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Child Item

Possible learning difficulty?

trixychic

We had a parent teacher meeting with my 5yr olds teacher and she mentioned some problems he was having in school. Only with concentration, focus and following directions.

Now he is good for her, does as he is told, never fights, gets on great with the kids and is very good at his work. He is learning his words and maths really well.

She said her biggest problem is that he loses himself. He lacks concentration, focus and and struggles following through. Now he starts with the best intentions but just cant keep it up.

Ever since she mentioned it i have been noticing things at home. Now my mums side of the family is riddled with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other difficultys. so we realise that its a possibility that there could be something there. But i don't know what if anything it is. Any one have similar problems or have any advice?

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farmchoice

did the teacher say she thought he has a learning difficulty or that he would benefit from resource hours? if she didn't then i would not be too worried, if they think a child would benefit from resource hours they would usually start the process of getting them allocated and you would be involved.

if you are worried i would contact the teacher and ask her ''do you think there is a possible learning difficulty here that would benefit from resource hours''? then you will know.

trixychic

She Didnt really specify what she thought. She said she noticed he was struggling and wanted to get another teacher to sit in on the class to observe. I think she was afraid of what we were gonna say.

He is struggling though. He cant seem to get his work finished at all during class. When he is here at home we have to sit by him and keep reminding him to do his work. And it can still take a while.

Edited to add- it is a big class. 32 kids to 1 teacher. No assistant although there is an autistic boy in the class who has an SNA.

ariana`

My son is also in a class of 31 kids to 1 teacher, he's 5 and in Junior Infants. He is always getting distracted doing his homework but to be honest i kind of think this is normal enough at that young age when they are tired after a day in school and his little brother running around playing with toys doesn't help either. Every day in school his teacher hands them out a few sheets stapled together to work through, these are never finished, sometimes they aren't even half finished. I asked the teacher about this at his PT meeting and she felt it was her fault as she doesn't get to spend as much time with the JI as she'd like, she gives more attention to Senior Infants. So i'm not really considering it a problem for now as i can tell he's learning, his writing is improving and he's starting to read & spell words by sounding out the letters, and is really good at adding/subtracting.

Why don't you leave it a couple of weeks and check in with her again as to whether she ever got the other teacher to observe and then take it from there. But i wouldn't worry unnecessarily for now. School is a big adjustment for 4-5yr olds.

trixychic

It all has me confused. Surely she wouldnt say something unless she thought there was something there? She is very good and one of the favourite teachers of the parents.

And because learning difficulties are all over my family i am worried that there is something there. Id nearly rather go ott now than not and find out to late that there is something there.

My head is like a whirlpool at the minute. Nearly too many big things on my mind!

byhookorbycrook

Ok, Learning Support teacher.Yes, learning differences can run in families, but relax a little, even if he does have dyslexia, most educational psychologists won't diagnose it until a child is 8 as before that age, many children exhibit some dyslexia like traits even though they do not actually have dyslexia.

As to the teacher naming a particular learning difference, only a psychologist can actually say if a child has dyslexia, though the teacher knows in her heart and soul that the child does have it.

Get obvious things like hearing and iron levels checked. Does he sleep well? How is his diet? Is he spending a lot of screen time when he needs to be burning off energy and working on concentrating on tasks such as helping lay the table. sort socks, do jigsaws? Is he very young for his class? (Or even if not particularly young, immature- babyish?

If he is learning words well at this stage, I'd leave it at that for the moment, but keep in contact with the teacher. Children with dyslexia don't get resource anyhow , though if he had literacy issues he might get learning support down the lin

As to dyspraxia, how does he mange to write/colour/kick a ball/use sissors/cutlery/organise himself (at an age appropriate level?)

I think it's early days to be panicking, pm me if I can be of any use though.

Ideas for improving concentration:
f your child has some difficulties with concentration,why not try these fun games with them? They can be played anywhere, from the living room to the kitchen to the car, and they're great for long car trips. Plus, they help children learn to concentrate and focus. They may also help your child "become" smarter. Children who can concentrate better, can learn better.

Missing Numbers

This game is great for any child who can count. You count from one to ten (or one to twenty, depending on the age of the child), leaving out numbers every so often. When you leave out a number, the child should call out the number you left out. For example, you might go "One, two, three, five," and by the time you're saying "six", your child should have called out "four". (Don't stress if your child is consistently missing numbers. If, after you've said "six", the child hasn't called "four", playfully point out that they missed one, and start the game over. Leave out different numbers each time, of course.)

A tricky variation on this game for older children involves counting by multiples (for example, three, six, nine, twelve, etc.) and occasionally leaving out one of the multiples. Don't be surprised if this game is almost as difficult for you as for the child. Both of you will probably mess up many times over; that's all part of the fun. Laugh over it together, no matter which one of you messes up, and start over.

Opposites

This game is great for younger kids. You call out a word (hot, light, soft, etc.) and the child gives you the opposite. With young children especially, be sure to pick concepts they know. And remember that some words will have more than one opposite. If you say "happy", for example, the child may say "sad", or they may say "angry". Both choices would be right. They shouldn't say "excited", however.

Tongue Twisters

These include perennial favourites such as:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?

If Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

She sells seashells by the seashore.

The shells she sells are surely seashells.

So if she sells shells on the seashore,

I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

Red lorry, yellow lorry.

Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck

If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,

And chuck as much as a woodchuck would

If a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Betty bought some butter,

but the butter Betty bought was bitter,

so Betty bought some better butter,

and the better butter Betty bought

was better than the bitter butter Betty bought before!

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,

Fuzzy Wuzzy lost his hair

When Fuzzy Wuzzy lost his hair

He wasn't fuzzy,

Was he?

Here are some other games and activities designed to improve your child’s concentration. Remember to eliminate as much background noise, such as music, television, etc. as possible before starting these games. Also bear in mind that it’s not possible for a child to always sustain their focus and never be distracted, so start off with shorter, easier games and make them progressively longer and harder.

Tap a rhythmic pattern on the table top and get your child to repeat it.
Search for a letter, or word or picture on a book or magazine – commercial books and games are available for this but it can just as easily be done at home with everyday things.
Place some items on the table, let your child look at them for 30 seconds or so then cover them up and get your child to remember what was there. You can also take an item away and they need to look again and identify what was missing. Teach your child strategies to play this game, such as touching each item as they look at it or naming each item.
Build patterns with blocks of different colours and shapes and then scramble them up and ask your child to repeat the sequence. This can be done with picture cards, toy animals (for little children), paper shapes, etc.
Cut up a cartoon or comic strip and get your child to put them in the correct order. This can be done with pictures only for younger children. If the sequence they create is wrong, ask them to tell you the story as they may see the pictures differently but their story may make sense.
Play card games, such as pairs using pictures first then number cards.
Learn songs and rhymes.
Get your child to close their eyes and listen to all the noises they can hear and ask them to identify the noises – you could make a noise when they have their eyes closed for them to identify.
Read to your child daily and ask them questions about the story, either at the end or as you are reading.
Learn tongue twisters.
Play “Simon Says”.
Try playing the shopping game (‘I went to the shops and bought a loaf of bread’ the next person must repeat this and add one item to the list and so on).
Say the days of the week, months of the year, numbers or colours of the rainbow out of order and get your child to put them in the right order for you or leave out one of the words and they have to identify the missing word.
Show your child a picture for 30 seconds and then ask them to describe it to you in as much detail as possible.
Get them to look at a room and memorize where things are, send them away and move one object and they must come back and identify what was moved.

All of these games should be fun for you as well as for the child. Remember, keep them fun. You know that the child is learning concentration and developing important skills that will last them the rest of their life, but the child doesn't know that, nor should they. As far as you're concerned, this is playtime. Make the most of it.

byhookorbycrook

Skills to Help Develop Motor Skills
Choose suitable activities for your child's age. Please supervise the activities carefully.

1) Pick up and sort objects such as blocks, spools, coins, beans, marbles, cotton balls, pins, buttons, straws, nails, nuts, bolts, popcorn and place them into containers of varying sizes. (Egg cartons, cups, mugs, or jars etc.)

2) Pick up objects (blocks, cotton balls, counters, etc.) using tongs transferring them between containers

3) Stack objects

4) Screw and unscrew objects such as nuts and bolts, caps from jars

5) String beads onto a shoelace

6) Run a threaded needle through cloth

7) Fasten safety pins

8) Cut straight and curved lines/shapes drawn on paper, or cloth with scissors

9) Play the piano( or pretend to!

10) Type

11) Crumple paper in a small ball and then flick it with the index finger

12) Shuffle cards, deal cards one by one, turn cards over

13) Roll a pencil between thumb and fingers without dropping it

14) Knead dough

15) Stick small objects into play dough for him/her to pull out

16) Wind thread on a spool evenly

17) Put rubber bands around various size containers and objects

18) Use tweezers to pick up small objects

19) Move spoonfuls of small objects from one bowl to another

20) Do up buttons, zippers, or hooks

21) Tie shoelaces

22) Cut finger and toenails with clippers

23) Trace and copy letters

24) Do connect the dot puzzles

25) Solve mazes

26) Manually sharpen pencils

27) Use a manual can opener

28) Tie a box with string or ribbon

29) Put keys into locks to open doors

30) Put paper clips onto paper

31) Use a stapler

32) Remove staples with a staple remover

33) Place clothespins on the edge of a box or container

34) Play the tin-whistle!

35) Set a watch or clock

36) Pick up or move marbles using a melon baller. This could

be made into a game - i.e. take turns rolling a die. Whatever number turns up, pick up that number of "marbles" and place them into an egg carton.

37) Use Lego to form shapes, letters, numbers, and other designs.

38) Colour using the flat side of a crayon. Put paper over leaves, stencils, and other objects so that the child gets sensory feedback as s/he colours.

39) Make a matching game (pictures, letters, or numbers) using a coffee can and clothes pins. Have the child put the clothes pins on the rim of the can.

40) Use sprayer bottles filled with water and sponges to have the child "clean" a desk or table, then squeeze the excess water into a dishpan. This is a great pre-scissor skill activity.

41) Lace various sized beads. Any activity involving the use of both hands is good to develop bilateral integration.

42) Put money into a piggy bank.

43) Using eye droppers to "pick up” water for colour mixing or to make artistic designs on paper.

44) Rolling small balls out of tissue paper, and then gluing the balls onto construction paper to form pictures or designs.

45) Turning over cards, coins or buttons, without bringing them to the edge of the table.

46) Drawing in a tactile medium such as wet sand, salt, rice, or "goop". Make "goop" by adding water to cornstarch until you have a mixture similar in consistency to toothpaste. The "drag" of this mixture provides feedback to the muscle and joint receptors, thus facilitating visual motor control.

47) Attach a large piece of drawing paper to the wall. Have the child use a large marker and try the following exercises to develop visual motor skills: Have the child trace over your line from left to right, or from top to bottom. Trace each figure at least 10 times. Then have the child draw the figure next to your model several times.

48) Play connect the dots. Again make sure the child's strokes connect dots from left to right, and from top to bottom.

49) Trace around stencils - the non-dominant hand should hold the stencil flat and stable against the paper, while the dominant hand pushes the pencil firmly against the edge of the stencil. The stencil must be held firmly.

50) Attach a large piece of felt to the wall, or use a felt board. The child can use felt shapes to make pictures. Magnetic boards can be used the same way.

51) Have the child work on a chalkboard, using chalk instead of a marker. Do the same kinds of tracing and modelling activities as suggested above.

52) Paint at an easel. Some of the modelling activities as suggested above can be done at the easel.

53) Play “throw and catch” with a ball. Start with a large ball and work toward a smaller ball. (Sponge balls are easier to catch than a tennis ball.)

54) Practice hitting bowling pins with a ball. (You can purchase these games or make your own with plastic bottles and a small ball.)

55) Make GOO GLOVES! Take a rubber examining glove and put a table spoon of finger paint in the glove. Next fill the glove ¾ full with white PVA glue. Tie the end of the glove off. Wash off any glue or paint that might have gotten on the outside of the glove. Then you put another glove on the original and tie. This will give it extra protection. Squeeze the glove and work together the glue and paint until it is one solid colour.

trixychic

Wow thank you so much for those. I will be down in the library first thing to print them off.

I am so grateful for the reassurance about him being too young. He isnt too young, like he is 5. But he comes across as very emotionally mature. As in he is very suseptable to others emotions, or their moods. It makes him a bit vulnerable. A whimp almost and he can be a bit quirky. But i am also what some would consider a bit of a fruit cake.

He is my first born and i am so concerned about not doing things the way he needs me to. My sister Didnt get diagnosed with dyspraxia until second year and hated school cause of it. Everyone was so hard on her. I want him get the most out of school.

ariana`

trixychic wrote: »

Wow thank you so much for those. I will be down in the library first thing to print them off.

I am so grateful for the reassurance about him being too young. He isnt too young, like he is 5. But he comes across as very emotionally mature. As in he is very suseptable to others emotions, or their moods. It makes him a bit vulnerable. A whimp almost and he can be a bit quirky. But i am also what some would consider a bit of a fruit cake.

He is my first born and i am so concerned about not doing things the way he needs me to. My sister Didnt get diagnosed with dyspraxia until second year and hated school cause of it. Everyone was so hard on her. I want him get the most out of school.

Trixychic it's hard on us mums, we will always worry about our smallies and want the best for him, but he sounds like a lovely boy. I have a lot of worries with my 5yr old at the moment too, though they are different to yours, so i've an idea how you're feeling. It's constant, non-stop, weight on your shoulders. But i think byhookorbycrook has given some fantastic advice (i'll be playing some of the those fun games myself with my kids) so do try not to worry. My niece has dyslexia as well, she lives in the states and even over there was only diagnosed at 7yrs, she'd been going to counselling for months leading up to the diagnosis for defiant behaviour but with the dyslexia diagnosis and associated special hours of tutoring she's a new child altogether, much much happier in herself.

Rosy Posy

Just coming from a different perspective, op. He's 5 years old, all the behaviours you're describing sound totally normal and healthy. Our children go to Waldorf school which has no formal learning until they are seven. Schools in Scandinavia have a similar philosophy. I think it's a big ask to get a child to sit down in a group of this size and pay attention and complete work. I wouldn't worry about it until he's a good bit older. I also think that formal assessment of kids this age can be counterproductive.

Moonbeam

Have the school spoken to you about getting an assessment of needs? If not maybe speak to them or your gp about one.

trixychic

I really cant thank you all enough. It has been such a worry for both me and oh. But i think i may be overstressing this point a bit much. Not unusual for me and to do. Ha

Just as an update, teacher sent home his maths book today. The class one. (he has 2 books. One work book thats sent home and one class book for school.) So he was 4 pgs behind and we said we would try to catch up. So the first 2 pages took us 35mins. Count and write the correct number and then colour. Lots of chat etc.

So then he said he was hungry i said he could have a biscuit. But he Couldnt have a bite until he got the next line finished. The next 2 pgs of his class work, and the pg for homework and his reading pages within the next 25 mins. I was shocked. All he needed was something to focus on. Now obviously food isnt the way to go but maybe just getting something to focus on could be the answer?

Greenmachine

So many good ideas here in the thread.

byhookorbycrook

For a small child work may need to be broken into smaller chunks. Get something like an egg timer or even set an alarm on your phone. He gets to stand up and stretch/get a drink of water or something similar after a set number of minutes. Start with maybe even 4 mins and build it up.

trixychic

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

For a small child work may need to be broken into smaller chunks. Get something like an egg timer or even set an alarm on your phone. He gets to stand up and stretch/get a drink of water or something similar after a set number of minutes. Start with maybe even 4 mins and build it up.

Yea i think i might start doin this at homework time. The games and all can be done then after that. Thanks x

ariana`

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

For a small child work may need to be broken into smaller chunks. Get something like an egg timer or even set an alarm on your phone. He gets to stand up and stretch/get a drink of water or something similar after a set number of minutes. Start with maybe even 4 mins and build it up.

My son has 3 sheets of homework every evening. There's usually one long one with a lot of writing letters so he does that first, he then gets a TV break - one episode of whatever his programme of choice is (usually 10mins), then he does the other two sheets which are quicker sheets (matching up pairs etc...). The teacher has told us specifically to leave out any colouring as for most kids and especially perfectionists (like mine) it's too laborious and she doesn't want them spending longer than 20mins on homework (it still takes longer than this some days). Since we broke up the sheets with a break it has gotten much easier on him.