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Why does my son find reading such hard work??

3 replies

Eve · 01/11/2005 12:10

I have posted on this before but he is despairing me again!

I need advice on how to help him, he is my 1st child through school so I am learning how to teach reading...can anyone offer advice.

The background is that is in 6, (summer baby) in Yr2 and has always found reading hard, but really made good progress in yr 1 and we were pleased with him.

Now in Yr2 he has gone backwards completely, he is struggling to read books he read in reception, he can't sound out words, he cant spell (writes a random selection of letters) and I despair.

The problem is that if I catch him at the right moment he can read and spell perfectly well but most of the time he doesn't try or want to try and prefers to say I can't do it....

The school are being very good, his teacher thinks we just find to press the confidence button to push and have enrolled him in their early birds scheme which is 1 to 1 support for 1/2hr before school 4 days a week.

.....but how can I help him get the confdence to know he can do it!

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littlemissbossy · 01/11/2005 12:15

Have you thought about starting again with the easy books - might help to rebuild his confidence - ask the school for some to have at home ?? whatever you do, just keep on praising him otherwise it becomes a chore - for both of you

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Catflap · 01/11/2005 12:56

Everyone needs clear knowledge and understanding of thte alphabet code and ability to blend to be able to read fluently.

Many children acquire this effortlessly no matter how they are taught and even just from exposure to books and reading.

However, many children to struggle and to persevere with ineffective methods then could be very damaging.

Your son needs to be able to see letters or groups of letters and instantly know what sound they are for and to be able to blend those sounds altogether to hear the word. When this is automatic, fluency is rapid and then understanding is effortless.

By the aplhabet code, I do not mean what sound is attached to each of the 26 letters - I mean understanding the 40+ sounds of our language and learning how the letters are used in various combinations to spell these sounds.

Because or language is so complex and there are many different spellings for each sound, this needs to be done in a rapid, systematic and thorough way. Programs like Jolly Phonics follow this philosophy.

Sadly, many teachers are unaware of the most effective ways to teach reading as it has been kept a mystery to them and never thoroughly taught on training courses or even at teacher training institutions.

I have posted on this subject previously here and some thoughts can be read here for a start.

HTH

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Eve · 01/11/2005 13:12

...thanks for that catflap....your advice looks good...and when I have more time I will follow up in more detail.

School as as you point out on 1 of your posts so results orintated...reading this level by then, able to spell these words etc that I worry about his results and Sats. which is not fair on him...but its the way the system works!

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