Advice on helping a yr4 to catch up please

[Mykindofmum]

My ds is yr4, summer born. Always been behind with lots of things from speech to getting dressed, sleep, confidence. He really is a lovely boy,, every teacher he's had has spoken so highly of him but he takes a bit longer to 'get' things. He's quite sensitive and anxious but he wants to do well.

He has caught up beyond recognition really, and is now at expected levels for maths, he's a fluent reader, he does well in spelling tests, has a good vocabulary. However he's still quite behind in written work in terms of general spelling, using punctuation and grammar, handwriting. He seems to struggle copying words down but does well at unscrambling spellings.

I think I know what I need to do, getting him to read, practise spellings, I'm giving him sentences and getting him to add in the full stops and capital letters, handwriting practise.

Any other tips or resources appreciated. Has any experienced similar and had their child catch up?

I wasn't too worried but I'm beginning to, don't want him going into secondary school in a few years still struggling.

Hello, I would say that it’s very common for a child in Year 4 to not fully grasp all the grammatical rules and spelling patterns etc. I find that these areas ‘click’ for most children when they get to Year 6 onwards. Many children can understand the rules; for example, when to use a full stop or capital letter; however when it comes to applying that knowledge in their independent writing, they often forget. It is not important to them. Instead, the storyline is more important.
I find getting a child to proof read their own work often and editing their writing is a useful task. As long as it’s fun. You don’t want it to be boring. Give out rewards- stickers etc. Lots of praise.

In terms of resources, there is Twinkl.
https://www.twinkl.co.uk

Also, a lot of the children in many schools now use Atom Learning. It’s an online platform with multiple choice questions in maths, English (grammar, comprehension…), verbal reasoning etc. The children really enjoy it. They get points, and your child can see their progress on the dashboard. You can view it as well. I would highly recommend introducing your son to this. He could begin with English- grammar. You can set and customise the work for him. It has everything on there. The maths is great too.

https://atomlearning.com

I hope that helps.

CGP books are very helpful and used examninja.co.uk which have bundles according to year group.

I would use Twinkl, the natural curriculum (Google), maybe Nessy, the Hamilton Trust, Mrs Wordsmith and the night zookeeper. Some of these are free. There's also Teachers pay teachers which has a free bit. CpG books are great but dry.

And atom is sooo expensive! Probably not needed at this stage.