Lack of concentration in school

Hedgecutter

I have a six year old boy in senior infants. I got a message from his teacher today that he is not applying himself in class and is too easily distracted by what going on around him and takes age to complete a task.
He gets home work Monday to Thursday and for a period of time the level of homework was crazy.

I'm curious what level of concentration and application I should expect from a six year old. Not sure if the school is driving them to much at this early stage.

Rosy Posy

He's six! My inclination would be to give the kid a break. Better to let him come to formal learning gradually than to force it and turn him off education for life. I'm aware that this is not the pervading view of education though.

We send our kids to Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf) school where they don't begin formal learning until 7 and then still do lots of learning through song story and movement. Scandinavian countries have a similar educational philosophy across the board and it seems to be working out for them.

Big Bag of Chips

What do you mean by the level of homework was crazy? Was there a lot, or was he just taking ages to do it? I have a senior infant and every night they get reading, words and writing of some sort... Be that 3 sentences, or 3 or 4 lines of letters or a small bit of maths.

I know he is only 6, and only in senior infants but he has a year and a half of school done. He should know the routine of what is expected. I'm not saying he should be sitting still and concentrating all day, but it if the teacher is commenting on it, then they are noticing that he hasn't settled yet where other children have.

The thing parents need to understand is the teacher isn't "giving out" to you!! They are keeping you informed of how your child is progressing. And if they think they need an extra bit of help from home to reinforce what is expected of them. If she didn't tell you and let it go and then the first class teacher said it to you next year, you'd wonder why it was never mentioned to you before!

Just keep telling him how you and his teacher would like to see him concentrating a bit better and doing his work a little quicker etc... I find bribery works great A treat after school on Friday if the teacher has said he's been really good all week!

Edit: You should now make an appointment to have a chat with the teacher about what she expects, what you expect /think and see if you can both work together. You both want the same thing... For your child to get on well at school!

ch750536

Sounds like he's daydreaming of penguins on a water slide. High five him from me.

Hedgecutter

Rosy Posy wrote: »

He's six! My inclination would be to give the kid a break. Better to let him come to formal learning gradually than to force it and turn him off education for life. I'm aware that this is not the pervading view of education though.

We send our kids to Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf) school where they don't begin formal learning until 7 and then still do lots of learning through song story and movement. Scandinavian countries have a similar educational philosophy across the board and it seems to be working out for them.

I have heard that from a few people I know that they're kids did not start learning till seven and I agree.

Hedgecutter

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

What do you mean by the level of homework was crazy? Was there a lot, or was he just taking ages to do it? I have a senior infant and every night they get reading, words and writing of some sort... Be that 3 sentences, or 3 or 4 lines of letters or a small bit of maths.

I know he is only 6, and only in senior infants but he has a year and a half of school done. He should know the routine of what is expected. I'm not saying he should be sitting still and concentrating all day, but it if the teacher is commenting on it, then they are noticing that he hasn't settled yet where other children have.

The thing parents need to understand is the teacher isn't "giving out" to you!! They are keeping you informed of how your child is progressing. And if they think they need an extra bit of help from home to reinforce what is expected of them. If she didn't tell you and let it go and then the first class teacher said it to you next year, you'd wonder why it was never mentioned to you before!

Just keep telling him how you and his teacher would like to see him concentrating a bit better and doing his work a little quicker etc... I find bribery works great A treat after school on Friday if the teacher has said he's been really good all week!

Edit: You should now make an appointment to have a chat with the teacher about what she expects, what you expect /think and see if you can both work together. You both want the same thing... For your child to get on well at school!

Never thought the teacher was giving out to us, it's just are we pushing a bit early. The level of homework was too high and became a problem for every family in his class and was addressed lately with a reduction.
The teacher is a young woman with not much experience, she uses an app class dojo (not sure if your familiar with it), it gives daily and weekly reports on your child behaviour on tasks, uniform, preparation and in the school yard. I felt it was a bit much at the time but use it as a reward system now. IF he gets all green(100%) I reward him, but if he does not I dont pressure him. I'm happy if I see progression in his reading and he loves books, puzzles thing that engage him.
It finding the fine line really ?

Rosy Posy

Hedgecutter wrote: »

she uses an app class dojo (not sure if your familiar with it), it gives daily and weekly reports on your child behaviour on tasks, uniform, preparation and in the school yard.

This level of feedback seems excessive, no? You'd have to wonder how much time that she spends assessing the kids for the app might be better spent preparing lessons?

January

Rosy Posy wrote: »

He's six! My inclination would be to give the kid a break. Better to let him come to formal learning gradually than to force it and turn him off education for life. I'm aware that this is not the pervading view of education though.

We send our kids to Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf) school where they don't begin formal learning until 7 and then still do lots of learning through song story and movement. Scandinavian countries have a similar educational philosophy across the board and it seems to be working out for them.

Steiner schools are as rare as hens teeth here.

Hedgecutter

Rosy Posy wrote: »

This level of feedback seems excessive, no? You'd have to wonder how much time that she spends assessing the kids for the app might be better spent preparing lessons?

Ya and its a large class for rural school.

Rosy Posy

January wrote: »

Steiner schools are as rare as hens teeth here.

And over priced and under resourced, I hear. One of my biggest reasons for not moving home.

Also our kids don't get homework til class 3 or 4 (age 9 or 10). Homework is tidying up, making the beds, helping with dinner, putting away washing, minding the baby, feeding animals. There's more to education than book learning, imo.

Moonbeam

There are only 2 Steiner schools in Ireland:(
Did his teacher last year and from Pre-school have similar issues?

Hedgecutter

Moonbeam wrote: »

There are only 2 Steiner schools in Ireland:(
Did his teacher last year and from Pre-school have similar issues?

Not really, identified he was a bit of a dreamer alright but not the same level as this teacher. To be honest the apple doesn't fall far from the tree😉.

coolabula

My son is 14 now but when he was in senior infants we received similar feedback from his teacher. She had him from Junior infants and said he was day dreaming a lot and wasn't up to the same level as his class mates. We tried lots of different things with him but finally got progress when he was diagnosed with dyslexia. This didn't happen until he was in 4th class. Once he had an official diagnosis everything changed. He is now happy in 2nd year and doing all higher level subjects. He still daydreams and gets distracted but now we know why it's easier to deal with
Of course this may not be the case with your son and I do agree it's very hard to expect all children to learn at the same pace and expecting a 6 year old not to daydream is madness!

Hedgecutter

coolabula wrote: »

My son is 14 now but when he was in senior infants we received similar feedback from his teacher. She had him from Junior infants and said he was day dreaming a lot and wasn't up to the same level as his class mates. We tried lots of different things with him but finally got progress when he was diagnosed with dyslexia. This didn't happen until he was in 4th class. Once he had an official diagnosis everything changed. He is now happy in 2nd year and doing all higher level subjects. He still daydreams and gets distracted but now we know why it's easier to deal with
Of course this may not be the case with your son and I do agree it's very hard to expect all children to learn at the same pace and expecting a 6 year old not to daydream is madness!

Is it a long journey to confirm Dyslexia, are the tests straight forward?

pooch90

It depends on whether they are being assessed through the school or if you have the funds to get a private assessment.
It can be pricey to go private but you could be waiting years for the child to be seen through school as they only get a few a year.
Lots of indicators online to look out for.
I teach senior infants and at this stage I look for reversals in their writing first-the 'b' 'd' 'p' ones are common but if it's other letters/numbers consistently backwards or writing from right to left on the page, that's when alarm bells start. However, these things are very common with lefties too.

I would always look at the lifestyle of the child-particularly that they are getting enough 'quality' sleep and that they aren't spending excessive time in front of screens and that those screen times stop a few hours before sleep. Diet, exercise etc can all have a bearing on the daydreaming I see in front of me.

Of course, as a SI, their minds will wander, which is why all lessons/tasks should be short and concentrated.I would expect them to be able to stay on task for at least 10 minutes at this age, some of them can do 30 minutes but definitely not the norm.

coolabula

Hedgecutter wrote: »

Is it a long journey to confirm Dyslexia, are the tests straight forward?

As I said he was showing signs in SI and in 1st class we took him to be tested for special glasses with coloured lenses, they have to be 7 for the test. We ended up going to the north as no one did them here but as far as I know there is a place in naas that does them, I can look up and pm you the details.
The glasses made a difference for a while but it was clear there was further problems so the school recommended him for the test. As its €350 we didn't have it. The school get 1 free test per year and can allocate it to whoever they feel most in need, it took until he was in 4th class for him to get the test. However if you have the money you can go private.
For the test itself, it was done in school, the tester from the hse came out and took him out of class for about an hour, he tested him on basic reading spelling and maths, then after the test he spoke to us. I have to say the guy we dealt with was really nice, explained everything and made it as straightforward as possible.
After about 3 weeks the report came back confirming he had dyslexia and gave him an exception for Irish and resource hours for English.
My son has been happier since then and while he still struggles with English especially spelling now that he has a diagnosis the school is aware and mark him accordingly.
the school should be able to give you advice, and keep an eye out for signs of dyslexia
It may not be the case with your son and he could just be bored or like any normal 6 year old, distracted by anything

byhookorbycrook

To clarify: most educational psychologists don't want to diagnose dyslexia until a child is 8 as things like confusing p/b/d/q and reversing numbers can occur in any child, not just children with dyslexia. Is there a family history of dyslexia?

The teacher is familiar with children of that age, so if s/he is concerned about your son, it's not really helpful to say he's only 6 or whatever.

I'd start by ruling out the obvious things like hearing and vision. Has he a good diet? Does he sleep well?
Then I'd do little things to help him improve 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 had no 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 memorise 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.

Big Bag of Chips

Next long car journey, we're playing ALL of those!

Great ideas there.

jopax

He is only 6, its hard for adults to hold their concentration for long periods of time, never mind children.

IMO he should be cut some slack, at least he isn't disrupting the class which would be a bigger issue.

Just try to encourage him to pay more attention & remind him very casually each morning when you drop him off to listen to the teacher.

Other than that, I wouldn't be too concerned, he is so young.

All children are individuals not robots, so they are not all going to behave the same way even in the classroom.

Best of luck, & try not to worry.

Hedgecutter

jopax wrote: »

He is only 6, its hard for adults to hold their concentration for long periods of time, never mind children.

IMO he should be cut some slack, at least he isn't disrupting the class which would be a bigger issue.

Just try to encourage him to pay more attention & remind him very casually each morning when you drop him off to listen to the teacher.

Other than that, I wouldn't be too concerned, he is so young.

All children are individuals not robots, so they are not all going to behave the same way even in the classroom.

Best of luck, & try not to worry.

Totally agree. Spent some time reading tonight with him and feeling a lot better. He needed to be pulled back between the ditches every so often but read and managed to sound out some hard words.

Think it's a learning curve for young teacher all so.

Thanks for help and advice every one.

the_syco

What is his sight and hearing like? If he seems like a bright spark, there may be a reason why he's not interacting, and/or day-dreaming?

Moonbeam

remember he is being compared to other children of the same age.
I would not be quick to jump to conclusions of ADD/Dyslexia etc but I would talk to the teacher and if they suspect an issue then request an assessment of needs.
If everything is ok then it is confirmed and if not then you have done something about it.

Nanazolie

Moonbeam wrote: »

remember he is being compared to other children of the same age.
I would not be quick to jump to conclusions of ADD/Dyslexia etc but I would talk to the teacher and if they suspect an issue then request an assessment of needs.
If everything is ok then it is confirmed and if not then you have done something about it.

I'd agree with this. Our daughter has just been diagnosed with ADHD. In JI and SI, she was always either daydream or fidgeting. Her teacher acknowledged that she was struggling with reading, despite being very bright. In first class, she was still finding it very difficult to read, spell, etc. She was given support classes, which helped, but her behaviour in the classroom didn't improve and her reading level was still far below her cognitive abilities. We thought 'dyslexia' as her dad has it. We requested an assessment, but lo and behold, it is actually ADHD. The child psychologist explained they won't test for dyslexia right now because she is only 7 and a lot of children that age still mix up sounds and phonics. Fair enough.
In a way, I'm happy we did the assessment, because the ADHD was picked up. A lot of people had dismissed us saying that any child that age was likely to be daydreaming or be a bit disruptive. But like Moonbeam said, she was being compared to children her own age, and there were significant discrepancies in behaviour

constance tench

Hedgecutter wrote: »

Never thought the teacher was giving out to us, it's just are we pushing a bit early. The level of homework was too high and became a problem for every family in his class and was addressed lately with a reduction.
The teacher is a young woman with not much experience, she uses an app class dojo (not sure if your familiar with it), it gives daily and weekly reports on your child behaviour on tasks, uniform, preparation and in the school yard. I felt it was a bit much at the time but use it as a reward system now. IF he gets all green(100%) I reward him, but if he does not I dont pressure him. I'm happy if I see progression in his reading and he loves books, puzzles thing that engage him.
It finding the fine line really ?

She is using an app to teach!?

Did this teacher seek parental consent and
direct parents to the terms of service and privacy policy of 'Class Dojo'?

byhookorbycrook

Oh ffs. It's a way of recording table points. It's hardly sharing it on facebook.

constance tench

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Oh ffs. It's a way of recording table points. It's hardly sharing it on facebook.

You would think so, until you read the terms of service and privacy policy.
I have...have you?

byhookorbycrook

Yes, what is it you object to therein?

LegacyUser

Homework at six years old?!?!?!?

Thank GOD we are homeschooling our little lad. He starts school at 9am and is finished by midday and has the rest of the day to play and enjoy his childhood.

Nanazolie

Pritchard wrote: »

Homework at six years old?!?!?!?

Thank GOD we are homeschooling our little lad. He starts school at 9am and is finished by midday and has the rest of the day to play and enjoy his childhood.

bless his little cotton socks...

The kids start school at 8.30 and finish at 1.20pm. Even if they have 30mn of homeworks, they still have plenty of time to play. And while I don't like them either, they allow most parents to follow the progress of their kids. Without them, I wouldn't have spotted my child's difficulties so early.

pooch90

Your child is lucky to be homeschooled if you have the correct knowledge of the curriculum and the varied methodologies necessary to implement it correctly, spot warning signs of various learning difficulties and can still socialise and discipline them properly...

Depraved

Perhaps he is just bored because he is not being challenged? It's hard for anyone to concentrate when faced with excessively easy tasks.

My niece had the same trouble, but she was ok once she was given harder and more interesting tasks.