How to find a good Ed Psych
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
Re: How to find a good Ed Psych
Oops sorry just seen you are in Birmingham. You should have a good choice of Ed Psychs and tutors there.
If you are happy to post somewhere what he can and can't do in maths and reading, and his age, then you might find some willing teachers on here will give you some ideas how to improve his "basic skills" as you call them . Does he like doing things on the computer? I can come up with a few suggestions with some more facts but at the mo don't really know enough.
If you are happy to post somewhere what he can and can't do in maths and reading, and his age, then you might find some willing teachers on here will give you some ideas how to improve his "basic skills" as you call them . Does he like doing things on the computer? I can come up with a few suggestions with some more facts but at the mo don't really know enough.
Re: How to find a good Ed Psych
Mystery
Thanks for being so generous with your time, you have given me some food for thought.
For example I have been chewing over what if I have a report that is theoretical rather than practical, what if the suggested strategies don't work, what come back do I have then? I knew I wanted to get the Ed Psych to sign up to certain things up front, but I hadn't effectively defined them. I'm going to use your ideas about practical follows up by the Ed Psych with us and the school being included in the flat fee we are paying her. Without that there is the danger that we could be left high and dry with just the piece of paper and not sure what to do next.
I spoke to his new Y2 teacher this morning and she said that she sees him switching off, she feels he can do stuff (maths in this case I think) but he won't do it unless she sits on him and she doesn't want to be a nagging him all the time. So a lack of concentration is part of it. In front of him I asked her to write in his reading diary if he had concentrated well, as I would like to give him a treat tomorrow if he has - he was listening in very intently at this point!
He's not particularly shy, in new situations he often takes a few minutes and little persuasion to get involved so he looks shy, but after that he is absolutely engaged and going full throttle. When he was younger he used to seek out adult company by preference and one of the ways to get attention at school was to ensure that the Teaching Assistant was just focussed on him - just maybe that was one of his original motivations,
He does like using the computer, I've just got Wordshark for him but he hasn't truely got into it (I think it is great) instead he keeps asking to switch to play something else - claiming it has got maths in it Mummy!
I would love to get to the point where he is self motivated, it is too often a battle of wills and energy at the moment. So any ideas on how to achieve this would be welcome.
He has reasonable comprehension skills, he just doesn't want to write. We are having another push on the spellings, every night he writes each one out ones (copying and checking as he doesn't want to do the full look, cover, write, check routine as yet). We emphasise that when he does his spellings we only want to know that he has tried his best (he thought we would be angry when he got 0 out of 10). His writing has improved. If we could encourage him to write more he would get better, but we are stuck in a non virtuous circle.
I agree with you it is the adults around him that our failing him (including me) because we haven't identified how he likes to learn yet. As I type this I am thinking that does like doing practical things (kinesthetic) so I am wondering how to use this approach to his learning.
I
Thanks for being so generous with your time, you have given me some food for thought.
For example I have been chewing over what if I have a report that is theoretical rather than practical, what if the suggested strategies don't work, what come back do I have then? I knew I wanted to get the Ed Psych to sign up to certain things up front, but I hadn't effectively defined them. I'm going to use your ideas about practical follows up by the Ed Psych with us and the school being included in the flat fee we are paying her. Without that there is the danger that we could be left high and dry with just the piece of paper and not sure what to do next.
I spoke to his new Y2 teacher this morning and she said that she sees him switching off, she feels he can do stuff (maths in this case I think) but he won't do it unless she sits on him and she doesn't want to be a nagging him all the time. So a lack of concentration is part of it. In front of him I asked her to write in his reading diary if he had concentrated well, as I would like to give him a treat tomorrow if he has - he was listening in very intently at this point!
He's not particularly shy, in new situations he often takes a few minutes and little persuasion to get involved so he looks shy, but after that he is absolutely engaged and going full throttle. When he was younger he used to seek out adult company by preference and one of the ways to get attention at school was to ensure that the Teaching Assistant was just focussed on him - just maybe that was one of his original motivations,
He does like using the computer, I've just got Wordshark for him but he hasn't truely got into it (I think it is great) instead he keeps asking to switch to play something else - claiming it has got maths in it Mummy!
I would love to get to the point where he is self motivated, it is too often a battle of wills and energy at the moment. So any ideas on how to achieve this would be welcome.
He has reasonable comprehension skills, he just doesn't want to write. We are having another push on the spellings, every night he writes each one out ones (copying and checking as he doesn't want to do the full look, cover, write, check routine as yet). We emphasise that when he does his spellings we only want to know that he has tried his best (he thought we would be angry when he got 0 out of 10). His writing has improved. If we could encourage him to write more he would get better, but we are stuck in a non virtuous circle.
I agree with you it is the adults around him that our failing him (including me) because we haven't identified how he likes to learn yet. As I type this I am thinking that does like doing practical things (kinesthetic) so I am wondering how to use this approach to his learning.
I
Re: How to find a good Ed Psych
remember that he is still in yr 1 he is a little boy..
learning should be fun.
Look at letters and sounds, woodlands junior ( some KS! stuff there) cbeebies and bbc schools. Pair socks, work out how many potatoes you need for dinner, weigh food. Write shopping lists, play I spy..
subterfuge is the way forwards!
learning should be fun.
Look at letters and sounds, woodlands junior ( some KS! stuff there) cbeebies and bbc schools. Pair socks, work out how many potatoes you need for dinner, weigh food. Write shopping lists, play I spy..
subterfuge is the way forwards!
Re: How to find a good Ed Psych
Yes I'm wondering if school is being a little pushy with the dreaded spelling lists and then measuring him against this, as though intelligence is measured by spellings, which it sure isn't.
You know I'm kind of thinking that he sounds very bright, and he might enjoy listening to some interesting things on CD books while he's doing something else - drawing, colouring, doing a junk model, lego etc. You can hammer away with stultifying stuff (and let's face it learning spellings and number facts is just rote learning) and not tap into what is really interesting for him.
Also as yoyo says some fun games with words and numbers rather than stuff that looks like more school work.
You know I'm kind of thinking that he sounds very bright, and he might enjoy listening to some interesting things on CD books while he's doing something else - drawing, colouring, doing a junk model, lego etc. You can hammer away with stultifying stuff (and let's face it learning spellings and number facts is just rote learning) and not tap into what is really interesting for him.
Also as yoyo says some fun games with words and numbers rather than stuff that looks like more school work.
Re: How to find a good Ed Psych
Thanks Mystery and Yoyo
I feel inspired and cheered having read your positive ideas.
I am amused by the idea of undercover learning - coming up with new ideas for this will keep me on my toes
He enjoys cooking and making things so that will be a good starting point.
I am going to try out the story CD idea, I buy them for long journeys and he enjoys them, I just don't play them in the house (apart from a couple of unsuccessful attempts at using them to settle him, he seemed energised rather than soothed and he stayed awake to make sure he heard the end - big miscalculation on my part!)
I feel inspired and cheered having read your positive ideas.
I am amused by the idea of undercover learning - coming up with new ideas for this will keep me on my toes
He enjoys cooking and making things so that will be a good starting point.I am going to try out the story CD idea, I buy them for long journeys and he enjoys them, I just don't play them in the house (apart from a couple of unsuccessful attempts at using them to settle him, he seemed energised rather than soothed and he stayed awake to make sure he heard the end - big miscalculation on my part!)
Re: How to find a good Ed Psych
I've not listened to them but if you look at Naxos audio books they do some factual stuff as well; I don't know if there something suitable for this age group.
If you say what his current state of affairs is with reading might be able to help. Sometimes there's something really obvious that can help them click, and once it does they feel really proude of themselves.
If you say what his current state of affairs is with reading might be able to help. Sometimes there's something really obvious that can help them click, and once it does they feel really proude of themselves.
