| Difficulties in School |
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When a child enters school the parents/guardians may not tell the teacher of their concerns. They may feel that their child will ‘settle’ when s/he goes to the primary school rather than the play school where activities might have been less structured. The teacher may not feel comfortable approaching the parent as s/he may also feel that the child needs time to settle in and that gradually problems may abate. In some cases this does happen. However some children continue to have problems and indeed the difficulties may become more pronounced as the schoolwork becomes more demanding. The gradual maturing behaviour, which is expected as the child gets older, frequently does not develop.
Difficulties may be noticed in the following:Writing
Reading
Concentration
Sitting Still Do some comments like this sound familiar? “Please stay at your desk”. “Sit properly in your seat”. “How many times have I to tell you to take your feet off the chair?” “Please sit up straight”. “Take your head off the desk”. “Surely your pencil does not require paring again?” Child may frequently visit the teacher's desk and sometimes may invade teacher's body space or that of another child. Playground Behaviour Avoids the swing completely or insists on staying on it all through playtime Clumsy at ball games Poor posture May prefer to play with younger children May engage in rough play May prefer to avoid other children and wander to a quiet corner of the playground May over-react to situations e.g. may regularly, even if in senior classes, come up to playground supervisor in tears over something trivial |