Reassurance about y2 child who is behind

[bentleydrummle]

I am just Beside myself about my son in y2 who is way behind at school.

He has worn glasses since reception and also had about 2 years of patching on one eye as his vision in his other eye was so poor.

I raised concerns re his reading and writing in reception and the teachers said he was ok and he was meeting expectations at the end of reception. His y1 was a bit of a write-off because of covid and he had an nqt who seemed a bit clueless and just kept telling me that his behaviour was excellent .

In y2, his teacher and the senco referred him to an Ed psych for a full assessment including for dyslexia....the Ed psych said that cognitively he was above average but was behind in his reading and spelling ages and this was likely to to be due to issues with his eyesight and him not being able to see properly in the early stages of learning to read. Her conclusion was that he should continue to do the Lexia programme and do a another one to one reading primer scheme with a LSA, which he is doing.

However, progress is still VERY slow.

School posts pics on Twitter of work the kids have done and his writing is just miles behind the rest.

For about a year he got 0/8 on every spelling test despite practising them relentlessly all week. We now only choose 4 words and focus on him getting 4/8 which occasionally happens. We read everyday but it's a battle and he gets worked up. He loves being read to and has done ever since he was a baby. His spelling is Frankenstein-Esque and his writing is pretty illegible. And to make matters worse he is a sept baby so if anything should be ahead.

He seems to me to be bright and articulate, he has a broad vocabulary and is very knowledgeable about lots of things.
He loves drawing and does quite intricate drawings so it doesn't seem to be an issue with motor control.

I'm just at my wits end. My other son started piano at 7 but there is no way ds2 could even contemplate reading music when he can barely read his school books.

Please can someone give me some advice or reassurance?

[bentleydrummle]

Bumping this for this morning

[Springisspringing2]

Hi op, hard to comment with your sons specific issues but re spelling how do you get him to practise?
My dd only got them when using a few different formats to practise eg magnetic spelling rainbow.. Then white board etc..

We went back to basic on year 2 with Peter and Jane books, mine didn't get phonics.
It's gone evangelical on phonics but I know now from all the sen stuff I'm on, so many dc don't get it and it's become a barrier to learning.

Peter and Jane.. Basics.. 100 hfw flash cards.


Once my dd got these, my goodness.. The difference! The wheels started to turn, we then supplements school books with reading chest school books and bribed her to read every day...
She's not a free reader yet but with those stragety combined she's certainly a far better reader who has a chance of reading what work she's given in class.

[Springisspringing2]

For maths I also got her a tutor who has many ways of visually helping her with various things, and also an sen tutor...

[Lulu1919]

With writing ...it could be lack of fine motor skills....ie he just can't hold the pencil properly which sounds silly I know but it's a thing I promise..I'm a TA with 20 plus years of experience
Google it..there are loads of fun activities you can do to strengthen his little hands

The reading ...have you tried using a line guide so he's only seeing the line he's is reading
Keep reading to him....it really does help

Spellings are tricky ...we have children who 'learn ' all ten for a test ....get them right but a few days later can't spell them correctly in a sentence .

Flash cards are great
Writing the words on paper then cut up the letters so he puts them in the right order
Chalk them outside
Use those bath crayons
Repetition is the key but make it fun

Hope some of this helps

[Elisheva]

How is his phonological awareness? Can he rhyme? If you said a word can he tell you the sounds in that word - not read them, hear them? So if you asked him what is the first sound in phone would he be able to tell you? Can he clap and count the number of syllables in a word?

[TulipSandwiches]

I wouldn't worry about the spelling at all just now.

Focus on his phonological awareness and ensuring that you listen to him read every day and that he does his Lexia at home every day.

I've ten dc in my year two class on Lexia and not one of them has done a single minute over the holiday. They all do twenty minutes a day at school but then they are missing twenty minutes of something else which is half a lesson.

When you say his writing is miles behind his peers do you mean the spelling or the content?

[bentleydrummle]

Thank you for advice.

His spelling is a big issue, he can do things like add in adjectives and construct sentences but because his spelling is so bad it is hard to make sense of it.

He can identify syllables and rhymes, but sometimes he can't segment words (not sure if that is the right word?) so he runs words together in his writing and then has a gap where there shouldn't be one If that makes sense.

[Elisheva]

Okay, so his phonological awareness needs a bit of a boost. Fortunately that’s quite easy to do!
This website gives a good explanation:
www.readingrockets.org/search? www.readingrockets.org/search?cx=004997827699593338140%3Anptllrzhp78&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&as_q=Phonological+&sa.x=0&sa.y=0 cx=004997827699593338140%3Anptllrzhp78&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&as_q=Phonological+&sa.x=0&sa.y=0

And if you google phonological awareness games/activities it will give you loads of suggestions.

[Springisspringing2]

Spelling mat so he can feel and see the letter in context in alphabet also sounds like he needs the special eye sight done, the one that tracks eyes.. Ie above regular eye person

[doublemix]

My DS is now year 3 but July birthday so similar age to your DS and basically is exactly the same. Going into this year he was behind on reading/spelling and writing. The reading has just clicked for him over the last lockdown and he moved up 4 book bands since going back to school. So is now where he should be. His spelling is still way behind he could learn the spellings in the morning then spell them wrong in the afternoon he just doesn't remember them he's also a very slow writer!

I've had to take a bit of a step back with it as it was getting both me and him very stressed out. His teacher is aware and he is in a smaller group for spellings etc but she always say she's not worried as when you talk to him he always knows the answer and is very clever he's just not good at writing them down and he's fine at maths etc. We're going to reassess at 1/2 term and go from there when they've settled back down.

[HSHorror]

Are they doing the spellings phonetically?
The words are generally pretty easy with only small irregular or unusual phonics

[Yellowmellow2]

He’s still a bit young to be assessed for Dyslexia but worth looking into when he gets to Year 3 if he’s still struggling. In our LA the educational psychologists don’t diagnose dyslexia but that may be different where you areas you mention he was put forward for an assessment.