[miss-mum]

Hi All,

I'm feeling a bit downhearted at the moment. I had my sons parent teacher interview last night, and didnt hear the best news. It would seem DS is falling behind in calss, he could only recognise 1 of the 20 odd 'sound words' and couldnt write any other letters other than those in his name when asked to write a sentance. I know he needs to work on his pencil grip, but I didnt realise it was this bad, and it was the first I had heard of it, after 10 weeks of school. We had practiced at home, but obviously not enough.

I feel like I have let him down so much like down, that I should have taught him more, encouraged him more, realised that he needed more help.

I want to change, i want to help him, I want to make sure he isn't left behind, I just dont know where to start really.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Beck

[SoxyMama]

We just had 2 teacher/parent teaching sessions about writing and reading, and your son's level would be perfectly acceptable at school as they said there are kids ranging from still scribbles and unrecognisable, through to writing sentences.

What you've said wouldn't concern me, after the 2 information sessions we just had.

[Xiola]

He's in first term of prep and he needs to write a sentence? That's a bit full on. Your DS is 10 days younger than my DS2. DS2 is pretty average in his class which gets split into groups for English so they can learn at their own pace. He certainly can't read any words other than his name and mum and dad and he's not behind. Are they helping him learn? Surely all the other kids in the class aren't at such a high standard being that some of them like your DS are 4! Your DS sounds spot on to me.

This post has been edited by Xiola: 05/04/2012, 11:14 AM

[Polly Esther]

Perhaps get some small books (Grug can be a good example) where you can read and he can read along with you. Point to the words as you read the story.

Start spelling words out - "Oh, we're going to the car... how do you think we might spell that?"

Talk about sounds... "C says..." "A says..." etc.

Get some triangular pencils and encourage a better grip with those... make sure to always correct his grip when you see him doing it incorrectly.

Get some "learning books." You know, books with literacy activities for children... there's age ranges of about 3-5 or 4-6 that should be helpful.

Get some Year 1 books (they'll have the lines in them a certain way) and write out "A" on one line, a few dotted A's for him to trace (and little a's as well) and then to write his own. Just get him to practice.

My daughter loves learning, so did this for fun anyway, but I think these things might prove helpful.

[brazen]

can you ask for the school counselor to be involved? the one at our school can do various tests that help identify if seeking further advice is a good idea.

[lovelove2012]

How about enrolling him in tutoring classes? I know a few parents that have done that and its amazing how quick the child has learnt in a few lessons.

[MakeLoveNotBacon]

He's not yet 5? Was the teacher concerned?

We are seeing an Occupational Therapist for ds' weak hand grip which makes it harder for him to write. They can give you some exercises at home to strengthen his hands if you think that is a problem.

If you have any concerns, speak to a professional, but don't blame yourself for anything you did or didn't do. Kids develop at their own pace - some parents do nothing and their kids read at 2, others do everything possible and the child is still behind. I personally wouldn't call your child behind though.

[barrington]

We were told at our recent parent teacher interviews that, as a cohort, DD1's prep class have really bad pencil grips. The school is getting an OT involved to assess all the children and give appropriate assistance to the teacher aides to help them all out.

One of DD1's classmates is yet to learn the difference between the sound a letter makes and its name. The teachers and his parents are completely unconcerned, its term 1 of FYOS!

[miss-mum]

He's in first term of prep and he needs to write a sentence? That's a bit full on. Your DS is 10 days younger than my DS2. DS2 is pretty average in his class which gets split into groups for English so they can learn at their own pace. He certainly can't read any words other than his name and mum and dad and he's not behind. Are they helping him learn? Surely all the other kids in the class aren't at such a high standard being that some of them like your DS are 4! Your DS sounds spot on to me.

Thank you for the encouragement everyone, it does make me feel a bit better about the whole thing. Poor thing sitll is only 4, he isn't 5 until the 31st May, so another 2 months almost. I thought the setance writing sounded like a little much for someone his age, and he did just write his name letters instead, so he understands the concept of a sentance needing words, apparently his teacher wanted him to write "I built a robot". I like the idea of having the class split into 2 levels, and i do hope there are other kids at the same level as he is. Im not sure about the ages of the others, but I would assume there would be some that are still 4 in his class.

His teacher did seem a bit concerent MadameCatty, but I wonder if she remembers that he's still 4. She said the lessons would get harder next term and she is worried that he wont be able to keep up which is what im worried about.

Thank you for the suggestions Polly, will start looking into those books this afternoon. We do have some of the writing books that he uses, tracing the letters and writing them himself which he does (so I thought) very well at. But being told to write an "F" verbally, he can't do. If I draw the letter, the can copy it next to mine. I love the idea of a Tirangle pencil, I think that could work very well.

[3hearts]

My DS is in prep and my DD in year 1. They have officially only learnt the letters s, a t, p and i. These are the only letters they are expected to know the name, sound and be able to write. Of course they also go through many other sounds during the week but they only do one focus letter a week which started a few weeks into the term. Nobody is expected to be able to write full sentences but of course there are children who can.

My advice would be to look into maybe jolly phonics. My DD was a quick learner and learnt everything easily however DS has taken longer. He loves the jingle and actions that go with each sound. You can search jolly phonics on youtube and learn the actions and songs for each sound.

1. Don't teach him any capital letters yet just focus on small letters.
2. Don't try and catch up the whole alphabet at once he will feel like he's failing. Focus on a letter or 2 a week only. Maybe see if you can google the casey the caterpillar terminology for remembering how to write each letter. Again, this has done wonders for my son having a little rhyme to remember letter formations.
3. Try and download writing fonts. You could make your own dotted letters to outline and let him use big fat coloured markers to trace over. If you can't find a font to download go to your local newsagents and buy a handwriting book. Photocopy the pages and laminate them. Then you can wipe them clean and reuse.
4. I would make an appointment now to see an OT. They will have great suggestions for his fine motor skills.

Sounds like your school is expecting too much for term 1 of prep.