was anyone else's dc a fair way behind when in yr 2? did they catch up?

[paddingtonbear1]

dd has always struggled at school, although she has no obvious SEN (according to the teachers). She just about got through reception ok, could do nothing academically before she started (she wasn't interested and we didn't push it). In yr 1 she just got left behind. In the end we changed her school and her current one is much better. She now has an IEP and extra help in class (mainly from the TA). Her teacher is great and says she is improving, but her concentration is still bad and she basically doesn't do well in large groups - too easily distracted! We've just seen her teacher who was very positive, and is trying to get dd to do the best she can within her abilities. It's great that they aren't just worried about national averages and targets, but there's no denying that dd is way below the national average at this point and isn't likely to catch up any time soon. I'm just wondering if this will cause problems later - we do help at home but we can't home ed her. Was anyone else's dc a fair way behind at this stage? Did they eventually catch up with the rest? dd is a July birthday and has always been young for age, which has made it worse re school!

Dd1 is an August birthday and was behind in year 2, only highlighted to me when we moved to a new area and therefore a new imo better school. She is now in year 6 and in the top sets for all her subjects, she's doing very well and is about to sit the 11 plus for grammar school entrance next year. Dd is shy and wasn't great at asking if she didn't understand, so the school worked on this as well as some one to one time with a TA. Good luck, it'll probably sort itself out - I worried like mad at the time, but wish I knew then what I know now.

The headteacher at the school where I'm a governor says that it takes until year 4 for the gap between the autumn-born and summer-born children to close. It's one reason why I think all children should be given the option to start school in September if they're ready - the summer-born children have the disadvantage of being younger and the disadvantage of missing a term's school.

Don't worry about the averages. It sounds really positive that your daughter has an IEP and is getting extra support.

Dd now 16 was a late bloomer so in year 2 sats she got 1c across the board in literacy and 2b in numeracy.
She moved then from infant school to junior school and I think the teaching methods suited her better. (pretty old school, lots of practise, ticks and crosses if you were wrong, rules and methods taught) In year 6 she got all level 5s.
She continued to achieve highly and last June left with 10 A and A* GCSEs.She is predicted to get all As in her A levels next year so the slow start didn't hurt her. She too is a summer baby.

My ds's dyslexia was missed and he was way behind in Y2. Help from TA made little impact. He began to get help from a specialist teacher in Y4 and came out with level 4/5's. Teachers are not always great at spotting SEN in girls. If I were you I would push for an assessment.

Thanks so much for your replies everyone - this is encouraging. I didn't realise it might take until yr 4 for summer borns to catch up but that does make sense. dd's old school catered more for the academically able from the off - they had no TA in yr 1, dd ended up just switching off totally and didn't learn much at all. So she's still trying to catch up with the basics really. She had glue ear for most of reception which has now cleared up, but she's still not great at listening. Her teacher wondered if she had a problem understanding instructions, but has been doing assessments at their resource centre and says dd does seem to understand. She has lots of great ideas in her literacy work apparently - just has trouble with the actual writing! It didn't help that dd's old school made them join up from the start of yr 1, and dd just wasn't ready - her writing has been pretty illegible since. Her reading is starting to come together though!

I noticed DD falling behind in Y2. She got just below the expected levels in her stupid SATS.
She continued to struggle through Y3 and beginning of Y4. She was then tested for dyslexia and came out with high indicators of dyslexia. So, we now had a reason as to why she was falling behind, so what did the school do? Nothing!

If you think there is a problem, don't let leave it. I did and I wish I hadn't. Perhaps she will naturally catch up, it is possible and that would be great. But make sure you keep on their case!

Thanks, I will keep an eye on it. She is fairly happy in the school, so that's something. Her teacher is good at praising her for every small step, but doesn't think she will catch up for some time yet - certainly not by the time she has to go to juniors. There's no question of keeping her down a year though - they really don't seem to like doing that.

Has she had her sight checked? My sister fell behind at school, her teacher said she wasn't concentrating, but the real issue was she could not see the white board properly.
Apart from this I really wouldn't worry too much.

yes her sight has been checked a couple of times, the optician said it was fine. We did go to audiology a few times as she had glue ear, but that seems to have cleared up now too.