DS Yr 1 getting nowhere with reading

[bearminimum]

I'm a new poster...posting as am worried about my DS who is yr 1 and really struggling with reading. In reception he did not get any books for ages, and then he just got picture books. We have always read to him from a young age and he has lots of books. He did not seem to be interested in reading school books so we have not pushed him so as not to put him off, he is only on level 2 ORT books, he has had some Ginn books as well. We are now reading his school books with him everyday, we never bothered before as tbh I found it frustrating as he was not interested and the books were really old and tatty. The books hardly ever get changed, they hardly ever read at school. My friend?s kids who are younger than my son are reading at levels 4 and 5 (they are at different schools). I have bought a set of ORT read at home books and Project X books which he is enjoying but I want to know how I can get him up to speed with his peers so he is not held back in other areas. TIA

[deepdarkwood]

Humm, well, I think there are a few things I'd be doing:

• stick with having up a time every day for your son to read. IMHO, if he's not interested in the school books, I would whizz through those so you can sign off the book record, and then find things HE wants to read - choose some appropriate stuff from the library/amazon, and let him enjoy reading.

• talk to his teacher about understanding more about how they are teaching/supporting reading in school, so you support their approach. Ask what sort of things your ds should be focusing on (is he confident on his phonics? How's his blending? Does he/could he have lists of key words to learn)

• Maybe you could offer to organise a parents rota for changing reading books? That is done totally by parents in ds's class - they get books changed three times a week.

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about how often they are recorded as reading in their reading records - ds reads in a one on one scenario very rarely, but does a lot of small group reading. I know some people don't rate that approach, but he's doing fine, & I'm happy to give him the 1 to 1 at home.

And you will probably find he suddenly 'clicks'. My little brother hardly read at all until about 7 ... and recently completed a masters on human/technology interfaces Early reading is not the be all and end all.

[CaptianPicardsPineapple]

What I find with my DD's reading is that she goes in highs and lows, she will race ahead and whizz through a whole 'level' one month but the next month she will struggle.

I just try not get frustrated with her when she has read a word on the previous 6 pages but can't recognise it on the 7th(gah!!) and let her get there in her own time.

I also really would take no notice of what level other children are on. It's not about him keeping up with his peers but about him learning how to read and enjoy it.

What DD's (fantastic) teacher says is 10 minutes a day is enough. It really doesn't sound too daunting for kids(or adults) if it only takes 10 minutes. If they are bored with it they won't concentrate or take any of it in.

Don't worry too much about it just try to relax and help him enjoy books.

[smee]

Lots of children don't click with reading until some point in year 1 - or even year 2. Boys especially from all the posts of here. If it makes you feel any better, my DS sounds similar - over the past month or so, he's suddenly got it, and seems to be racing along - I'd bet your son will too at some point soon.
fwiw so you can compare, at our school Yr1 do guided reading every day and read to their teacher individually at least once a week. They also bring a reading book home every night with a reading record which we have to fill in. So if that's far from what you're getting, I'd say go and ask how they teach reading and what the plan is. Might put your mind at rest.

[gigglewitch]

my ds1 was like this - and turned out to be severely dyslexic. Not saying your ds is, but keep an eye open as to the possibilities. Some children just don't quite 'get' it til they're a bit older, then everything falls into place all of a sudden. Try not to panic, and if in doubt reinforce the basics of the letters and letter sounds (phonics), also when two sounds are regularly found together (called 'blends') like 'st', sh, stuff like that. And keep on reading to him - we've always read to ds1 at the level appropriate to his own age, even tho he can't read this stuff himself because he can't decode it, he's still a bright lad and he enjoys the stories or info books we read. Don't let yourself or your ds get put off reading by this bit difficulty now, there will always be a way to get there in the end.

[bearminimum]

Hi guys thx for all the suggestions.
I am sticking to reading school books with him 10 minutes a day, his books do seem to be getting changed more regularly as he came back with a new one today. Gigglewitch I do wonder if he is dyslexic he ssems to read stuff backwards sometimes. he seems young for his age and is not as advanced as some of his classmates, I just don't want him always being behind. I know it doesn't matter what other kids are reading but it makes me think I have not done my best for my son. My friends I was on about one is a teaching asst who ahs been teaching her son to read for ages and the other was home edding their child for a bit whereas I have always taken my son to the library let him choose the books he likes best which are ALWAYS non fiction like dinosaurs snakes etc and read them to him. i've never made a concious effort to teach him to read . He is very creative (as is his dad) but that goes for nowt at school thses days it seems. Hoping he will be a late bloomer as I was at school!

[houseofboys]

Hi, I had something like this with my very keen to read DS1. he was desperate to learn through reception but we moved house so he had to move schools, and second school did jolly phonics and first hadn't, so threw him a bit. In summer holiday I decided to go back to basics with phonics and ordered the read write inc. books - we did them all over the summer and a term later he clicked and suddenly moved from blue books to white (if you follow the banding i think thats a jump of a two or three bands..) I don't feel we pushed - he was very very keen to learn and getting frustrated he hadn't made much progress.

[maizieD]

Can you find out from the school exactly how he was taught to read? Did they teach systematic phonics with a focus on sounding out and blending all through the word?

Your comment about him reading stuff backwards makes me wonder if this has been rigorously taught. If he has been taught the 'key words' as whole words and there has not been an emphasis on reading words from left to right, all through the word he may not have developed the L to R eye tracking skill which he needs (this is not a 'natural' skill, it has to be trained and practised to consolidate it). Encourage him to use a finger to track through the words from L to R as he reads and if that doesn't help get a small piece of card to cover the word and reveal them one 'sound' at a time. You might find that he finds this quite tiring as his eye muscles will be weak at first, so keep sessions short.

If he gets key words sent home to learn do you approach them as being 'decodable with a tricky bit' or are you expecting him to memorise the 'look' of the whole word? The first approach is the best and is in line with the official guidance on teaching reading, though some schools don't seem to have taken this on baord

I too would recommend that you get him some phonics decodable books for reading at home, ORT are not decodable and are not good for struggling readers. houseofboys post is very sensible and I hope you find it encouraging.

[bearminimum]

Maizie:
as far as I can tell they have been taught sounding out and blending the words. I do encourage him to use a finger and do this myslef when I read to hhim.
I am going to see his teeacher on Tues so will ask then.
Sorry to be dense but i'm not sure what decodable means? the rad write books are decodable so might be better for struggling readers??