Normal or should I be seeking SEND help? Yr7, needs to be walked through all homework that involves research.

[deliapith]

I'm tearing my hair out right now. DS is 11, and in yr7. At primary he was working at "as expected" level for everything, but was ahead for reading. In yr5 and 6 his distractibility became more apparent, and his teacher started to put some strategies in place. But then COVID hit so he has spent limited time back in formal schooling prior to starting secondary. Home schooling was very hard, tasks took hours that should have taken 30mins. But his teachers then said he was doing fine, better than a lot of kids. And we were in unknown territory.

He's had three research type pieces of homework since September in English.He also has worksheets and quizzes for maths, science etc. With those he's ok, can struggle to get started but then gets on with it.

He hasn't a clue where to start with research. He might type the question into Google, but can't really read and interpret what the answers are ie what is actually useful information, and where to go from there. And because he struggles, he has no motivation and gets bored so gets distracted.

I try to run the fine line of giving him some directions to get him going, and actually telling him what to write, I can give him really clear suggestions and 'tips', I still get "I dunno". I kind of expect that once we've got the ball rolling so to speak he can then get on with it to a point, but if I leave and then come back half an hour later, we'll be lucky if he's done one more sentence. It's absolutely excruciating.

I've explained about making a plan, thinking about the main things he wants to find out, to write about. Falls on deaf ears. I try to get him to explain what is difficult, what he gets stuck on. He can't, other than "it's boring"

Now, I have a diagnosis of ADHD that I got as an adult. I'm convinced he has it too, but I know he's no where near the threshold of getting a referral to CAMHS. But then maybe Its because I have no experience of an 11yo boy who's not that into school (I was a really good student, the idea of not doing my best would have horrified me). I'm going to email his English teacher to ask for support and suggestions, of course.

So what should I do? It's really early days in year 7 but if he doesn't develop these skills now then he's going to HUGELY struggle as things get harder and there's more pressure. I want to be understanding but he just is let giving me the impression that he cares so I just start to feel cross, which is the complete opposite of what I should be feeling.

Help!

Heya
I only have five minutes but I did want to respond to you. Perhaps you need to have a meeting with his teacher in order to discuss your concerns. Make a complete list of your concerns, then phone for a appointment to talk. Also request a autism assessment if you are really sure he does have it.

I'm a secondary teacher with 19 years experience.

It's really common for year 7s to struggle with research. Googling is not a great way to conduct research. When I set (geography) hw for research I usually attach a list of useful (age friendly) websites and a structure like a fact file template or list of questions.

Research is a learnt skill, I would suggest the teachers need to be teaching strategies. Setting research with no guidance is lazy hw tbh. For kids who may find it hard to get on with tasks (also very common in year 7s, especially boys) it's unlikely to be of any benefit to them and most kids will turn in some copy and pasted paragraphs that mean absolutely nothing to them.

@languagelover96

Heya I only have five minutes but I did want to respond to you. Perhaps you need to have a meeting with his teacher in order to discuss your concerns. Make a complete list of your concerns, then phone for a appointment to talk. Also request a autism assessment if you are really sure he does have it.

ADHD, not autism.

@frazzledfragglefromfragglerock

I'm a secondary teacher with 19 years experience.

It's really common for year 7s to struggle with research. Googling is not a great way to conduct research. When I set (geography) hw for research I usually attach a list of useful (age friendly) websites and a structure like a fact file template or list of questions.

Research is a learnt skill, I would suggest the teachers need to be teaching strategies. Setting research with no guidance is lazy hw tbh. For kids who may find it hard to get on with tasks (also very common in year 7s, especially boys) it's unlikely to be of any benefit to them and most kids will turn in some copy and pasted paragraphs that mean absolutely nothing to them.

Thanks! That's just it, I have no idea if he's been given strategies, ideas of websites etc. His books stay at school. All I've got is his interpretation of) the very brief instructions. And copying and pasting is exactly what he's done. I tried SO hard to try and help him understand it, interpret it, but I really don't have the skills time or patience!

@languagelover96 but thanks. I will be writing an email documenting my concerns.

We have an online hw portal so I can post all the guidance and links on there. Does his school not have similar? If he's still writing it down then perhaps he needs help making sure it's recorded properly.

@frazzledfragglefromfragglerock

We have an online hw portal so I can post all the guidance and links on there. Does his school not have similar? If he's still writing it down then perhaps he needs help making sure it's recorded properly.

One of the ongoing frustrations with the school, which lots of parents have complained about, is that different teachers use different ways of recording homework tasks. So, some (hardly any) are on Teams, and others are just read out in class and the kids note them down, usually not in much detail, and sometimes in a completely random part of the planner that bears no relation to the date it was set or is due in . I'd love it all to be recorded in full detail consistently on an online portal...

My son has inattentive ADHD and presented like this

@bambooelectrictoothbrushhead

My son has inattentive ADHD and presented like this

Thanks. When did he get diagnosed? As I said in my OP I really don't know what is "normal" and what's not. I know ADHD has a really strong genetic link and I see so much of me in him BUT I don't want to pathologise something that's just him being 11! I really worry that he'll be one of those children that cope just enough for the school not to take it further, so end up falling way short of his full potential. I didn't really start to sink until I went to uni (but even then it was another 20yrs till I finally found out why life was so bloody hard), but (I'm saying this kindly) I think I'm brighter than him which helped my through my early years.

I think many teachers massively underestimate the time needed on research tasks. At age 11 they haven't got the necessary skills to speed read and quickly reject pages.
Personally I'd point him at relevant pages, it is such a waste of everyone's time otherwise. He can practice research skills on stuff he is interested in.

I have to say that my bright older teens still struggle with research type questions. Google is great, but they never seem to have been taught how to go about filtering out the rubbish websites.

At that age, teacher's really should be giving guidance as to which websites to use for open ended research.

Year 7s are usually hopeless at research. They need really strong scaffolding and even then, they'll spend 90% of their time choosing the transitions for their PowerPoint! A good book is Smart But Scattered.

I have had some success being very directive, dividing the task into little bits and then telling them the question last! E.g. find out X and write 1-3 sentences explaining it. Find out Y, ditto. Reveal question - write 1-3 sentences introducing the topic (I give sentences to pick from or they can write their own). Write a conclusion (ditto). That breaks it down for the ones without the skills yet while allowing those with the skills to write more sophisticated stuff.

@Phineyj

Year 7s are usually hopeless at research. They need really strong scaffolding and even then, they'll spend 90% of their time choosing the transitions for their PowerPoint! A good book is Smart But Scattered.

You've met my Yr7 DD!!! They have no idea how to research or revise

Yes! We need to teach them!! I am actually a sixth form Economics specialist but get deployed to do Y7 History and Geography from time to time. I have found the methods I used with my sixth formers work very nicely with 11-12 year olds if suitably adapted. One day I will finally get a y12 on my course who I had for y7, and I will be living the dream .

His teacher should have given him a website to look at (say BBC Bitesize) A general Google will probably have Wikipedia as the first link and my kids were told in primary that Wikipedia was unreliable so to never use it. Does he know to add "ks3" or "kids" to his search so the results are easier to understand? And to keep try another link if the website is difficult to understand?

DD is in Yr7. I don't have any reason to be worried about her academically but she cannot do research for the simple reason that she doesn't know where to and the internet means there is just too much available. It was much easier in the 80s when you went to the library and copied out the same page of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica!
The most useful thing is to direct them to a good website in the first place. As a PP has said, this might be Bitesize. If it's not as clearly signposted as being for their age group than that, I skim the various pages until I find one of which I think is suitably detailed and then DD starts from there. Otherwise, she starts with something far too detailed and has covered pages of her exercise book, spent ages and got really bored and demotivated before she's even got to the seminal points of, for example, the person's life. I also check in with her to make sure she hasn't gone off at a random tangent.