8 year old with learning difficulties?

[SidJames]

I've taken my Thai nephew out of a Thai state school in Bangkok at the start of this year & am now sending him to a private school in Pattaya.

He just turned 8 & is very slow in that his numeracy & reading are quiet poor.

His Thai teacher just wants to give him the same extra lessons that are failing him & extra homework.

I'm starting to think that he may have other issues although he is very well behaved & socializes well.

He's behind his Thai 4 year sister as far as I can see & my 5 year bi-lingual daughter leaves him for dust.

My missus & his mother are both suggesting a boarding school to get him to concentrate & bring him up to speed but I'm not so sure this will be healthy for him.

Any suggestions or advice from the forum would be gratefully received.

 

[MikeyIdea]

My daughter was/is similar to that in Thai. I trace it to when mummy was teaching her the Thai alphabet and used to scream that she was stupid and retarded every day when she was 5 years old but of course, no Thai agree with that  

 

The end result was that she resisted learning Thai and she got D in almost all Thai subjects during primary school - and she got As in almost all English subjects, a bit weird. She's in 6th grade now, her Thai reading is still bad or really bad. I have given up, I paid hundreds of hours of private tutoring with what I really think was a very good professional Thai teacher but she never wanted to learn...

 

Looking back at it, I really wonder if I did the right thing letting her take all those hours of extra tutoring. First of all, she resisted learning Thai so she never leant much anyway and secondly, could it have been used to something better?

 

Does he want to learn? How does he take pressure? Is he afraid, ashamed? It's almost impossible to teach a kid who doesn't want to learn or is afraid or under pressure

 

2 Things:

1) There was a very good and lovely child psychiatrist called Nalinee Cherwanitsakorn at Bangkok Hospital's child development centre. This was 6 years ago, I have no idea if she is still there. I don't suggest doing development training there but she can help to advice if there is a real under laying problem and advice what parents and school should concentrate on. It was less than a thousand baht per hour, will quickly be able to give good advice

2) Perhaps look at what he really wants to do and help him to shine in that. Self confidence and EQ will be more important than knowledge when he becomes an adult. Reading will come one day.

 

That's a bit what I think when I look back at my daughter. It's no fun to have a daughter in 6th grade who hardly can read Thai but it will actually come also without all those extra hours of tutoring. She has enough Thai now, I am sending her to an international school next year

 

I wonder if the answer will be more discipline and boarding school, rather Montessori style perhaps

 

Goood luck

 

[stubuzz]

Set goals with rewards.

For example, remove all telephone/TV/tablet rights and make him earn the privilege to use them.  30 minutes of quality study time or reading out loud = 30 minutes of play.

As for blocking internet time, there are free apps you can use. I like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zerodesktop.appdetox.dinnertimeplus&hl=en

[MikeyIdea]

I found Dr. Nalinee   "นลินี เชื้อวณิชชากร"   at Phyathai 1 Hospital Saturdays 9 to 16 now, That's on Si Ayutthaya Rd, central Bangkok

 

http://www.phyathai.com/doctorcenterdetail/12/10102370/PYT1/th. Phone number: Dr. Nalinee is at the Child Development Clinic