Levels at the end of yr1. What does it mean in real terms?

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

Ds (6) is levelled at P7 across the board for reading, writing and numeracy according to his teacher at end of year parents evening. I know that obviously this is below expected levels for this age but what does it mean in real terms? How far behind is he?

He has asd and his speech and language is delayed. He has made visible progress throughout the year but as I don't know what his levels were at the end of reception it's hard for me to grasp whether or not he's narrowing the gap between himself and others his age or whether despite great progress if the gap is still the same. If that makes sense?

Guess I'm wondering if he's too far behind others to actually catch up with them?

[billiejeanbob]

He is certainly not too far behind to catch up with his peers. The levels given at the end of yr1 are difficult to compare to that of reception year as they are completely different.
The levels are structured as below -
p1 - p8
1C
1B
1A
2C
2B
and so on...
the levels
The level expected at the end of yr 1 is 1A. My dd was a p7 in maths at this age yet is now on par with her peers at the end of yr 3 (this is with statemented 1:1 support).

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

Thanks billiejean that is really helpful to know and great that your dd is now on a par with her peers. Ds is also statemented with 1:1 support so hopefully he will keep progressing and narrow the gap

[Tambaboy]

DS was on levels p7-p8 at the end of y1. Now at end of year2 he's had 1a across the board, so still below average but he is catching up.

[Tambaboy]

expected level at the end of y1 is 1b.

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

Thanks tambaboy, I try not to get too hung up on levels especially as I can see he is making steady progress and school are supporting him well. But this time of year when everyone is banging on about levels and school reports it brings it home that he is behind.

[orangepudding]

My DS has also just finished year 1. He is on level P8 which is well below average. To catch up with he peers he needs to learn at an accelerated pace.
His levels were P6/P7 at the start of year one so he has actually progressed very little. I also worry about how he will catch up with his peers as he has had a lot of support at school.

[Tambaboy]

I know what you mean about this time of the year . Everyone is boasting about their dc's grades and how wonderful their reports are!! Be proud of your ds' s results , he has worked really hard to achieve them.

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

I think that's what I'm trying to figure out orangepudding, how much of an accelerated rate does he need to learn at to bridge the gap and what more we could be doing at home. We read two books a day and do spellings everyday and he has speech therapy once a week. Just would like to know what little things we could do to help bring him on without piling on the work IYSWIM.

YOu're right tambaboy I am very proud of his report it was full of positive praise from his teacher and he was graded top marks for effort across the board.

[Tambaboy]

If you want to work with your DS at home I can recommend a few things that have helped my DS enormously.
-Headsprout Early Reading Programme , DS really likes it and it has made a real difference in his reading. There are a few threads on MN about it.
-Numicon and working with real money for maths.

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

Thanks tambaboy I have heard of head sprout but not looked at it yet. Never heard of numicon so will take a look.

[Tambaboy]

Many schools use Numicon, you could ask your DS' school and they might be able to show you how it works.
You can buy a starter kit for about £15, maybe cheaper on ebay.

[lougle]

Well levels go in September. However, currently the levels can be converted to points and each child 'should' make 6 points progress per year.

currently, P7 is 4 NC points. P8 is 5 NC points and 1b is 9 NC points.

So on the face of it, your DS with P7 is 5 nc points behind expected levels, which is almost one year behind.

Whether that gap widens or closes is what matters.

If your DS makes 'expected progress' next year, he'd make 6 points progress, which would put him on a 1a, which is a 'good' year 1 score, at the end of year 2.

To catch his peers up, he'd have to make 11 points progress against their 6 points progress.

So it is possible to close the gap but the gap is significant. Having said that, most classes have a range of 2 years behind and 2 years ahead.

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

Thank you so much for that Lougle that really helps make a bit of sense of what the levels actually mean and how significant the gap actually is.

[AgnesDiPesto]

I think don't get too het up about it. Its not that far behind, but closing the gap is not realistic for most children with SEN.
DS (year 2) is level 1 english & 2c/b for maths DS but he got there by rote learning / little underlying understanding. Memorising and regurgitating is a strength for DS (asd and language issues)
Progress beyond level 1 for english or level 2 for maths is a huge leap as it requires child to problem solve independently and be able to master quite sophisticated language concepts (predicting, inference etc). Just processing and understanding the questions at level 2 is beyond ds language ability.
I actually expect his progress to slow now as the steps up levels from here are tough. Until now he's got by with having good reading, spelling skills and learning things by 'rules'. But he can't adapt. He can write something about a named subject, but he wouldn't be able to write it in a genre e.g. poem, newspaper article etc etc which is what is expected. He can't understand the language of maths problems even though he can do the maths. He can't apply maths knowledge to a new situation (but can remember sums in his head he has seen previously!). As a result he is still P scales for science because although he can learn stuff, he can't relate it to real life or apply it. He couldn't devise an experiment or deduce an answer for himself.
Its that spiky profile.
Its important to make sure what is learnt is functional - I agree real money, going to shops etc. otherwise it can be meaningless.
Also because children with asd have huge strengths and weaknesses then putting them into one band doesn't make sense - ds knowledge of times tables is year 5 level, his ability to use multiplication functionally is below year 2 level. So while he may be 2b within that are probably level 4 skills and P level skills mixed together to average out at a 2b. I still want them to work on the skills which are P level.
I find it more useful to have a list of skills actually learnt and tick them off rather than thinking of levels. I don't think levels are a good way of assessing children with asd. Whats important is to make sure there are no gaps so what they do know has a firm foundation and is functional.
This maths app was recommended by zzzz on here and is brilliant. Also the montessori apps zzzz has recommended. DS learnt about 18 months of maths in 6 weeks from these. He jumped from p6 to 1a / 2c in weeks. I just need to find some apps for the next stage now!
Last year DS made 6 months of progress in language tests in 12 months. That was good progress for him because he finds it really hard to learn language, but shows how the gap won't narrow for him but get wider. Even when he's working really hard everything is just that much harder to learn.

[AgnesDiPesto]

Just to agree with Lougle. DS is the only child in the class with a statement, but he is not the child on the lowest levels. The ability range is huge. There are 5-6 children across the two classes at or below ds levels.

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

Thank you Agnes, what you say makes a lot of sense. DS is also very good at learning by rote and memorising things but lacks the language skills for the more complex stuff.

Good point about functional learning too will focus on practising skills in the real world.

That maths app looks great so going to download that now. Thank you.

[AgnesDiPesto]

I sort of hope that when his language progresses to a certain level of understanding there will be a tipping point and lots of other things will suddenly make sense (but that might be wishful thinking).

The usborne 1000 words book, sequencing cards, even photocopying familiar stories and putting in order were good. And written sequences of familiar activities eg turn on tap, put toothpaste on, brush teeth and getting to put in order. Those ready for school activity books you can get cheap in the works etc are useful for seeing what a reception / year 1 child should be able to do and then you can copy the tasks and make your own or find them online.

I found a site called teacherspayteachers where people post teaching resources for sale but there are lots of free ones too.

[itiswhatitiswhatitis]

I am holding out the same hope for ds in terms of his language as I do feel that is his main barrier to learning (alongside crap attention span and a mule like stubbornness when it comes to activities he's not interested in!)