My child isn’t so good at English. Should I obtain help now or wait?     052

Sometimes parents have a vague suspicion that their child is not doing as well as they should and so the question of coaching comes up. But is there a best time to start coaching? Well there isn’t; it just depends on the circumstances. Let’s work through the four main stages of education where coaching can be helpful.

First there is the vital infants’ period, K to Year 2. Here obviously the basic skills of reading and writing are learned so that children are ready to progress to primary school work. In Year 3 children are ready to read and write independently, and can produce written answers to comprehension questions, and compose their own pieces of writing. If there is any doubt that your child is not making adequate progress then it needs to be investigated. Sometimes, when children start school at a very early age, they can be simply too immature to progress to Year 1 and repetition might be a solution. But it’s a very professional decision to be taken in consultation with you, the parent. It would never be recommended unless it was very clear that it would be an advantage.

Progression to high school is the next stage of concern. In high school there is far less time and resources to give children who are falling behind effective assistance with literacy. So during Years 5 and 6 is another opportunity for reviewing your child’s progress, and providing support as needed. If there are any special types of learning difficulties or even disabilities special arrangements may need to be made for the transition to high school.

During Years 7 to 8 work is still not much harder than primary school but the foundation is set for a very rapid acceleration of comprehension and writing skills during Year 9 and 10. If your child is going to be left behind Year 9 is the time when it would become quite obvious. So you need to act before this. Thus the end of Year 8 is definitely a time for a review of your child’s progress.

Year 11 and 12 are of course very different. The normal reading and writing activities of Year 10 give way to a very formal text or literature based program, with regular and closely structured assessment tasks. In general the format of Year 11 is the same as year 12. Indeed often schools use old recycled Year 12 work for Year 11. The results of the first few assessment tasks in Year 11 then should be carefully considered. If support needs to be given, and you wait until halfway through Year 12, then already your child has suffered an irreparable reduction of marks. So beware of what is happening and do not wait to act on your suspicions. The longer you wait the further behind you child gets.

All content copyright—Mark Thackray—Australian Educational Services