Please bear with me, this is long and I'm sure very boring but I'm desperately worried. Ds1 was born prematurely and so his development has been very closely followed medically speaking. His intellectual development has previously been highlighted by a child development expert as "above his age" (at 3 he was assessed as about 18 months ahead of average) - but he is not on any kind of register or programme as "gifted and talented"! (so sorry if this is the wrong place to post ...).
He is now 5 and in reception at a private school. He initially seemed to settle well at school, but over the last couple of months has started telling us he is bored in class. This seems to have had an effect on his behaviour at school - general silliness, and he is getting told off a lot. He is quite sensitive and has told us he hates being told off but can't seem to control the silliness. He is now lying awake at night worrying about this and is not eating well either. We had tried to improve the sleep issue by taking his books away at bedtime (poor boy was sitting in bed in the dark trying to read), but now when I go up to check on him he's still awake at 9.30 telling me he's worried about things.
His behaviour at home is great, he loved his nursery and he interacts well with his friends from home/sibling - it just seems to be a school issue. We've tried speaking to school about this but we just got a bit of a "roll of the eyes" and a look as if to say "oh dear, another set of parents who think their child is a genius". They have told us that reception is too early to give "extra" work and that he has to progress through all the levels of reading, maths books etc. same as everyone. We couldn't give a monkeys what level reading book he is on, but he is clearly unhappy and doesn't seem to be stimulated enough. The school meanwhile is very focussed on him improving his behaviour but doesn't seem to have any strategy for doing this other than complaining to us about it.
Thank you for bearing with me if you've got this far - I'm just looking for ideas for what to do next. Has anyone been through similar? Am I just excusing bad behaviour by looking for "brightness"? (I personally would say btw that he is bright and has potential but is not the next Stephen Hawking). Would it help for him to see a professional in relation to his unhappiness? Thank you.
Talk to other parents about parenting a gifted child on this forum.
Gifted and talented
Please help - ds1 is unhappy and bored at school (reception)...
lovemynano · 14/05/2008 10:46
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