My son was academically successful in elementry school, yet struggling in middle school. Is this common?

Read all 4 answers >

Parent Answers to "My son was academically successful in elementry school, yet struggling in middle school. Is this common?"

View 4 answers: Newest-Oldest, Oldest-Newest
Display all answers

Academic tasks in elementary school tend to be more concrete, structured with adult support. Middleschool demands more organizational skills and abstract thinking in an environment with less structure and adult support.

I've also noticed with my own daughter that the "social" changes sometimes get in the way in Middle School.

Our Middle School offers a Study Skills class that helps teach many of the organizational, note taking and planning skills a student needs in the new environment. Some kids, if they have underlying learning challenges or attention issues may need more than this.

I would try and determine the underlying issues of the struggle. Is it simply the new environment? Could there be learning challenges? Are there new distractions? By narrowing down the contributing factors, you'll be better able to come up with an effective solution.

While I almost never respond to anoymous questions, yours is important.

This is a very, very common occurance with twice-exceptional children: children who are both gifted and coping with a learning disability.

Along with the group that Healthy has already suggested, why not join us in the Learning & Attention Difficulties Group?

Many children do seem to have difficulty adjusting to different classrooms, teachers, etc. You might be interested in joining more parents with similar issues in Greatschools Middleschool Group at community.greatschools.net/groups/11528

It depents. Maybe his elementry school was too easy. Or his elementry school didn't prepare him for the middle school. He needs orginzational and people skill to be succeful in middle school. Is he having problem with one class or all classes in Middle school? My daughter had a very bad math teacher in 6th grade. She hate math in middle school, but she had been award the best math student in her elementry school. She even got a perfect score in CST state test. you should go the school, talk to each his teacher to find out why he is struggling.

Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of GreatSchools. GreatSchools does not check for accuracy in community posts or verify the contributor’s identity. If you are searching for health-related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Community Guidelines for more details.