[rubyanne]

I have student that pouts all day, acts like he can't do anything, yet seems really bright. he knows most of his letter, numbers, can write his name, and has fairly good handwriting. I met this child's preschool teacher and she said they had to sit by him to get him to do his work but that this child is very bright and can do the work.

Here is my concern: When the class was working on writing numbers to 20 this student just wrote random numbers. I notice he flips a lot of letters, does not always start on the left, and has a hard time copying words from the board even if he is up very close, and does not show one-to-one correspondence in counting. This child also does not sequence stories or story cards. I had another teacher watch this child write his numbers and this teacher said he has trouble tracking. This child's Spanish teacher said she sees some signs of dyslexia.

This would not be a problem except mom says he does fine at home. I have sent her work he did in class and she has had him redo it saying he had no problem. Mom is willing to help in anyway she can but says he does his work no problem at home. I am torn because part of me thinks he is faking helplessness for attention (that would go with his constant pouting and pretend falling) and that he might have a real learning disability.

[fredflintston]

Has he had an eye exam? Not just a regular 20/20 vision eye exam but an exam to check tracking, convergence, and saccadic movements. Some of the problems he is exhibiting can be a sign of a visual problem that can be checked by an optometrist not an optomologist.

[rubyanne]

He has glasses that he broke. I talked to mom and she said he does fine at home without them. If he is copying I give him the visual that he can have right at his table or let him get up close to the board.

[Linn]

if this is for attention or if he has a visual problem or another learning problem. Mom says he does fine at home. Let's believe that is true. For the next week or two, just ignore any negative behavior or any problem he seems to have with work. Continue to do as you are doing but don't make any big deal about it. If he does something right, tell him he did a nice job but don't go overboard in praise. See how he reacts when you just ignore his behavior. If he seems to stop the behavior, then you might have your answer that he is just doing it for attention (the behaviors might get worse before they improve but persevere). If after a couple of weeks you don't see any improvement, then try persuing with the idea that something is indeed wrong with this child and mom is not telling the truth about what is going on at home.

[rubyanne]

Thanks. I will try ignoring the behavior and see if the other stuff improves.