How do you accept you have slow learning kids?

tattoed_bum

all kids are different and they all learn at different speeds ,
they are way to young to right off yet ,

my son has speech therapy and he is 6 granted he is deaf and partially sighted .
let them enjoy learning through play .

there are a couple of websites that i use with my son they may help with yours.
www.sparklebox.co.uk
www.speakingofspeech.com
www.handwritingworksheets.com

these are all printable and they do help as in the hand writing one you can put all sorts of funny phrases in that they read as they practice there writing my son loves this one and doesnt even realise he is learning to read he is to busy laughing at what he is writing

Nicki

You need to work out what's important to you - academic ability or health, happiness and good character in your kids. Not that they are mutually exclusive of course but if you can see that academic ability isn't the be all and end all it will help.

OH and I are both Oxbridge graduates and when the kids were born were both working in high prestige professional jobs. DS1 is very bright (probably also Oxbridge material though only 9 at the moment). DD has severe learning difficulties and autism, and has a learning age of about 3 (she is 8 today). That was a big deal to come to terms with at first, but now I can see all the things which are wonderful about her, and to be honest I wouldn't trade her happiness and her love for the whole family for all the academic smarts in the world.

Lavender13

Just a thought, has the little ones eyes been tested. I know it sounds bizarre but one of my children was not interested in reading/looking at books and speech was delayed, however there was a visual problem.

gibboelli

Does it really matter? On the grand scale of things, does being academic really make any difference to anyone?
I was always doing well at school, I'm classed as a genius now with my IQ but I couldnt cope with structure and the things people constantly expected of me, and the expectations they had of my future and had a nervous breakdown at 8 and again at 13. Ok I'm a manic depressive but being academic never helped me! It made me worse!
I will also add school has to be one of the most boring environments I have ever come across, maybe your kid honestly isnt interested in anything teachers have to say and do and hasnt found his niche yet.
Happiness is severely under rated. Let your son be happy, even if that does mean he doesnt have super dooper report cards.

galvanizersbaby

ethansmum wrote: »

I really do hope he can catch up Poppy- he is in year1. He just has no interest in reading what so ever. I've even bought him Pokemon card (he loves these) and tried to get him to read those out, but its not helping.

Chatnoir- thats what DH thinks. The other 2 do respond for him when asked questions.

I've just started to make an effort and play educational games every day- ie kids scrable and 2 dice snakes and ladders. Is there anything else i could do?

Thanks for your replies .

My DS is very similar to yours ethansmum, he too is in Year 1 and is only just starting to show any real interest in reading so he is making slightly better progress at the moment.
I've had numerous meetings with his teacher and she has given him the cops test (this is PC based fun for the kids) - this identified that he had a particular difficulty with sequencing and remembering orders so we have worked on that aspect with him and he is improving - could you ask the school if they have something similar to the cops test (can't remember what this stands for sorry!)
I really wouldn't write him off just yet - apparently it is not uncommon (especially in boys) to be uninterested in reading and writing at this age

smartpicture

Crikey, you are certainly writing them off at far too young an age! Things change massively over the years, I promise you. My youngest didn't speak at all until she was 3 (basically because her older sister interpreted everything she needed and ran to get it for her). She had speech therapy, but I can't say it made any difference. Once she went to playschool on her own and her sister wasn't there any more, she more or less started speaking in complete sentences straight away. She is at college doing A-levels now, and has been told she has the potential to get straight A's, but may end up with much worse if she doesn't make more effort.

My oldest was in the bottom third of the class for most of primary school. Once she got to secondary, she was like a different person academically, and she ended up with AAAB at A-levels last year - as much through hard work and good teaching as natural academic ability.

My point is, you can't tell someone's path through life at this young age, so please don't start labelling them now as 'failures', else you'll make a self-fulfilling prophecy. And natural academic ability is only half the battle, putting in the effort makes a huge difference. Your job as a parent is to give them the opportunities to flourish, in whatever way they are destined to, ane encourage them to do so - not to raise them as a clone of yourself and your own path through life! Please try and relax a bit.

allIcouldwishfor

They all learn at different rates - I believe as long as you are supportive and encouraging, they'll want to do their best and that's as much as you can ask.

It can be a good idea to liaise with their teachers at school and tell them you are interested in supporting their learning at home, if you haven't already. They will be able to give you some extra ideas for games and activities which will reinforce what they are covering in class.

It's well worth checking there are no underlying problems with their sight or hearing which haven't been diagnosed, DS is long sighted and struggled to focus on books until he was fitted with glasses last Easter (in Y1). His concentration span has improved immensely since then as it is now not so tiring for him to focus on the words on the page.

lilykim

I would definetely agree to get hearing and sight checked.

I have two children, son of 25 and daughter of 21. They were both read to
when young, I played counting games, colour games etc, so they were treated equally. My daughter has got GCSE's, A Levels and computer qualification. My son is absolutely happy doing practical agricultural work. He is not a book person. When it comes to stuff like putting flat pack furniture together he simply glances at the diagram for about 5 seconds then does a perfect job. He is the most practical person I know. He passed his GCSE's too. He did struggle to pass his driving theory test, usually coming up just one mark short for the test. Passed his actual driving test first time. Every person is an individual.

I would also have a quiet word with the teachers, and see how he is getting along socially too.

Hope this helps.
Will be thinking of you.

sooz

ethansmum wrote: »

I really do hope he can catch up Poppy- he is in year1. He just has no interest in reading what so ever. I've even bought him Pokemon card (he loves these) and tried to get him to read those out, but its not helping.

Chatnoir- thats what DH thinks. The other 2 do respond for him when asked questions.

I've just started to make an effort and play educational games every day- ie kids scrable and 2 dice snakes and ladders. Is there anything else i could do?

my DS1 is in year 1. His reading was very slow & painful (for me ) until very recently. Over the last 2 holidays, we've been terribly busy, & I haven't had time to sit and try to help him read every day, like we are meant to during term time. However, he got a collection of books from Father Christmas that he loves, & he made the effort to try to read them himself. Since then, he's jumped up a stage per week in the ORT books at school. He wants to read for himself, & not for me, or for school . Now that his reading is improving, he's in competition with his friends at school, as to who is on the higher reading stage. This is a huge change from 6 months ago when he had to be bribed into doing reading homework. Now it's he who is nagging me to listen to just one more chapter!
He's into Lego, so I signed him up to the Lego club, & he can't wait for his magazine to arrive. There probably is a similar Pokemon thing.
School has also signed up to a maths challenge website, so he likes doing that too. Even though it's maths, he needs to be able to read the questions.

galvanizersbaby

sooz wrote: »

my DS1 is in year 1. His reading was very slow & painful (for me ) until very recently. Over the last 2 holidays, we've been terribly busy, & I haven't had time to sit and try to help him read every day, like we are meant to during term time. However, he got a collection of books from Father Christmas that he loves, & he made the effort to try to read them himself. Since then, he's jumped up a stage per week in the ORT books at school. He wants to read for himself, & not for me, or for school . Now that his reading is improving, he's in competition with his friends at school, as to who is on the higher reading stage. This is a huge change from 6 months ago when he had to be bribed into doing reading homework. Now it's he who is nagging me to listen to just one more chapter!
He's into Lego, so I signed him up to the Lego club, & he can't wait for his magazine to arrive. There probably is a similar Pokemon thing.
School has also signed up to a maths challenge website, so he likes doing that too. Even though it's maths, he needs to be able to read the questions.

My son's teacher told me that it is often the case with some boys that they only make the effort when something really grabs their attention and they want to do it!;)
My DS ia a big Lego fan too so Lego club is a good idea - off to check that out now - thanks Sooz :T