how do I help my daughter with sounds?

[fernie3]

my daughter is in reception and seems to be struggling with her reading.She cannot read any words and finds it really hard making the sounds of the letters. She KNOWS most of the names of the letters but cant seem to grasp the concept that she can use the sounds to make the words. So she will say C A T but have no idea how to read that word as a whole. I have explained it to her so many times but she just doesnt get it!. Also if you say to her "what sounds are in the word cat?" - which is what we have been told to do at school she will just guess and say "L" for example.
She is great with numbers and all of the tasks she has been sent home with numbers she can do but I have no ida how to help her with reading.

I have spoken to the teacher who says things like "she follows the words with her finger" which is great but she seems to be stuck just following letters with no idea what they actually say. Meanwhile every week we get sent a little list of words we are supposed to teach them to read none of which she has been able to learn!.

Also my husband and pretty much all of his family have dyslexia so is it too young to be worrying about this at the moment or given her difficulty is it a valid worry?
As I say the teacher seems have moved on now onto other things but my daughter hasnt understood the basic bits?

[oldenglishspangles]

DD had similar problems in reception could barely (still only just on first sticker when going into year 1) Reading didnt click until the end of year one. It is fairly normal try not to be worried, the school have targets to meet, but children have their own development curves. Lots of children appear slower to read at first and then shoot ahead of their peers later. keep an eye on your daughter vis a vis the dyslexia. If you are still concerned get the school to get the learning support person to have a look, perhaps towards the end of reception if it is still not clicking.

[pollywollydoodle]

ffirst, don't worry!

second perhaps play games like i spy (but using sounds)and getting her to point at as many things beginning with a particular sound (window, wardrobe, wall etc)...getting the idea of a first sound in a word might help

[drivinmecrazy]

Sounds exactly like DD2. She is an August baby so we really don't expect as much of her as some of her class mates. She can, if she concentrates really hard, read basic words but will very quickly lose interest and revert to guessing. I know with DD1 that one day reading does just suddenly click, whenever that may be. I also share your concerns re dyslexia. DH is dyslexic so we are very aware though not overly so. DD2 also took a long time to label shapes and colours accurately. But in many other ways is ahead of her peers so am not in the slightest concerned

[witchwithallthetrimmings]

first please don't worry, 4+ is really young to be able to read
second is do you do the same sounds at home as in class
N is not ner but nn, M is not mer but muum for example. There is a jolly phonics cd that has the songs that really helps both parents and child with the sounds

[fernie3]

thanks I went to this afternoon at the school where they taught us how to say the letters, but I admit I found it a little odd so I might be doing it all wrong!. She is the oldest in her class her birthday is the start of September so I hadnt really been too worried but I had a shock last night when my three year old recognized letters she couldnt just from listening to us lol. Which made me go into full panic mode! I will have a look for the phonics cd.

[icancancan]

I would second jolly phonics cd - re; my recent thread and ds,4, not picking up some sounds - some of it was my fault! we'd always said n=ner when it was nn sound, etc and listening to the jolly phonics cd was an eye opener - basically v short sounds iyswim.
his teacher said he is having to 'unlearn' some of the things we have done . kinda wish they had lessons for the parents too ....

[paisleyleaf]

That new 'alphablocks' program on cbeebies at 4.30 is quite good.