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Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

Dyslexic dd struggling with concentration

2 replies

user1471536308 · 10/06/2019 18:12

Our Summer born y4 dd has struggled with academic work since reception, this continued and on the suggestion of the school we had her tested for dyslexia. This came back positive, however it also showed her underlying ability was very high.

She has had a lot of intervention and this has helped hugely with her reading, and her reading age is now in line with her age.
She is continuing to have difficulties with Maths. We have decided to begin outside tutoring to hopefully bring her up to the expected standard.

Our main issue is her total lack of concentration or focus in all aspects of her life. Her teachers say she talks continually, and often is so deep in her own thoughts they have to repeat her name many times to get her attention.

She loses items all the time and has no idea where they might be, or even remember that she needs to look after her possessions. No amount of incentive or reward or indeed sanctions seem to help with this, it seems to be almost like it is out of her control.

I have often thought she has the inattentive version of adhd, unfortunately we were refused an assessment after my gp referred us as they thought she didn’t meet the level of need.

Luckily she has maintained excellent mental health in the midst of all this, she is aware she is one of the bottom in the class but this doesn’t seem to upset her, she also absolutely loves school and socialising with her friends. She is also excellent at art and a lovely singer and piano player.

She has lots of great qualities and I know she will do well in life, but I want to make sure we do everything we can to get her the best results at school.

Has anyone had a child like this, any tips?

OP posts:
bpisok · 15/06/2019 14:37

I noticed you didn't get any replies so thought I would chip in.

Yes, sounds like my daughter - couldn't concentrate, slid off chairs always looked like she wasn't concentrating and didn't always look at you (but she was listening it just didn't show). Very dyslexic and couldn't read fluently until she was about 9. As she got older hated being bottom set (she's clever so resented it) and worked her socks off to prove everyone wrong. Each class teacher gave her something to fiddle with (blue tack, fiddle cubes, paper clips) and that helped a bit.

Martial arts helped - lots of concentration required. But the mains thing was support, encouragement and a 'give it your best shot' approach to life.

Now in year 12 doing A Levels with an academic scholarship and her sights set on the top Unis....still has bad bad spellings and doesn't always look at you in the eye (unless she is trying very hard) So don't worry just keep motivating her
Oh and going for a black belt in the martial art she has been doing for 10 years 😀

user1471536308 · 15/06/2019 16:36

Thank you for your reply bpisok, your post has made me feel a lot better. I will keep the encouragement up, and also make sure she has the extra curricular clubs going as she really enjoys doing well there.

Hopefully things will improve at school as she matures.

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