haggisaggis]

Thanks Su - I also have a 7 year old ds but he has always got on fine so dd is very different!

[geekgirl]

what do the school say? have you had a proper sit-down meeting with the class teacher and maybe the SENCo to discuss your concerns? They do after all have rather a lot of experience of 5 year olds.

Oh, and one more thing - are you confident that she is hearing fine? Poor hearing can have all sorts of knock-on effects.

[Baffy]

Could you arrange a meeting with her teacher to talk through your concerns?

Teacher is probably best placed to give you an indication of whether there is a real problem.

My ds is only 2 so I'm not much use with advice from my own experience!

What I would say though is you're her mum, you know her best, and you should go with your gut instinct on this. If you're concerned, even just slightly, then talk to the teacher and see what she suggests.

[haggisaggis]

I have spoken to teh teacher. Think they are slightly concerned and will get the learning support teacher to take a look. It is a VERY small school so I think they don't always see a wide range of ability. I just don't know if it is normal - and she is just a bit slow and may catch up- or whether there is an underlying problem.
Have had her ears checked and hearing is fine.

[suwoo]

Hi Haggis, Maybe its a good thing that its a small school as she might get the help that she needs, which she might not get in a large inner city school. I would keep pushing them because as other posters have said, I think we know when we are right as parents. I don't mean this in a scary way, but my nephew has just been diagnosed with autism at 7 after being continually labelled as a bit slow . Please don't think I am presuming to suggest anything like that is happening with your daughter, but it seems some schools can be quick to play the 'bit slow will catch up' card.

[haggisaggis]

su - thanks - definitely don't think she's autistic - but wondering about dyslexia - but don't know if it can be diagnosed at this stage. She ticks quite a few boxes!

[geekgirl]

I agree with su - you should push for action as you are concerned. The school has access to educational psychologists etc. who could come out to see your dd.
IME the more you pester (in a nice way) the quicker things get done.

[PeachyCosmicExplosion]

Dyslexia is a valid concern, its about memory and organisational skills as much as words etc in many children.

What amde me hmm and answer is the bit about her getting extra work. She is 5, what she shoudl be receiving is extra SUPPORT. Over loadinga child already strugling with extra work will not help matters in the least ime (I have a 7 year old who cannot read etc as an auxialliary issue to HFA).

[haggisaggis]

Peachy - she is not bothered about the extra work - in fact she enjoys it - but am concerned about her poor memory (which is what made me look at dyslexia. She ticks a few other boxes too) But she is only 5. So I don't know whether she is simply slow - so more repetition etc will help. The dyslexia websites seem to only deal with older children. I will keep at teh school (who are very good by the way).

[PeachyCosmicExplosion]

Inour school they creen all kids for dyslexia in year 1, but a few get missed because of their young age.

Maybe post a specific thread about Dyslexia as there are organisations out there that can help with a test?

[haggisaggis]

That's interesting - I just assumed they'd need to eb older before it would be obvious. I'll discuss it with the school. Thanks