Child struggling to concentrate in class

[Unicornshorn]

My daughter is nearly 10 and in primary 5 (Scotland), about to go into primary 6. She is July birthday and obviously missed quite a lot of primary 1 due to lockdown. She is a fairly confident reader and handwriting and spelling have really improved but she is struggling more with maths. She is still in a group that gets some additional literacy support but we have been told that she is about to move into second level for this. The school don't have a learning support teacher for maths but she sometimes gets additional help from a pupil support assistant. At her last parent consultation I was asked to do some maths at home with her which I did and received feedback to say that things had greatly improved (we have only been doing this about 5 weeks). Since primary 1 we have been told that she also has trouble concentrating in class at times, but this hasn't seemed a significant issue and we have never had any additional discussion with school apart from at parent consultations. At the last consultation when I was asked to do some maths practice with her, the teacher said she was going to try some strategies to help her concentrate in class too and again feedback was that things had improved. However, last week I had a call from the head to say that they want to have a planning meeting for her because of the "issues in class with her focus". I was actually on the phone to my Mum at the time as my Dad is unwell but answered when I saw the school number. I think I was really taken aback as I thought things were going ok, so didn't really ask what I should have. I then emailed the next day to ask for more information about the key issues, who will be there etc but I haven't had a reply. I'm feeling really worried about it and I suppose bad that I should have been doing more to help her! At home she is fairly well behaved, sleeps well, her diet is getting more varied and she goes to a sports club and coding class where she focuses well. I don't know too much about ADHD but she doesn't seem to fit, perhaps on the inattentive side but I'm still not sure about that. She is in a very big class and we have been called quite a few times in the last month or so about her being hurt by a disregulated child. I think that's why I'm upset too as the only time we hear from school is about stuff like that and now a meeting has been called about my child and I don't really know why. I do think she can't grasp maths concepts very well, but I don't know what's going on really. She doesn't seem able to tell me just that she finds her class noisy and distracting but she does find the work hard sometimes too. We are thinking about getting her a private tutor although I've suggested this to school quite a few times over the years to be told that they don't think she needs it. I just feel if she could get a better grasp of key concepts she would feel more confident. Any advice or similar experience as to what could be going on would be great.

Sounds positive that school are being proactive as a) secondary school is likely to amplify the effects of any issues and b) special needs of girls often get missed.

Yes it is positive I suppose and there's no point in me guessing what they're going to say I just need to go and see. It's just frustrating that I feel we have had mixed messages and could have perhaps been doing more to help her. She doesn't ever get homework so it's been hard to gauge how she's doing. I would have expected some additional communication from school before now if there were more serious concerns and certainly before calling a Child Planning Meeting. I've always thought that since her reading and writing seem to be at a fairly good standard that dyslexia would not be a possibility but having read more about it I'm now wondering about that too.

It will potentially take a long time for assessments to take place (if indicated and you consent to a referral). In the meantime, if school are planning and considering admitting her onto the SEND register, she will have more rights and more structured support, including in transitioning to secondary, and there will be more evidence available to inform any assessment. So that really is all positive.

Sometimes kids just have differences where it is not so much a case of 'closing a gap' to make them 'normal', and more a case of adjusting the environment so they can thrive on their own terms.

Try not to worry or second guess outcomes. Having supportive professionals on the case is at least 50% of the battle.

Thank you, that is a good way of looking at it. I am grateful that she is on their radar now, that's the main thing. I think I just feel guilty in some way for not realising but what's important now is that we are open to doing whatever we can to help her thrive.

Lots of high achieving people have ADHD, should that be what you are dealing with. And there's a hole debate about medication, but it is effective for 70-80% of people. You might find this of interest in respect of women and girls.

https://www.adhdfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Women-With-ADHD-Call-To-Action.pdf

*whole

Thanks again, that is really useful and I actually have a female friend who is on the waiting list for ADHD assessment but has found the process a real struggle so she might like to read it too.

It is good the school has noticed DD needs more support. The child’s planning meeting will ensure DD gets the support she needs. If you haven’t already, it is worth looking at Enquire’s website beforehand. Has DD ever had an ed psych assessment?

Hi there, thanks for your reply. The meeting was very supportive and they are wondering about processing difficulties as the main issue is that she struggles to stay on track with tasks, for example reading or listening to a passage then answering questions. Although she is a confident reader it seems that there are other issues which might be dyslexia, they will speak to support for learning first for more insight then take it from there. While that is going on I will try to do more research and also observe things closely at home.