Warning Signs in Elementary School Children

It is during the elementary school years that learning problems frequently become apparent as disabilities interfere with increasingly demanding and complex learning tasks.  Difficulties in learning academic subjects and emotional and/or social skills may become a problem.  Warning signs for this age-group may include any of those for preschool children in addition to the following:

Language

• Slow learning of the correspondence of sound to letter
• Consistent errors in reading or spelling
• Difficulty remembering basic sight words
• Inability to retell a story in sequence
• Trouble with learning to tell time or count money
• Confusion of math signs
• Transposition of number sequences
• Trouble memorizing math facts
• Trouble with place value
• Difficulty remembering the steps of mathematical operations such as long division

Motor Skills

• Poor coordination or awkwardness
• Difficulty copying from chalkboard
• Difficulty aligning columns (math)
• Poor handwriting

Attention/Organization

• Difficulty concentrating or focusing on a task
• Difficulty finishing work on time
• Inability to follow multiple directions
• Unusual sloppiness, carelessness
• Poor concept of direction (left, right)
• Rejection of new concepts or changes in routine

Social Behaviour

• Difficulty understanding facial expressions or gestures
• Difficulty understanding social situations
• Tendency to misinterpret behaviour of peers and/or adults
• Apparent lack of "common sense"

If teachers have not discussed the possibility of an evaluation already, the parents may request that the child's school conduct a formal evaluation.  A request submitted to the school principal must be honoured by the school system in a timely manner.