Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi guys!!
My son is 6 years old (P1 in scotland).
So the problem we have is he so intelligent that his school is running out of any challenging material.
His intellect spans across the board it isn't a select specialist subject ..his capacity for learning is phenomenal.
He does struggle socially and although he is beginning to enjoy playing with other children, he hasnt the first clue on how to initiate the play as such. He will just stand close by and watch and as a parent this breaks my heart because he wants to be involved. I have spoken several times with the school about perhaps focusing on his social skills but they seem happy to just "manage" him. Rather than encouraging him to excell!
He is now becoming very frustrated, constant meltdown but they dont occur at school it's the minute I pick him up he's just so drained that I think it all just comes flooding out. His communication and behaviours have reverted massively. He seem to be going backwards in terms of coping strategies....every single thing is a fight...his need for control at home is becoming unbearable....from what I wear, to what everyone at home does ( dad, baby sister and myself). Even if he is occupied and totally engrossed in an activity...if he hears his dad or I watching a program he will come down and demand to pick the episode even though the minute he does he will leave the room and go back to his activity. The same if he walks I and I'm changing his sisters bottom, he will have a melt down because he hasn't gone to get the wipes or nappy (I include him when ever I can). All of these behaviours get worse after school. I have tried to have multiple conversations with him about school but he point blank refuses to engage.
I suppose my main question is ...is there anything I can do to make the school get their finger out and provide better support and materials? any advice would be greatly appreciated because right now I feel completely useless.
Thanks
Hi, I can’t give practical advice, but as someone who spent most of her school time being extremely bored and understimulated (as well as struggling socially), I just want to say that I believe it is extremely important that your son’s needs are met at school and that they make sure he is stimulated and challenged and can continue to learn and progress. Otherwise, he is likely to get very frustrated and it could have a very negative impact- it sounds like he is already getting frustrated (the meltdowns and worsening behaviour are most likely signs of that). If he keeps being so bored at school it could result in resenting and not liking school and worst case it could put him off wanting to learn. I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be- luckily I had some teachers at times that helped keep me occupied- i got to take some open university modules whilst at secondary school etc. I still spent a lot of time being bored and hated school, but at least i continued to do well academically. Sadly i know some people that were in a similar situation but who got so fed up of being bored etc that they just stopped engaging at all and ended up not doing well at all anymore. does he have any specific interests or subjects that he likes? I don’t know much about resources available - maybe some math competition questions could be given to him in math class - i’m not sure about what competitions exist in UK but there must be some and usually past questions are available and that is an easy resource the teacher could give him to challenge him-one of my primary school teachers used to let me go to separate room with 1-2 other students at times during class to work through maths competition questions. I feel like there should be lots of resources available- the school may just need to try harder!! I also know that some schools do buddy schemes where older students, maybe even from secondary school get teamed up with younger student to coach them in certain subjects if they are particularly bright. Books are probably also a great way in general to keep him challenged. There must be resources online too... i’m sorry i can’t be of more help. I just really think it is worth pushing the school to try harder to meet your son’s needs!!