Reception school report says DS lacks concentration which is affecting his progress. It's true, but how can I help him?

[Corriewatcher]

Just received DS's first report at the end of Reception. On the scale points side of things, he has achieved 8 out of a possible 9 points for each area, except for the one area about concentration. Yet, throughout the report, the comments are all about how he struggles to concentrate and is capable of so much more.(Eg "He has struggled to maintain concentration in all areas of the curriculum which has affected his progress...It is often quite challenging to keep him focused on the job in hand...)

At home, he is a typical 5 year old "space cadet" who can appear away with the fairies some of the time, yet who can also concentrate for ages over a 100 piece jigsaw, will read simple books to himself, or spend ages on art projects. At the previous parents evening, his teacher told me he wasn't great at concentrating, and I've seen myself when helping out at class that he is easily distracted. I just wasn't aware of the full extent of the problem. I'm concerned that in Yr 1 they might not be so tolerant with him. He's a sensitive soul and would be greatly upset if continually pulled up for being distracted.

At the parents evening last term, I asked his teacher how I could help his concentration. She didn't really have any ideas, saying that it wasn't that he couldn't concentrate but that he actively chose not to concentrate if he wasn't interested in something. At home, he is in bed for 1930 each night and generally sleeps well. He also has a good diet.

Does anyone have any ideas of how we could help him? The school is a good school, but its popularity means class sizes of 30. Was wondering if a private school with small class sizes might be better for him. But I don't want to get ahead of myself in my panic! So grateful for any advice.

My sister had this exact same issue with my nephew - school kept saying his concentration was poor when he was 3/4/5

Actually, he was bored stupid by the moronic things he was expected to do and so couldn't focus on them. My nephew is a very bright child indeed. Everything got a lot better once he had learned to read fluently and was at proper school.

Watching as I fear we will have the same sort of comments on the report we receive next week!

Although, his scores are high- is it a possibility that he is bored? i.e. he knows it so doesnt HAVE to concentrate?

xpost Bonsoir!

My dd is very much like this, but unfortunately I don't have any great tips - and she's now in yr 2! She had glue ear on and off for a while which didn't help, but even now she has grommits, the concentration issue is still there.
Your ds sounds like a fairly typical 5 yo boy though, they can expect so much of v young children these days!

Just read some of your post again - judging by his high scores and ability, you may find he does better in yr 1. My dd has always struggled with school work!

Is this one of those unhelpfully euphemistic reports? The snippets you've quoted sound to me like a complaint about his behaviour rather than a concern about his ability to concentrate. Do the school operate a reward system? What are they trying to do to encourage him to do as he is told?

Ways to help a child concentrate - difficult!
Nagging does not seem to help.

In class, ensure that any tasks are crystal clear, eg get child to repeat back what the task is. Make sure task is within child's competence. Pay attention to length of task. Check who child is sitting next to. Often proximity of adult or a child who is not so easily distracted helps. Reward systems can be instigated. Putting a good spin on tasks that may not be attractive to child helps.

Parent has no control over these matters, so it is down to teacher to manage. Parent can't keep child on task by remote control.

Many thanks for the comments. Woke up early thinking about DS's report, so came on MN to get your advice.

I think I will ask his teacher about some sort of reward system, although realistically with the end of term looming nothing much is going to happen until Year 1.

Next year, he will have 2 job-sharing teachers, with one who has a reputation for being quite sharp with little boys with short attention spans. My fear is that a year of being told off could turn him against school. This teacher taught my DD two years ago, so I think I'll try and have an early chat with her too.

It could always be that Year 1 suits him better. On the bright side, he has shown better concentration in more academic areas such as phonics.

DS is in year 2 and a terrible fidget. If it's any consolation the school thinks it's not really an issue till year 3. Not sure what we're going to do in September, but I think you have a little time!

I think this is a problem that will sort itself out.
Ds is a boy who couldn't concentrate yet he could sit and read a book for an hour - he just really wasn't ready for the type of learning the school offered.
He absolutely hates carpet time, the teacher used to rabbit on for bloody ages - so during carpet time he daydreamed and made up stories in his head to keep himself entertained, otherwise he said he'd get terribly bored and fidgety - which he'd then get told off for. Audio learning really isn't one of his strengths (or mine). He misses a lot of instructions...but he's interested in learning so he'll often come home and ask me to go over the things he's missed.
Year 1 was his worst year, as he had an academically pushy teacher, he found it incredibly dull as he still wanted to learn through play and therefore he was less engaged & his ability to concentrate was poorer than usual...Year 2 was infinitely better.
As he matures he is developing his own coping mechanisms to plug the gap and he can often read the instructions he's missed.

he is young he is only in reception and playing much more should be fun - ask the teacher why they think he is not concentrating? But really don't worry until they get to year 2 they shouldn't be worrying about their little minds wandering

He is 5. I teach in year 1 at the moment and most of my class can't concentrate for long. Some can focus on a task for ages, but most can't.

Children develop all of their skills at different rates and concentration is one. I try to manage my classroom so that easily distracted children are not put together and break up their activities with short bursts of something completely unrelated (a quick physical shake up or game).

I still have children who struggle to concentrate going into year 2, but there are fewer than at the beginning of the year. It is a matter of growing up and being engaged.

The posters above are right. There is nothing you can do about this and it sounds as though he can concentrate when a task interests him, so really it's down to the teacher to engage him. I doubt there is anything wrong with him at all.

I don't agree with the posts saying not to worry. These little folk who are inattentive miss a lot of what is going on. In classrooms where there is little repetition, and nowadays there may not be much time for repetition with an overcrowded curriculum, then stuff will go over their heads, and their more attentive classmates will be forging onwards.
Whatever is said about individualised or differentiated curricula, common sense must tell any parent that this is a tad unrealistic in large classes. Good heavens it's hard enough to differentiate in a large family. There are occasions when everyone has to do the same thing, or at least listen to the same instructions. Schools could not function otherwise.

Having said that, I would have thought that most schools have plenty of play provision for little kids and it's unlikely the teacher would take the trouble to comment if it were not already a problem. A child who is distractible does not suddenly become attentive just by virtue of moving up to Y1.
With some children it is a case of maturity, with others it is a behaviour pattern that needs to be modified for school success.

I do agree carpet time can be a nightmare for lively children, and these times can go on for far too long!

Malaleuca - very interesting posts, thank you!

malaleuca - you seems really concerned about the school rather than the children, a schools success will happen when the understand the chidlren that they are teaching - not the other way around.

if the shcools are unabel to get all the children to listen to commands and can't function due to this - then they need to think about taking a later intake at 5 rather than 4, or at leat taking the child when they are more mature and not so young that they can't listen to instructions.

Corriewatcher - please try not to worry too much, he is only 5 and in our day would not have been in school most of this year if at all. May be worth chatting about what he's actually done in a day. Foundation Stage should involve a lot of learning through play and activity, if this is not what's on offer it's not surprising that he's fidgety.

Find some stuff on learning style on google and, I guess, you will discover he is a kinasthetic learner so he needs to be moving around. It is the teachers job to offer learning in different ways, and when this doesnt happen it's almost always boys that are turned off school. So have a chat, explain what you know about him, and ask that he (and the other kids in his class) have regular short bursts of sitting down stuff, combined wih movement.

My DSS is a very kinasthetic learner and I've helped him at home with stuff that he struggles with at school.For example, we've done times tables by schouting the table to each other while throwing and catching the ball, and act out his stories before he writes them for homework.He is 9 and still struggles to sit still for long. He has been very lucky in that teachers have accomodated this (with encouragement from me and his dad!).

ivykaty44 - I think malaleuca's posts were eminently fair to both school and pupils. Schools operate under an awful lot of constraints that are quite beyond their control, and it is always worthwhile recognising what those constraints are.

Thanks all for taking the trouble to reply - I'm most grateful.

The school does already seem to be doing a lot of what is recommended. It has a policy of 50% of learning taking place outside, so they spend a lot of time doing activities in the school woods etc along with the inevitable carpet time. They do try to team children up with those less easily distracted. Yet I was helping out at a Lego workshop for reception the other day, and even though Lego is right up his street, DS couldn't stop swivelling round on his bottom or tapping his friends during the 5 minute chat at the beginning even when a TA did go and sit right behind him!

So I think I will have a chat with the teacher and ask about a reward system for him. I've had some success with one recently so that he now generally gets dressed reasonably quickly without being sidetracked into having an impromptu craft party at 0815 in the morning. I find the teacher approachable, and at the very least, she'll know that I'm concerned too. As Maleleuca says, if this continues, he's going to miss out on some vital learning, especially in maths, which he'll need to progress later on.

This issue has also prompted me into thinking about how we treat DS. He is immature for his age, and we do let him be the "baby of the family" and to hide behind his older sister a bit. I'm not about to sign him up for Gordonstoun or anything, but I've got him to agree to go along to a taster session for a marital arts club the school will run next term (he's only ever been to things his sister was already attending).I'm also going to try and give him little chores (eg setting the table)to help him feel a bit more grown up.

So thanks everyone once again.

Don't worry. (yet).

However, have you tried Omega 3 oil? It really does help some children. It helps with my DS's stress.... And I belive it is also recommended for concentration.

I would suggest: no TV before school, walk to school (or at least part of the way) and Omega fish oils. Also make sure he has a healthy breakfast, lots of complex carbohydrates, no sugar rush. Do make sure he drinks enough.

Try to get him to do 5-10 minutes of concentrating on one task over the summer, just to practice.

I would also watch his diet. Is there anything which co-insides with him being particularly distractable? For my son Orange juice was an issue.

Don't fret. Boys do need to wriggle, my DCs school makes them all go for a run if they've been sitting still too long e.g. after assembly. It helps massively.

Good luck!

You sound like your describing my DD this time last year!! Omega 3 is brilliant in my opinion when i forget to buy and DD has a couple of days off i can see a difference when we do reading time after school. DD has gone from not being able to finish a page in a simple book to being able to concentrate on attempting to read Rainbow Fairies (chapter type books!!) During Yr 1 the school have made some adaptations to her learning - she knows now that she must always sit nearer the teacher at circle time so they can notice of she doesnt concentrate or listen. She has short active listening sessions e.g practising responding to complicated instructions etc. She does still wander off in class/during tasks and is easily distractable but I know thats part of her and her personality . I think the imp.ortant thing to make sure the school is adapting their teaching to include your son