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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

how to help DS not attention seek in Yr1?

28 replies

plus3 · 17/11/2009 17:54

oh where to begin....

WE have had on/off talks with DS teachers since reception. Mostly regarding his boisterious behaviour towards other children (reception) and now attention seeking behaviour in the form of making noises (humming, clicking his tongue etc) His teacher says that she ignores it, but he just gets louder, which is why she thinks he is attention seeking, rather than doing it absentmindedly.

She is also concerned that he is lying...told a story today about his friend spiting at him, when both boys challenged DS said he made it up. He couldn't tell me why he did this. He also apparently takes things to put in his draw.

He is also a major fidget, which no amount of asking him to sit still works.

She is concerned about his lack of eye contact - and that it can take him such a long time to complete a task.

At home he is busy, but can sit still. He does any homework (spellings or maths sheets) without incident, and we certainly don't seem to have a problem with eye contact. We have on several occassions spoken about lying...but mostly seems to be 'no I didn't do that' when we know he did.

Sorry for the long post. I just don't know what to do. DH and I are going to have another formal meeting with the school - the first one was suggesting he had poor levels of concentration....now they are suggesting it is all attention related.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

OP posts:

mrz · 17/11/2009 18:01

Has the school suggested any outside support?

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 18:04

yes, today. 'someone' to come in and observe him. But they they don't how long it will take , maybe upto a year???

Also, the teacher then played it all down by saying it could all be just the change from reception to yr 1 and by yr2 he will be used to the routine of school.

OP posts:

mrz · 17/11/2009 18:09

Personally I would ask who the "someone" is they want to observe

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 18:11

but if this referal takes a year to come through...what do we do until then?

OP posts:

mrz · 17/11/2009 18:18

It really depends on to what service the referral is being. Some are more "urgent" than others and in that case as a parent I would "nag" the powers that be.

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 18:22

I'm speaking to the teacher again tomorrow so will find out exactly who they want to refer him to.
Academicaly they are delighted with him, and seemed to be suggesting ways to maximise his potential for the 11 plus

OP posts:

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 18:26

sorry that was at parents evening.
Poor DS he's only 5 we have suggested that he is bored but fear we sound like deluded PFB parents who can't see the obvious staring us in the face.

OP posts:

PrettyCandles · 17/11/2009 18:29

This rings bells for me. I can't remember where I heard or read this, but I'm sure that particularly able children sometimes have great difficulty being still, particularly when they are trying to process a lot of multi-sensory information. The fidgetting can be a way of dealing with the over-stimulation. I will have a hunt around and see whether I can track this down. I think it may have been to do with hyper-sensitivity. Possibly at home there is less going on, so he is better able to concetrate, whereas in the classroom there is so much info to process that he struggles to filter it out.

It is also comnpletely normal for a very able child to deal with boredom by attention-seeking behavriou.

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 18:32

Prettycandles that would be wonderful. Thank you.

I just want to do something to help him.

OP posts:

PrettyCandles · 17/11/2009 19:32

This isn't it, but it may be useful to you.

MollieO · 17/11/2009 19:44

ADHD? Sounds like my ds (also 5) and we are going down the GP-community paed-child psychologist route as we speak. I have no idea if my ds does have ADHD but the symptoms fit some of his behaviour.

You can go down the GP route which will be quicker (our PCT has an 18 week deadline but have said that it will be a lot quicker than that). Not sure why it would take a year for someone (Ed Psych?) and observe.

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 19:51

I think it has to be present in both the home and school setting to be diagnosed as ADHD...he only jiggles about at some mealtimes but not all, no funny noises good eye contact etc. I do not have any serious issues with his behaviour at home.

OP posts:

MollieO · 17/11/2009 19:54

Sorry, I'm speaking out of my *rse. Ds's behaviour is very good at home and completely different at school and I've been trying to work out what is wrong with him. I've come to the conclusion that there is either something majorly wrong that I am completely missing or his teacher doesn't like him.

smee · 17/11/2009 19:58

Does he like school? Does he like his teacher? Was only wondering if he's uncomfortable there but doesn't know how to voice it, so the noises/ behaviour are about that.

mrz · 17/11/2009 20:17

MollieO I'm a SENco in a 250 place school with a high level of SEN and I'm allocated 16 hours EP time per year so I have to have a waiting list based on the most needy.

MollieO · 17/11/2009 20:32

mrz ds is at an independent school so we don't have any access to a LEA EP, hence the alternative route suggested by our GP.

The alternative to the (free) route my GP suggested is to pay for a private EP if there is no hope of a referral to the LEA EP in any reasonable time frame. I looked at this and it was about £400-500 to do that.

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 20:38

MollieO - I would love to know if there is something majorly wrong that I just can't see as well. He tells me that he likes both school and his teacher. He was being aggressive with some children at the beginning of the year but that has completely settled, but replaced by the noises etc. DH and I strongly stated that we felt that the aggression was a stress response to a new teacher/way of learning, which I'm not sure was completely taken on board.

I'm not sure his new teacher knows what to do...he is definately challenging her.

MRZ if he was refered to you as stated above what would you think....

OP posts:

MollieO · 17/11/2009 20:47

I'm interested to see what they suggest with your ds.

I feel a bit left in limbo as my ds's teacher has highlighted issues but done nothing to suggest ways of resolving.

He had a rocky start to Yr 1 (first couple of weeks he refused to do homework and bit two classmates). I think that his teacher's opinion was fixed at that stage and there is nothing he can do to change that.

She said she thought the SENCO should do the Aston Index test on him. I agreed and then she told me it can't be done until he is 5.5 (not until next term). In the meantime I've taken the initiative with the GP as I want to know if there are real issues with ds or whether it is more to do with his teacher. She told me she has never had a pupil like ds (and I don't think she meant that in a good way ). Unfortunately I found out today that his referral appointment with the community paediatrician is unlikely to come through before Christmas. I feel that we will have wasted a term by then.

Original poster

plus3 · 17/11/2009 21:00

I spoke to a psychologist friend at work who gave me a connors form to fill out (haven't done it yet but will) She also said that he sounded bored and that it was a school based problem. If it were to be ADHD, then it would involve techniques to improve his behaviour as he doesn't sound as if he would warrant medication.

Will google Aston index test.

I also feel that these issues are raised, but when you actually look at them it's not consistent. He had a 'bad' morning whilst learning about money, but absolutely fine in the afternoon with literacy. I spent some time in the evening on the money topic...it seemed he hadn't quite got what was being asked of him (probably because of the fidgeting) But he wouldn't ask for help in the classroom. I think that the teacher should maybe recognise this and jump in before the session is lost to bad behaviour.

OP posts:

mrz · 17/11/2009 21:20

plus3 I would never "diagnose" a child without spending time with them.

MollieO · 17/11/2009 21:47

mrz do you use the Aston Index? If so how useful do you find it as a diagnostic tool?

Original poster

plus3 · 18/11/2009 09:48

sorry mrz I wouldn't really expect you to. I just want to know what it is that we are dealing with.

OP posts:

mrz · 18/11/2009 18:48

MollieO no we don't use the Aston Index we use something called WISC-IV which is much more detailed.
plus3 sorry but what you describe could be a number of things (there is such an overlap between many conditions and even with the same diagnosis children can display totally different behaviour)or none of them which is why I would never suggest to a parent that their child may have "X" without lots of evidence to support the assessment.

MollieO · 18/11/2009 18:57

Thx mrz. We have parents' evening tomorrow and I think I will be following up that with a meeting with the SENCO. It is the form teacher who has suggested the Aston Index so it will be interesting to see what the SENCO suggests. It is helpful to know what else is out there as far as diagnostic tools go.

MollieO · 18/11/2009 19:00

Sorry mrz one more question. I see the WISC-IV measures processing speed amongst other things. Does the Aston index measure this (my googling hasn't revealed much of what it does do).

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