To be worries? 0 on phonics screening.

The concerns for me here would be with the school, why haven't they flagged this with you earlier? DS had a practice phonics test back in February they all did so they could see what they were working towards individually and as a class. What did they say to you at parents' evening about his progress? Is it just affecting phonics or other aspects of his learning? I wouldn't rely on them being proactive with the information at they haven't been with this. Can you book to see the senco? I'd also be requesting an ECHNA if he doesn't have an EHCP. The thing is with the ongoing autism assessment and the visual impairment or will be difficult to know where the impact on learning is predominantly coming from without a detailed assessment.

Hi.

learning to read is taught by methods which include phonics because the evidence is that this is the most successful way.

however there are kids that phonics doesn’t really work for.

the fact your child got zero on the phonics test would seem to indicate he is one of those children.

you have a number of options, some of which can be done at the same time.

firstly, something like wordshark will help with basic phonics. If you do a small amount every day it is possible he will start to pick it up.

https://www.wordshark.co.uk/

There’s also interventions school could put in place - something like toe to toe is a possibility,

https://toe-by-toe.co.uk/

Children who struggle with phonics can also benefit from learning the Dolch or sight words - so the most common 100 or so words in the English language. In other education systems it’s quite common to learn these via flash cards or similar so that the child recognises it on sight.

https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DolchWord_List_220.pdf

I was literally jumped on before on mindset for saying that my child could read despite never passing phonics 😂😂 she really struggled with phonics. She is year 6 now and went from years behind to age appropriate by changing method to sight reading alone ….from being year 1 level in year 4 to scoring 107 in reading for sats this year but apparently I’m deluded and she will never succeed without phonics 🤷‍♂️

I knew my eldest was dyslexic from no age, he failed his phonics screener too

School weren't overly concerned but I kept pushing them, they suggested toe to toe - which we did ourselves and actually his reading is pretty good now

But he cannot really decode new words (he has a stab but the pronunciation is always off) and his spelling is off the charts terrible. School have accepted that phonics does not and never will work for him

He had a dyslexia screener at 7 that was borderline, and again ay 9 which showed he is moderately dyslexia

So my advice - trust your gut even if they say he's fine

Don't despair,. phoenics doesn't work for all kids

Try and promote reading for pleasure (even if it's looking at pictures, my boy loves comics)

And they toe to toe at home (big red book you can buy on Amazon)

Then school aren’t doing a very good job. They should be meeting with you to share strategies, targets etc.

If he recognises and knows the sounds that’s a good start! I would concentrate on trying to make blending a more practical activity then, particularly if he’s got S&L difficulties.

I’d start with blending just two sounds together (e.g. at, an, it, in, on) you could do made up words here too but if he struggles to say words with two conservative consonants I’d stick to blending a vowel sound and a consonant for now. To make it practical anything that involves things crashing together or being squashed together is perfect. E.g.

• two toy cars and say one sound for each car and then crash the cars together and say the blended word
• two Lego bricks and say one sound for each brick and then join together and say the blended word
• two blobs of play dough and say one sound for each blob then squish them together and say the blended word

• little jump for each sound and then a big jump for the blended word
• Karate chop for each sound and then a clap for the blended word
• magic wand “point” for each sound and a twirl for the blended word
• stretch an arm out for each sound and then curl up into a ball for the blended word

I’d keep these activities really short as if he’s finding it hard you don’t want it to become a battle for either of you. You want it to be something fun that you are doing together.

Phonics doesn’t click for every child so you might find that what actually helps him to read is whole word recognition so in September with his new teacher I would definitely ask what else they’re doing in school to support his reading rather other than just small group phonics support.

Good luck! I hope that this is helpful.

We had similar struggles with DS2, he knew his letters but couldn't blend.
I was really worried about it and spoke to my friend who is an educational psychologist - she advised to teach him reading by sight which is how I learned to read.
By year 4 he was absolutely crushing it and has excelled academically ever since. He's been a voracious reader since he was 10, year 7 dyslexia screening identified him as highly likely dyslexic (struggles with auditory processing, phonological sequencing and something else), and incidentally he was diagnosed as autistic at 14. Total brain box, loves books, still doesn't do well with phonics.
You are right to be concerned and discuss with the school how to help, but please know that anecdotally there are lots of kids with similar struggles who it absolutely works out for in the end.

Im surprised this was a surprise to you if he can’t blend- we’re a school honest or have they just been hoping it would click before the test?

I taught a child who really struggled with blending. There is no easy fix. Phonemic awareness practice and then dynamic blending (basically you blend the first two sounds mu and then add on the final sound m. Mu-m etc) it WILL click. My boy that I spent most of y1 practicing with daily is now in y4 and is a good reader!

But he isn't fine.
And the early intervention team aren't QTVIs. Its a one off assessment by experts.

If he doesn't have an EHCP, I think you should request an EHCNA. You can do this; the school doesn't need to. It sounds like he has quite significant SEN and I think an educational psychologist would be able to offer more insight on exactly where his learning is breaking down around phonics. If he is autistic, there are a lot of things that might be impacting his ability to learn in the classroom.

If he does have an EHCP, there should be specific reading targets built into this.

I wouldn't give up on the phonics straight away. Although of course he doesn't need to know he's doing phonics practice and it doesn't need to be a huge thing.
I suspect a minority of children do just learn to read by sight. The problem is whenever they have run with that and removed phonics from the curriculum it's been a huge disaster for most of the children (it was a whole thing in parts of America). So, I would assume he isn't part of the small minority who do better without phonics. That way, if he isn't then he still learns the way he needs. If he does turn out to be a small minority who learn better in other ways then learning the phonics won't hurt him. Since you will be reading t him/encouraging him to look at books anyway.

But the main thing at that age is keep it fun and relaxed. Don't let him feel he's "bad at" reading if possible as it can become self fulfilling.

If he has a clinical diagnosis of nystagmus, ask for advice from the council's Qualified Teacher of Vision Impaired childre.

Don't start any other reading intervention until you have had a functional vision assessment. (It's different to what an ophthalmologist will do and they may suggest strategies that will help in a classroom).

When you say that he can recognise the letters used but is not able blend them do you mean he knows the letter names or their sounds? So for cat would he say “see” “ay” “tea” (letter names) or would he say “c” “a” “t” (letter sounds)? If he recognises the sounds then he needs some support with blending but if he is saying the letter names he needs to learn their sounds before starting to be able to blend words.

I’m an experienced Year 1 teacher so have got a couple of ideas that you could try at home over the summer but which I suggest depends on where he currently is.

I’d consider whether he might be better suited to learning to read by sight (I think a PP mentioned Ladybird books). My DD is dyslexic and struggled with phonics but years later she can spell some really difficult words but still struggles with some simpler ones.

Then practise 10/15 mins a day.

There are lists of the most common words at various ages, maybe look at these if you want to see how he’s getting on. I used to check every now and again through junior school.

Keep reading to him also,

We also tried audio books with a paperback alongside to give some independence when DD was about 10/11. I just didn’t want her to miss out on the stories at that point, not just helping her to read better.

Mine struggled with sounding out words. He could sound out the individual letters but then just guess the word. E.g.
"C-a-t, C-a-t"
"Very good what does c-a-t sound like when its run together"
"Dog!"

I think we did lots of practicing but made into games so he didn't realise he was practicing and it just clicked eventually. I don't know what made the biggest difference. But as well as sounding out words I would sometimes when we were out and about say the full word and then break it into sounds/encourage him to do it. E.g "oh look a duck. D-uh-k". So it's doing it in a different direction which I think made it click. But you can be subtle about it so they don't feel harangued

Also lots of reading like you are doing. Singing and rhyming helps a lot as well.

Can he see the words ok if he has nystagmus? Are the font sizes used big enough for him?

If he can identify the sounds but not the word, then move away from getting him to sound things out and do more of the robot talk mentioned above. So don't point to letters and wait for him to sound them out, you do the sounds and then do the robot word talk. He's only 5, so with speech and language delays already identified, you are still on track to get there in a reasonable time frame.

Try not to show him your worry or put pressure on him. Make it fun and help him engage with it.

If he just can’t do phonics you’ll have to get a set of ladybird learn to read books and teach him that way.

My own DS struggled so much with phonics. By Y6 they noted he was 5 whole years behind his peers and just could not for the life of him get his head around how to blend the sounds or how reading worked in general.

He was diagnosed ASD early on and they said the suspicion was dyslexia, although where I am they wouldn’t test for it until he was 13.

Now, at age 13, he has made huge strides to the point where English is his best subject in school and he has won an award for being the top reader.

My point here is simply not to lose hope, and not to worry too much. Kids find their way. Keep trying, keep helping, but don’t stress too much.