Especially for homeschoolers, since you guys set up a lot of your own curriculum?
Elijah is in grade 1. He is at least 2 grades ahead in reading and spelling. He got an award last month for recognition for his spelling and in kindergarten they had tested his reading up to a grade 2 level, and they just stopped testing there, I'm not sure what level he's really at.
So he gets raves on those things in his reports. And those were always my super strong suits in school too, anything to do with English or Literature.
Problem is - the rest of his class is really focussing on reading and spelling. He gets home reading and spelling lists with instructions on doing them every night. I'm not even bothering, it's boring for him. And even having not done them he gets them perfect.
No that's not the problem yet. The real problem is that he is easily distracted and his fine motor skills are subpar. He can write words and spell them right but his writing is awful. He still can't colour within lines, he's like a butterfly flitting around all the time from one thing to another. His interim report said that he does not complete his work fast enough. When I asked him why he can't finish it on time he says "the other kids distract me" he says they talk to him and he can't focus. I told him he can't blame them, that he LETS them distract him. That he needs to tell them he needs to finish his work and will talk to them later. We'll see if that helps any. Kaine is turning 4 this week and he loves hands on stuff. Crafts, drawing, puzzles. He can sit with his puzzles and put them together on his own. Elijah can't see the whole picture and still can't put one together without major help.
So what I'm wondering is:
Obviously the regular homework is useless for him right now, I need to figure out homework for him to do that is going to help him in his weak areas. I know that crafts and playdough and things like that will probably help his motor skills. I'm not sure on focus, he gets bored very easily, and then he starts his perpetual motion which frustrates me and usually ends in me getting angry when he won't stop and him crying.
I have requested a parent teacher interview to ask his teacher what she thinks and whether I should have him assessed for attention deficit or anything. I really don't know if he's just delayed a bit in this one spot or what. But if any of you know activities to help him build up in these areas I'd super appreciate it. :)

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Heather, Wife to Shaun since July 20th, 2002, Mom to Elijah (born Sept. 10, 2003), Kaine (born Feb. 9, 2006).

All of my boys had some degree of delay when it came to fine motor skills. They all got some varying degree of help from lots to none. I am really convinced that boys mature slower and one day they will learn regardless of how much help is given in this area and an over abundance of focus is not good. Both the older boys have beautiful handwriting now. One boy even in 5th grade you could not read his handwriting. It was so bad he could not read what he had written and struggled in math because of it not because of the math because he could not read what he had written.

As I tell my kids...their boredom is not my problem. A couple of kids have had to learn techniques so they could cope. Our too favorite is a stress ball that they could use at all times and an exercise ball instead of chair. There is research now that shows this a great especially for kids they are a little bit low on paying attention. It takes work to stay balanced on an exercise ball which in turn helps the kid stay focused. Here in our area in the public school there are entire classrooms instead of chairs use exercise balls.

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mum4boys aka Heidi married to my best friend John and mum to our 5 kids: Johnny (19), James (18), Levi (12), Liam (11) and Maggie (3)
GOOD moms let their kids lick the beaters. GREAT moms turn off the mixer first
http://harriedmumof5.blogspot.com/

Thanks Heidi. I am looking for something...I'm not sure about a stress ball exactly because I can see him just losing it, but maybe a bracelet or something for him to have his hands on. He is also destroying his shirts with his fidgeting, pulling his arms in the sleeves, having his hands in the body of the shirt, poking holes... pulling the bottom of the shirt up to his neck all the time... so on and so forth. Does it without thinking at all.
That was my thought, that this is all a delay. He did have speech delay so it wouldn't surprise me. I asked Shaun what he thought about having Elijah assessed for ADHD since it runs so strongly in Shaun's family, he said it might be a good idea. I am just not a huge fan of our current GP. I will be setting up an appointment with his teacher and see what her input is and if she thinks it's worthwhile I will take him for assessment.
His teacher really stresses PLAY...with playdough and that sort of thing that helps get a grip on motor skills so I guess that's what I'll stick to, more hands on play. Elijah is also my video game freak so I need to get him doing something besides video games more often.

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Heather, Wife to Shaun since July 20th, 2002, Mom to Elijah (born Sept. 10, 2003), Kaine (born Feb. 9, 2006).

Heather if he is struggling with his writing you might want to ask them about dysgraphia too. That is a problem with writing... it has nothing to do with intelligence or anything else really but most schools won't see it as a special help problem unless he is diagnosed with something else first.. which ticks me off.

I am certain that Kate has problems with dysgraphia but since she isn't "learning disabled" or ADD or anything else they won't recognize the fact she needs help.

It was a High School couneselor who told me about dysgraphia, after I talked to her about Kate's writing problems and unability to do written work very quickly. I looked it up and Kate has 11 of the 12 "symptoms" they had listed and I could never even get the school to do any testing!! Very frustrating.
Basically in a nut shell it is a problem with the brain getting the information out in written form. It is like there is a short between answer in brain and motor skills getting it down on paper. Kate will know the answers and can verbally get it all right but ask her to write it... and it is like it all gets lost... she really struggles to write anything and her hand writing (she will be 15 in March) is horrid! I have seen 5 yr olds that write neater!! She can draw just fine so it isn't a motor skill problem and it seems to only be with letters and numbers and regurgitated information. Amazingly enough for things like creative writing IF she is allowed to do it on a computer.. she can do that just fine. Her spelling is horrible too!
She also gets distracted easily. She tests very high in reading/language skills and math. She would also tell me that the "kids around her" distracted her! She couldn't sit at a table with anyone else. One year her teacher apologized to me about putting her in a corner facing the wall but it was the only way she could do her work and not get distracted. AT 15 she STILL needs it to be dead quite to do homework. She also hates loud noises, loud voices, the vacuum and things like that. I have suspected that she might be ADD to some point but never had her tested and since she doesn't have a problem with being hyper it hasn't been a problem in the classroom except she just doesn't get work done and has to bring it home.

I wish you luck but if you do have him tested for ADD see if they will also test him for dysgraphia becuase there are things they can do to make things easier for him.

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Regina

wife to:Sean
mom to:
Chris 10/87, Brittany 2/89, Justina 12/90, Allison 12/92, Katelynn 3/95
Grandma to: Laurel 3/2008

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Cohost - School Age to Adolescence
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That is good to know Regina.
Update - I had the conference with the teacher and she is not concerned and does not feel he needs to be evaluated, at least not yet. His school work isn't really suffering and he still really enjoys being there so she doesn't think it's an issue at this point. She also reinforced to me that it could very well just be a few more developmental delays and that she feels he will catch up at some point. So that's a relief. I'm going to leave it alone for now since he seems to be doing alright, and focus on playing with playdough and other crafts to help him with his fine motor skills. Thanks for the input!

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Heather, Wife to Shaun since July 20th, 2002, Mom to Elijah (born Sept. 10, 2003), Kaine (born Feb. 9, 2006).

He sounds like a perfectly normal kid to me! lol He sounds a lot like Logan.

Anyways... the school counselors here have tests to give kids to see what percentile they fall under to see what degree they are ADD, ADHD, etc. and we meet with parents from there to discuss possible actions to take. As teachers and parents we HAVE to be patient. Some of the students I teach have IEP's for fine motor skills (3rd grade). I give them extra time after the test for me to glance over the test papers or assigned work and have them erase and rewrite slowly and neatly. This helps them practice and it helps me it be able to read what they wrote instead of getting frustrated. Some students need to be in small group for testing so that I can read each question to them and they answer. They have IEP's that state we have to read the test and they are not timed. I say don't pressure and harp on the fine motor skills. Indirectly make him practice. Maybe have him go play outside and write with sidewalk chalk.... have him write words etc with it. Puzzles, projects like building model car/airplane..... If he is pressued he will not get better. I would have structured periods in the day were I sit with him and have him write with paper and pencil for practice. Use and reward system with him and make sure to be patient.

In his defense lol... A 1st grade classroom has a LOT going on. There is a lot of group/ partner work and center work. This age group are still young and they communicate orally a lot more so it IS distracting. I would talk to his teacher so that you can come up with a plan to help him. I don't know him personally so I'm not sure what motivates him, I think he is at the age where this is common! EXP in BOYS! lol

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Mom to Logan Alex (7), Madison Raye (5), and Dawson Cory (19 months)

Ok I am just reading your update lol.

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Mom to Logan Alex (7), Madison Raye (5), and Dawson Cory (19 months)