DD just finished her first year of primary school; at the start of the academic year she absolutely LOVED school. She was so so so excited not just to make friends but she’s was really excited to learn too. However; it quickly became apparent that her attention span isn’t all that great.
She not naughty at school; but she lacks focus severely - They’ll sit and do their phonics and DD get distracted by absolutely anything around her. She gets distracted during tidy up time which then lands her in trouble for not tidying.
It became such an issue that it’s made her not enjoy going to school anymore; she’s told me she tries to be good and to listen but her brain doesn’t let her and she doesn’t know why. She said she doesn’t like going to school anymore because she is always being told off for not concentrating or listening.
towards the end of the term they were doing more 1-1 with her which helped a little bit; and they have a specific room where they take children with additional educational needs. We’ve queried whether she might have ADHD and the school in all fairness have been absolutely brilliant in not just brushing it off; we of course won’t be able to go for a diagnosis of any kind before she is 6-7 years old, but they’ve put provisions in place and have said that they will put whatever provision in place that are needed to help her, regardless of any diagnosis. Which has helped me and my worries.. but obviously DD doesn’t quite understand and just thinks she’s naughty.
I do see similar behaviour at home too, she’s very easily distracted, very all over the place. She can be so so helpful, so kind and she is well aware of how to behave. But I watch her sometimes while she doing a task I’ve asked her to do, like tidy up, or throw something in the bin.. and she’ll be in the middle of said task and something will catch her attention that just pulls her away. It can be literally anything.
if anyone’s seen the movie up; she literally remind me of Doug when he sees/hear a squirrel 🤣 like she’s just zapped away from whatever she was doing.
but anyway; there’s obviously a lot of posts up from groups I’m apart of, friends and mums from her class asking about how everyone first year has gone and reading so many posts about how the children are absolutely loving school and thriving has just made my heart sink a little bit as I’m desperate for her to enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy school as a kid and I promised I would do everything I possibly could to make sure my kids didn’t feel the way I did and I just feel like I’m failing her already just a year in.
How can I help her? I feel a bit lost I’m not even sure what advice I’m expecting.