Problem with 8 year old and teacher

Becles

andyrules wrote: »

I'm not sure whether you mean he is struggling with forming his letters or sentence construction.

It's a bit of both.

Sometimes the letters are badly formed and it's difficult to read the words. He struggles to read it sometimes, even when he's just written it! I've been going right back to basics, and drawing each letter slowly with him, and then copying out lines of each letter, then words with that letter in.

He still makes mistakes which we call dafties, like b and d the wrong way round. If I ask him to spot the daftie - eg "I took the bog for a walk", he'll spot it straight away.

The sentences he writes are very basic and repetative. If I asked him to write about his lunch he would put something like:

I had my dinner.
It was tuna pasta.
It was nice.

I keep trying to get him to expand his sentences by writing more infomation in them, like describing the pasta shapes or other ingredients. I also get sick of "it was nice" as he puts that in everything! I try and get him to think of other words, such as putting "it was tasty" in this case. We've also looked at books, and noted down how much they write about the characters, scenery etc., so you can build pictures in your head of what things are like, and then looked at his writing where there is little description. He seems to understand, and can do it orally, but just can't put it on paper!

What are his motor skills like generally - ie drawing, craft, ball control?

They're fine. He's been very advanced in motor skills. He was walking at 9 months and riding a bike without stabilisers at 3 years old!

It could be a visual perception problem if all his writing formation/drawing is immature,

His drawing is still immature. But then I can't draw and my eldest son can't draw either, so I think we all missed out on the drawing genes!

There's definitely plenty of stuff stored in his head as we watch quiz shows and he gets all sorts of random questions right. Sometimes he shocks me with what he can answer, especially when I don't know

Thanks everyone for sharing all the stories and sorry to hear that some of you and your children have had a rough time.

I will pop in and see the headmaster, and see what we can sort out.

mrcow

Wow.....all that and it's only mid October!

I had a problem with my son at school last year.

The best way IMO to get heard effectively if it's not being dealt with at a teacher level is to put all your points across in a letter and at the end of the letter state that you'd like an appointment with the headteacher.

Then go through it point by point at your appointment. If it's already laid out in writing, then you won't forget any points that you wish to raise and also none of your issues can be sidelined.

Good luck.

Mojisola

Becles wrote: »

Sometimes the letters are badly formed and it's difficult to read the words. He struggles to read it sometimes, even when he's just written it!

He still makes mistakes which we call dafties, like b and d the wrong way round. If I ask him to spot the daftie - eg "I took the bog for a walk", he'll spot it straight away.

The sentences he writes are very basic and repetative.

He seems to understand, and can do it orally, but just can't put it on paper!

Please insist on your son being tested for dyslexia - or pay for it yourself. These examples could have come out of a dyslexia manual.

Rachie_B

honeypop wrote: »

Sorry I can't help with what to do about the teacher, other than agree with others suggestions about taking it to the head of the school.

However, I just wanted to say all the things you describe sound like my sister at that age who was later diagnosed with Dyspraxia. I'm not suggesting your DS has this, just pointing out the similarities so maybe you would want to look into it a bit more to see if anything else strikes you as similar to your DS's behaviour. At least then you'd be able to rule that out and concentrate on how to improve things for him, or find that there is something you can do to help if it does turn out to be dyspraxia.

Reading the OP this was the exact thing I was going to say !

The similarities in your son and my eldest Becles ! and he is dyspraxic ( now aged 11)

they are often very bright individuals; my son is fab at English and had the reading age of 11 at 5 yrs old,( he self taught himself to read aged 2.5 yrs !!)
Yet he couldnt tie laces til he was 10, and couldnt use scissors correctly for ages and still struggles a bit now

Dyspraxics often struggle with writing ,letter formation,co ordination,ball skills,gross and fine motor etc

have a look here for more info : http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/

a child may not display all of the symptoms,or may suffer with some more than others....

also some children may show signs of Dyspraxia AND Dyslexia

andyrules

Hi Becles

I really think the most overriding thing here is your son's unhappiness with the teacher. She should be assessing how to help him, and not complaining to you - it is HER job to make a diagnosis if relevant. If he is struggling, I fail to see how red corrections and criticism are going to help him. Is it possible for him to move from her?

Is he Year 3 or 4? The kind of simple sentences you describe is not uncommon in Y3. Reversing letters and numbers is still quite common in lower juniors, but it depends to what extent and what else is going on. How easily does he read? Is his understanding better than the mechanics of his reading, IYSWIM.

If it's any consolation - a boy who presented some of the worst handwriting I've seen, was also one of the most POTENTIALLY bright children I've taught - although you had to know him well to spot it at 8.

I feel like I've bombarded you with questions, but I still think he needs a kinder teacher who is interested in helping him.

Angua2

Hiya. Just thought this might have some relevance: ParentLine Plus on Schools and Parents http://www.parentlineplus.org.uk/index.php?id=296

They also have a page on bullying: http://www.parentlineplus.org.uk/index.php?id=9

The government's pages for parents are @ http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/educationandlearning/schoollife/ifthingsgowrong/bullyingproblems/
in which they recommend the Bullying UK site @ http://www.bullying.co.uk/

And there's also this:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying/parentsandindex.shtml#02

Forgot to mention why the relevance, other than the obvious: many of these sites give good advice on what to do when meeting with teacher / head / parent governor et al., which would seem to be valid whether you're talking to them about learning or bullying problems.

Becles

andyrules wrote: »

Is it possible for him to move from her?

He's in Year 4. It's a tiny school with just 20-25 children per year, so it's just one class per year group.

They have a student teacher in at the moment who does some lessons, and he enjoys it when she is teaching.

mummy_Jay

Becles wrote: »

He's in Year 4. It's a tiny school with just 20-25 children per year, so it's just one class per year group.

They have a student teacher in at the moment who does some lessons, and he enjoys it when she is teaching.

When you speak to the head mention this, the fact he responds well to her methods. Its always good to point out the positive.

Do these us know how you get on with the head, i hope they have some constructive ideas for you and that they can sort this teachers issues out.

thriftmonster

My ds1 really struggles with handwriting - he's in his 1st year at grammar school now. At one point we saw an occupational therapist (for something else) and she said it was probably linked to him not crawling aS a baby - he walked at 8 1/2 months. He may never be able to do joined up writing - he can but it's painfully slow.

A fountain pen/ ink rollerball has helped a lot in neatness - and we got the primary school to agree he could use one instead of a pencil most of the time. When he has to use a pencil - he uses a propelling one with the very fine leads.

His secondary schoool are aware that he can only print - and are fine about it once we brought it to their attention.

Definitely put your complaints in writing about this teacher - ds1 had real problems in P5 and we didn't complain - and so regret not doing so now.

Good luck

Angua2

Ok, this is a bit of a departure, but... what age-group is your son's teacher, Becles?

My son relates so much more to the younger staff - and I rush to include the young-at-heart staff!. I wonder if this is due, in part, to his view that his grandmother is authoritarian...? (She is very Victorian in her attitudes, though to be fair to her, the last 6 years have been dominated by my dad's struggle with prostate cancer.)

Have you (meaning all of you posting to this thread) noticed same? I remember (with effort, mind) being much more taken with younger teachers when at school, though some of my all-time fav's were not spring chickens!