No thanks for that, i have spoken to a lady today at her sons party he is one of the boys in Melissas group i asked how he was doing and she replied as well as i expected and i asked how he was with reading and numbers etc she replied that he is probably the same level as Melissa but he is already on the special educational needs to get to that postition bless him, it is Melissas boyfriend they go everywhere together, so i know she isn't the worst she may plod on but i am hoping she will get better i am a bit relieved that you said they still get numbers and letters mixed up at this stage, i vaguely remember Lisa her sister doing it but they said she was a little behind and she could write scentences and do sums and count loads more and read books that was what was worrying me. I am going to wait until December they normally do a parents evening by then she may be showing improvement and the teachers will have gotten to know her by then so will know where she is at. Thanks for your help. Sharon x

I have taught year 2 for 6 out of 7 years of teaching. It is common for children to mix uopletters even at the start of year 2. However I would be concerned about not recognising numbers past 10 by this time. If she was on my class I would probably speak to you about putting her on the Special Educational Needs register. This way I would write a plan for extra support that she would get and work that is tailered to her needs. Many people wprry when they hear specail needs but it can be a good thing because it means the teachers are aware of the difficulties and are giving the childr extra support to help with them. Also if she is young for her year group then this does still make a difference at this age and it may take longer to catch up. This has usually started to sort itself out by the end of year 2 in my experience.

Her teacher will obviously know her a lot better than me and will be able to tell you a lot more about it. I hope I have been of help and not worried you.

Meant to ask what year do you teach? Is there any children like Melissa and would you have concerns if they were this far behind at end of year one? I know she will probably get more help in year 2 as it is the Sats year to try and get her up to scratch. Sharon x

Hi Jellysmum thanks for replying i didn't know what sen stood for so looked it up on net no she isn't on that. She will be in year 2 in Sept, at first when they said she was a little behind at the end of reception i wasn't worried as my other daughter was younger than Melissa and was still more forward than her but i know each child works at their own pace i have read to her for years at bedtime to get her speech up to scratch and even now it isn't the best but people can understand her, then when i got her report i knew it was going to be like this as i have been trying at home with her, but she has improved just in the last month but her letters and numbers still get mixed up and i am only worried as i know how quickly they can fall behind. My other daughter who is older than Melissa but was one of the youngest ones they said she was a little behind and she could write simple scentences and read books by herself, so this means that Melissa is way behind i spoke to another mum whose boy is in Melissas group and she said he is good with maths it is just english he struggles with but he can read and write a few words on his own and simple scentences, she as only just learnt the whole of the alphabet, and still doesn't recognise numbers past 10 written down she is getting there just more slowly than what i thought. My partner her dad says she is ok she will get there and my mum also said this, but i don't want her getting too far behind as i know how fast track it is and once a long way behind it is a very hard struggle catching up. I am going to take her to docs to see about getting her hearing and eyes checked i think they checked her eyes and it was perfect but her hears were last checked when she was a baby and they did the old school method, which is what they did with my sister and she passed it but she was partially deaf which obviously made her school work suffer so i am going to ask for hers to be checked. Thanks again. Sharon x

Have you spoken to her teacher about your concerns. I had a few parents concerned after their reports but was able to reassure them once they came to see me. Is she on the SEN register? If so she willl get extra help. If you are concerned about dyslexia mention it to the teacher and they can probably arrange a screening but she really has to be 7 (or there abouts) for it to be reliable.

Hi ladies, i am a little concerned my daughter is quite a bit behind. They say she as only made small steps of progress this year in numeracy and literacy and in each subject she gets muddled up she is getting letters mixed up and her numbers she as only just counted to 20 properly without leaving a number out, but she still can't recognise numbers properly past 10 written down, she can only recognise a couple of key words but my parents and her dad are not worried they keep saying she will come along at her own pace, but she will get left behind and i don't want this for her. She is going into year 2 next i will see how she goes on and hopefully she may get more help to bring her up to speed. She is the younger end but so is my other daughter even though she was a little behind she could write simple scentences and read books and do simple sums, that is how i know Melissa is well behind. Melissa works in a small group she is the only girl with 4 boys. Has any body elses child struggled? I am wondering wether she is dyslexic how can they tell? She was also very delayed in speech she said one word before a 3rd birthday and by the age of 4 she could be understood before that only people that knew her could understand her. Sharon x