Advice please - normal behaviour for a 5yr old ?

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Ds (5.6) has just started yr1. He has always struggled with change, mostly in the form of not listening,fidgeting, pushing/bumping into and hitting other children(especially in queues and when on the carpet) This tends to settle down but never goes away completely. He is academically very bright, and his reception teacher praised his concentration skills once he had settled to work - he is dedicated to finishing whatever he starts. He is quite sensitive and responds fantastically to positive praise.

Had a meeting today with his new teacher who fairly quickly said 'So DS obviously has low attention...'to which I replied 'you are the first person to actually verbalise that'

I'm just not sure if he is just adjusting to another new class, or if there is a geniune underlying problem -if so we would like to address it as soon as possible.

Sorry for the long post, if anyone has any experience of this I would be most grateful.I did also post this in the special educational needs area - not sure which is most approriate.

please - does anyone have any experience of this? I am working myself up into a complete panic about it all

Ds started in year 1 this week. His teacher's assessment of the entire class is they all need to work on their listening and they all have appalling handwriting. Sounds normal to me.

How long has your son been in this teacher's class? Long enough for the teacher to make an accurate judgement?

I would ask them exactly that .. 'Do you see this as a real problem that is affecting his learning?". If so, then ask for a meet with the SECNCO and they will observe or get an outside resource in to assess your ds. Firstly, make sure he is hearing properly and lots of other things can help the hyper side ie: additive free/low sugar diet, fish oils etc.

thanks for the replies - he had been in the class for 3 days when she requested the meeting, and 5 when we actually met. I had repeated chats with his reception teacher, and whilst he had problems with settling, and with his behaviour towards other children she completely reassured me that these incidents where actually few and far between. That there was nothing to worry about. I am now wondering whether a handover occured, and that she had concerns that she didn't voice to us.

In nursery we had his hearing tested as his teacher then said that the way in which he was reacting to the other children was as if he couldn't hear - he did have an awful cold at the time, and the hearing test was fine.

His diet is good -mostly additive free, some fish but am considering supplements

My son's diet was good (so I thought)- then tests revealed he reacted badly to milk - dairy , citrus fruit, cereal -bread/ red meat (non organic)...

Mrz can I ask what prompted you to get your ds tested regarding any intolerance's ?

My son was born prem and had a number of problems and I'd questioned his development especially his lack of sleep from being very young. A friend's son was taking part in the research into diet linked to Autism and suggested I ask for a referral.

Thanks. Do you feel the changes you made to his diet have helped him?

On a gluten and casein free diet he is a different boy able to concentrate for longer periods and sleeping for hours rather than minutes a night.

interesting - I have just been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, although I thought I was coelic prior to the diagnosis. Still don't seem to be able to tolerate gluten however. Ds does not have any obvious signs of food intolerance - Have many good things about concentration and fish oils. Will try this tack first, with more outdoor time where possible!