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All four of my boys did fantastic until 5th grade then we saw problems with Math and not wanting to read. The reading part I boiled down to the AR program (accelerated reading). The Math has always been a problem starting in 5th. The girls in the class flourish! It doesn't help that out of a class of 12 (four are girls) that three of the girls are in gifted and talented and are chosen for every little event...(spelling bee, geography bee, battle of the books, star reader group ect).
OP,
Although I agree with some of the other things posted here, especially the strong in one area and weak in another, I do have another take.
She may have a form of dyslexia that applies to numbers and not letters.
She may have a vision problem. She may see 20/20, have trouble tracking or something like that.
Have you discussed this with her teacher? Thats where you need to go. Request a meeting with the teacher and discuss your concerns. There are a few things you will need to explore:
1. Test anxiety- how do her scores compare when she is in a test environment as oppossed to a nontest environment.
2. ADD or ADHD- can be very hard to diagnose in girls as oppossed to boys. Boys tend to be more prone to the diruptive behaviors while girls may stare out the window. Also, a teacher cannot legal tell you they think your child has ADD or recommend you get them tested. It has to be initiated by you and they will provide supporting documents to give to a pediatrician who makes the diagnosis. And be leary of medication, there are MANY accommodations that can be made for a child with ADD/ADHD that help them without resorting to medication.
3. A learning disability- if you or the teacher or both think this is a possibility it takes a while to diagnose. First a student has to go through a process in which various types of instruction are used to see if it is just a mismatch in learning/instructional style. If that is the case then it is not a learning disability.
Good luck, it can be stressful. Given the limited info you have been able to provide I am leaning towards test anxiety or ADD, both of which can be worked with fairly easily.
A great big thanks to all of you for your feedback. It was very interesting and helpful reading your posts.
I have a question about ADHD- Inattentiveness. Can a child have this but be very focused when doing work they enjoy, reading, drawing, writing, watching a movie, going on the computer, playing, etc? There are times my daughter seems very unfocused. I can be explaining a math problem and all of a sudden she starts singing in the middle of my talking or she'll ask me what my favorite color is! Other times she is very, very focused. Usually she is the most unfocused when she doesn't want to deal with her work. Her teacher thinks there is some anxiety when it comes to math. She also thinks she doesn't bother to check her work.
Again, you were all helpful and gave me things to look into.
Yes, ADD or ADHD can be focused on something that interests them, that can contribute to the problem- they cannot focus on the less intersting task because they are distracted by the thing that is interesting to them.
A great big thanks to all of you for your feedback. It was very interesting and helpful reading your posts.
I have a question about ADHD- Inattentiveness. Can a child have this but be very focused when doing work they enjoy, reading, drawing, writing, watching a movie, going on the computer, playing, etc? There are times my daughter seems very unfocused. I can be explaining a math problem and all of a sudden she starts singing in the middle of my talking or she'll ask me what my favorite color is! Other times she is very, very focused. Usually she is the most unfocused when she doesn't want to deal with her work. Her teacher thinks there is some anxiety when it comes to math. She also thinks she doesn't bother to check her work.
Again, you were all helpful and gave me things to look into.
Yes, add kids can be very focused when they are doing something they enjoy.
In fact, kids with add can *hyperfocus* so intensely that it can be difficult for them to transition from the activity they are focused on.
I think disinterested in math could be a real possibility. I know when I was in school I kept saying to myself in math class, "Who cares? Why do I need to know this?" But when I worked a summer job in HS as a waitress, I immediately understood what a 20% tip was, because it mattered to me. As an adult I worked a job doing survey work outside and I understood that math because it was applicable to what I was doing.
OTOH, I always excelled at English and History because I found those subjects very interesting.
Is it reasonable to expect a person to be good at everything?
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Last edited by toobusytoday; 04-14-2011 at 06:32 AM..
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