My 5 yr olds short attention span

My 5 year old has just started school, and they have done a one to one assessment with him, the teacher is concerned that he doesn't understand the tests she is doing with him, although she feels he hears her and understands her, he cant seem to follow through with her instruction.  She feels if you give him an exact instruction for example 'sort the figures into the different colours' then he could do that, however when asked 'can you sort these' he is totally blank.  This is just one example.
His behaviour overall is fairly good, with what i would percieve as normal child behaviour.  He is struggling learning his alphabet, and does not know his numbers to twenty, infact he struggles to get to ten, always missing out number 7.  He struggled with speech, which i feel is still an issue, babbling till about the age of 3 and a half, he knows lots of words, but putting them together in a sentance is a problem for him.  I can see him getting frustrated.
Can someone help?

[specialmom]

Hi,  this sounds like a problem with motor planning (which is not attention).  This is involves the nervous system and how it processes information.  It takes much organization of the nervous system/brain to take perform tasks.  He may understand but the message back out to do the task gets jumbled.  It is part of the sensory system.  It is directly involved with communication.  

If you'd like to know more about this, let me know.  I'm happy to help!!

[tima6887]

Hello; My step-son; who is 5 yrs. of age; had started school and yes; I see a similarity; I know he is smart but  I believe when he was with his mother; she wasn't around enough to teach him the right way of doing things; listening;keeping quite and able to understand rather than him think he can do things on his own and thinks it's the right way of doing things; he crys and throw tantrums... Please let me know the outcome because I sure do need help or passing along to his father

[vhc09]

remember he is just past toddler hood and everyone develops at different speeds. boys especially are less language prone, more action prone. i feel bad for boys in school. it is easier for girls i think. i think these little boys need to be given a break sometimes, not literally, but you know what i mean.

and donna, your stepson could he be shook up by his parents divorcing?