Age 6 year 2 not doing well at reading What can I do?

[muttimalzwei]

My daughter age 6 born July 2004 isn't doing well at reading. I'm not sure what level she is at but she is still on three letter 'sound them out' (phonetically spelled?) words like pet, dog, cap etc and seems to have been on this for a while although she did venture into the more advanced words for a while and then was put back down. She has extra help at school and we do as much homework as we can with her. (She gets sent stuff home and we are reading her choice of books to her at bedtime, whcih are now chapter books) Her slow progress has been put down to a combination of lack of concentration, fidgeting and hearing problems. The lady who does the reading support has said she has concerns but hasn't really explained what they are. I also think the fact that her brother was born when she was in Reception may have had an effect as she was very up and down at first. I have been to the hospital about her ears and it seems she has problems in winter and none in summer. We are going back to hospital in October and if there are problems with her hearing again I will possibly ask for grommits to be fitted so she doesn't miss out on more schooling.
My question is what should I do? I know others in her class are confidently reading now and she must be aware that she is behind. I see it starting to affect her confidence and it upsets me. I'm also not sure how she can be expected to follow in class if her literacy skills aren't up to the level of the other kids.
Any advice or similar experiences would be gratefully received.

[IndigoBell]

I'm afraid my experience is only negative.

My DD could read CVC words at the start of year 2, now at the start of Year 3 she is hardly any better.

Absolutely nothing I or school have done has helped at all. :(

However, my DD doesn't have hearing issues. So maybe your DD will be easier to teach than mine....

[fsmail]

MDD is also July (Yr2) and the same. I am doing as much with her at home as possible but more games as if I try and do proper reading she does not want to know.

We are playing sight words Bingo and I am reading to her as much as possible and asking her to find words sometimes in the text. We are going to the library every week. I am also going to start doing phonics games with her but she seems to really struggle with phonics and is much better with the sight words.

If it is any consolation my DS was the same at this age and now 10 has just moved into the top group for literacy and maths that he has always been good with has becoming a stuggle.

[Seeline]

My DD has just started Y2, and I used to listen to children in her class read once a week last term and Iwould say that there are several children at this level at the beginning of Y2 so it's not unusual. If there is a hearing problem that would not be helping her. But it sounds as though she enjoys books which is very important. Keep reading to her, get her to try and read where ever you are - notices in the shops, food labels, headlines in the paper etc Even if it's just spotting a word beginning with the same letter as her name it will all help in the ;long term. Good luck and keep reading to her.

[muttimalzwei]

Thanks very much for your kind words. I'm going to try sight words Bingo! What kind of rewards do you do for reading?

[paddingtonbear1]

muttimalzwei, your dd sounds pretty much like mine! My dd also had (to some extent still has, and she's just started yr 3) concentration and hearing issues. She finally had grommets fitted a few months ago, after we'd been going back and forth to ENT for the past 2 years. There has definitely been some improvement - her teacher did notice as well. It's not a cure-all as dd still has poor listening skills, but it has helped with phonics as I don't think she could hear all the sounds properly before. Her reading is still quite behind for her age, and her confidence was very low so it's been a battle. Can your dd recognise the 3 letter words and some keywords without having to spell them out? dd was there for ages, it didn't click at all, then all of a sudden things seemed to improve.

[muttimalzwei]

Some days she can recognise the three letter words and the key words, other days it's like you are going back to square one and she doesn't get words that she has seen countless times before. Just don't get it! It's the confidence thing that is upsetting.

[maizieD]

I wouldn't worry about recognition of whole words at the moment. Does your dd know her letter/sound correspondences automatically?

The very basic skill of reading is to be able to say a 'sound' for each letter (or group of letters) in a word and blend all the sounds together to produce a word. Repetition of this is what secures a word as a 'sight' word (that is, a word which can be recognised apparently instantly) Children vary greatly as to the number of repetitions of sounding out and blending they need to achieve this. Some need one or two, some need many more. If your dd does multiple soundings out of the same word, but it still fails to become a 'sight word' then I would suspect that she possibly has a problem with 'rapid automatic naming' and will need very intensive work on memorising the letter/sound correspondences.



A very very few (like, possibly, Indigo Bell's child) never can do it. This is the point at which you may have to consider non-phonic strategies, but these are most definitely second best and only successful in a tiny handful of cases.

I wonder how good the initial teaching of phonics is at your school?

I am saying this because I work with children with reading difficulties (albeit older children) and know that intensive, rigorous phonics instruction is the best way to help most struggling children.

Hearing, and eyesight, are very definitely areas to check; as noted by other posters.

[MollieO]

Ds is 6 and really struggles with reading. Has extra help at school but no real improvement that I can discern. Hates reading with a passion. Does his homework only because I threaten the teacher. From what I can work out he is on the bottom table in his class and he hates that - says the other children disturb him. He is very good at maths but I assume reading is key hence his class position.

He can sound out his letters but rarely manages to work out the word from the letter sounds.

Hopefully sorting out hearing may help your dd.

[looplou]

My DS is 6 and has all the same described here. He he some developmental delay due to prem birth and hearing problems. He suffered badly in reception as he just couldn't do phonics at that time (although he wasn't the only one) and was therefore left in a corner to languish. We got a specialist teacher this year who retaught his phonics and worked on his concentration using matching games (although not using the jolly techniques) and used the American Hooked on Phonics system (its a three stage system based on flash cards, books and exercises with audio) and he is now flying. The school were not interested and it fell to us to do the work with him and it worked for us, but he was very motivated because his brother reads a lot and so do we as a family. I would suggest to keep going - and go back to basics with the phonics it can be frustrating but if they haven't learned it the first time it may be what's standing in the way.

[jem44]

Sounds like my third child. The hearing problems are a very common cause of slow progress in small children and will be affecting her so ask a paediatrician to help you sort that and with luck this might be her only problem.

If she is fidgeting or not hearing well at times she will be missing vital information and this really shows up in comparison with her classmates at this age.

She is still very young so you have identified the problem early. Some children just take longer too so don't panic yet. She is very young for the year.
While it is important for the school to be dealing with any real issues she has, so keep in close contact with teachers and ask for support, I bought "Toe By Toe" by Keda Cowling from Amazon for my similar-sounding daughter.

www.amazon.co.uk/Toe-Structured-Multi-sensory-Reading-Teachers/dp/0952256401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1284449270&sr=8-1-spell&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

It is a phonics book for teaching dyslexics from scratch but is useful for anyone who is struggling with early reading or who might have missed some of the early phonic steps. It is designed to be used by non-specialist teachers/parents but is often used in schools. It is a complete workbook - the only equipment you need is a pencil for ticking boxes - no writing for the child - and you need just 10 mins a day. Full instructions are in the book. It is very simple to use and drills the child in sounds. It is aimed at all age groups and I found that after about page 80 it became a bit difficult for a 6 year old so I put it away and thought I would bring it out after a few months. I didn't need to in the end.

If you look at the reviews on Amazon you will see that it has helped many people who struggle to learn to read. Good luck.

[IndigoBell]

Hi Maizie :)

muttimalzwei says that sometimes her child "can recognise the three letter words and the key words, other days it's like you are going back to square one and she doesn't get words that she has seen countless times before"

Do you know why this might be or have any recommendations on how to help this?

(My DD has now started a new school where the staff are much better and I'm truly hoping that we will start to see some progress this year.)

[fsmail]

My DD has just had two days of school, terrible mother taking her out to work, modelling at a conference.

I got out her reading book when we got homeand it was the best reading she has done ever. I now wonder if poor reading could be coming from her confidence in school. It was her first Level 4 ORT book, when the stories get more interesting. Usually she will only do a page or two and tonight she asked to finish the book.

[LadyLapsang]

Your daughter will be one of the youngest in her school year so do consider that when making comparisons. Having said that, I would sort out any hearing problem quickly. When was the last time her hearing was tested and how was it? If you experience problems with waits on the NHS and you have the money it doesn't cost that much to get a hearing test and see a ENT consultant privately. How is her speech and eyesight?

[neolara]

I would check out the books and cards by ReadWrite on amazon. It's an incredibly structured phonics programme. It's also relatively cheap e.g. cards to learn the letter sounds cost about £5, set of 10 books coast £7. THere is also a handbook for parents (about £3). Each book prompts the child to revise letter sounds, practise sounding out, read common non-phonetic words, discuss vocabulary, read a story and answer questions on the story.

My dd hadn't picked up reading in Year 1 like a lot of the others and I bought the series. She picked it up very quickly. From struggling with 3 or 4 letter phonetically regular words, in about 2 months she was reading long, complicated sentences. I was very impressed with the materials.

[LadyLapsang]

Forgot to say the obvious, are you / your DP reading her stories every day and making books / stories fun? Do you take her to the book shop / library and let her pick books herself?

Of course, she need to learn to read herself but she needs you to read to her too.

[muttimalzwei]

Thank you for all your support. Been away from the board but in the meantime DD has got her 'reading homework' It's level 4 as much as I can work out and she has sight words 'could, about, took and saw' to memorise. I tried making a Powerpoint with just these four words (with animations and lots of fun images) She liked clicking into it but did anything to avoid practising the words. She's got 'about' and 'took'. Keeps seeing saw as 'was'. Then tried to cuddle up with her (trying the tactic of making it a cosy time) to read the three homework books and she was fidgeting and making excuses. She'd read one perfectly the previous night and refused to do it again, saying it was done in class anyway.
I bought the Superphonics series of books in the holidays but she hasn't really taken to them and I had a book from M&S with lots of fun activities in which I called her holiday book. Was ok for a bit but then enthusiasm waned.
Yes we have always read to her and we make it fun. Library visits not as frequent as in the past tbh though.
Will look into the courses you have suggested Thanks,
Think it's very interesting fsmail and i agree that putting the reading into a context other than school would be a start.

Ladylapsang. Hearing was poor in winter then fine when tested in spring. (has always suffered with ear infections) Going back in two weeks for tests to check still ok. Speech is very good and she is able to express herself well and self corrects any grammar mistakes. She comes across as bright to me! She is also an exceptional artist and prefers to draw in any circumstance!