Reading difficult - normal learning process or deeper problem?

[nordicwannabe]

DD started Reception this year, and last term she 'clicked' with blending sounds, so she can decode words of 2, sometimes 3 syllables.

However, she sometimes really struggles, and today reading her book it took her ages to try to read each word, and she was guessing most of them - wrongly! She couldn't even read the names Wilf and Wilma, despite them appearing on every page.

Is it just the holidays? We read to her, but didn't ask her to read to us, during the holidays, so she is out of practice.

Single words (in word boxes) are noticeably better than sentences.

The thing is, she has some vision problems (one eye doesn't work well, and although the other compensates, it's harder for her to see combinations of letters together). So I'm trying to figure out whether this is part of the normal process of learning to read, or whether it's related to her vision, or even something else entirely ( feels like she's struggling to process the symbols).

If it is her vision, I need to know so we can get some more help - we have already discovered how the vision problems can snowball if left untreated.

What do you all reckon? Normal or worrying?

[Rainbowsandflowers78]

It’s hard to say - there’s an element of normal in there - my dd will guess words all the time and when tired just make up a sentence that is nothing like on the page!
Try her reading when she’s not tired
When you ask her to correct does she get it right?
Is using her finger to follow the words?

[BrendansDanceShoes]

Tracking of words may be harder for her. Speak to those who are treating your daughter for her vision. Is it hard for her to track words left to right and then down onto the next line? But on a positive note, my kids never got the names Wilf and Wilma. They wanted names more like that of their classmates! I just used to make them read the stories inserting their friends or names they had heard of, we had Will and Megan. Biff became Bob because we know a female Bob (albeit a moggy!) Chip and Kipper stayed the same. At this stage, decoding a name is not as important as decoding and reading the high frequency words. I love Oxford reading tree... not!

[Ginmummy1]

She already has a diagnosed eye problem, and you say "it's harder for her to see combinations of letters together".

It seems to me that you have answered your own question!

I would go back to the eye specialist for advice in the first instance.

[Ginandtonictime]

What does her teacher say? Have you discussed your worries with them?

My advice: don't ignore those niggling worries - your gut instinct as a parent is always worth listening to. Voice your concerns and share them with the staff ... they are very experienced at identifying what is and is not a potential problem ...

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Could be a combination of a couple of things. The vision problems can definitely cause an issue.

Are the books she’s being sent home decodable with the phonics she knows or do they contain sounds she doesn’t? She could well be guessing because she doesn’t know the phonics for words she meets and has been told that’s what she’s supposed to do.

[Pud2]

If she is only in her second term of reception then this sounds entirely normal. I wouldn't worry at this point.