My son thinks fast reacts fast but in the hurry he makes a lot of silly mistakes !!

I have heard of this...few brilliant children think very fast but hands do not cooperate with mind which is so fast...

avoid television, this will calm him...also play some soothing music daily...this should help...

My 2 cents : Develop the habit of reviewing his own work. When he works at home, after he finsihes, ask him to review his work. Even for handwriting. If you see any mistake, do not point it out. Instead just let him know that there is a mistake in that page. If he can't find out the mistake, you narrow it down to a section of his work and ask him to review.  This will give him an oppurtunity to correct his mistakes. Over a period of time, it will become a habit.

Allow him to self-assess his work. Give a specific set of parameters. Hand over the work he completed over the past weeks for reference during assessment.  later discuss the assessment result. He will have a better understanding on where he goes wrong and why.

How old is he? If he is over 8-9 you can teach him to sit still and meditate which can begin with even 2 to 3 mins at a time. This helps in focussing better and holding on to the thoughts (ideas) before they disappear....it is helping my daughter...she is 9.

agreed with Roshmom..self editing skills are important academic tools..just to add one more point here, you need to find out the root cause here too.

some of the common reasons why children rush to complete the work are:

1. poor problem solving skills: they cant deal with a problem by giving it time. they cannot tolerate the sight of the problem. they rush through the whole set, and hand over to the teacher. the anxiety of incomplete work is taken over by the anxiety of facing the set of questions
2. setting impression: some children feel that the 1st one to submit = best in class. they dont give value to the completion of the work. according to them, complete or incomplete, their work should be the first one to reach the teacher
3. distracted by the reward: sometimes children who finish early are given toys or are set free to roam around and they rush with the job without bothering about anything else.
4. overactive mind: mind thnks faster than the hand can write. thats true for all of us. some children feel that the job is done when the mind is done thinking. while their hand is at point A, their mind has reached point Z and they feel their work is over.they dont realize that they havent jotted points down on the paper and that the points are there only in the mind.

see what explains your child's problem and it will help you coach him better.

 My kids are in  III and V. When they have to learn difficult words, I take their dictation but tell them to check it themselves and give 2 points for each word, one point for correct spelling and one point for good handwriting ( its up to them to decide if their hand writing is good enough ). What I have noticed is that they are pretty good critics of themselves, they give points for handwriting only if it is very good.

Their handwriting has improved and they have become more careful with their writing too, end up making fewer mistakes !