Come and talk to me if your child REALLY isn't getting phonics

[SloeBerri]

DS wasn’t the best at phonics, but I saw progress and he got there. Reading quite well by the end of yr 1 as a summer born. (The older ds and dd read before school)

Dd2 though is yr 1 and is already 6. Her phonics lack of progress is starting to be extreme. She doesn’t consistently remember letter sounds, I’d say maybe 6 she mostly knows, but she may confuse or guess them. Say she sees ‘r’ and guesses ‘guh’. Sometimes she even sees a number and tries to guess the sound incorrectly. She can’t aurally identify initial sounds at all, or blend or segment even with a lot of prompting (basically just elongating the sounds confuses her) Nothing is sticking. She can sort of write her name with incorrectly formed letters, normally in reverse or with something missing.

It’s not for want of exposure to books or learning (we’re both primary teachers!). I’m not sure I’ve taught children without EHCPs tbh who are so resistant to progress, those slow to learn still seem to progress in some ways.

Her language technically is fairly good, she ha learnt to read a book aloud to her sister and make up lovely coherent stories by following the pictures.

Is anyone else here and fancy a chat?

Hello!

My children have had other difficulties, but just wanted to ask, have you had her eyes tested? A proper test with a behavioral optometrist, not a high street optician standard test?

I think it is always worth ruling out an eyesight problem right at the start. My DS had difficulty focusing, so although he got phonics well he just didn't get reading.

Dyslexia?

So, she can't play eye spy?
She may need a proper hearing test, too. She may be unable to differentiate sounds, in which case the whole phonic thing ceases to work at all!

I was going to ask if she's had her hearing screened recently ? If she's struggling hearing the sounds in the first place that would certainly impact her ability to learn the sounds in the first place.

dyslexia was my thought too. I have a almost 15 year old like this. she HATES Phoenic with a vengeance and spend many years being forced to do extra lessons to "get" Phoenics. Result was my lovely clever girl completely disengaged with echo and learning. Secondary was a relief they said. ok she doesn't like phoenic we will teach her another way. and they have. she is bringing in consistent middle to high grades nkw6 finally able to show her intelligence. sadly she got to year 9 before she would accept she is good at learning.

I would start with a dyslexia test.if not try old-fashioned A B C. it helps some children.

Done the eye / ear tests properly yes

Sorry-too soon, her hearing is ok, yet she shows very poor ability to distinguish sounds

My concerns on dyslexia testing are her age. Still young, and also accessing it when she is working at such a low level. Why dyslexia, not LD I’d wonder I guess?

DD is 13 now and never got phonics. Her primary school had poorly trained TAs taking the phonics groups and she was resistant to practising with me.

She loved books and being read to and slowly started to read and eventually became a good reader. Her writing was quite slow too but now in year 8 she's top set for English. So phonics didn't work for her but she got there in the end!

DS18 Tests positive for dyslexia sometimes and not others. His phonic discrimination is appalling- he has no idea how to say an unfamiliar word, and no idea how to spell an unfamiliar word.

He's doing very well- good grades at A level, now at uni. He does everything by sight recognition.

She could have a phonological processing issue?

I posted about his a few days ago in another topic. DD is a little older than yours, she’s just started year 2 (is 6.8) and she is struggling with phonics. If you ask her she will say she is good at everything except phonics! She is in what I think is the “bottom group” for phonics (school don’t tell you just from what I can work out and I think she is aware of that) but is in the “hard group” as she calls it for maths and generally appears to be bright and articulate.

She is a very reluctant reader. She’s not terrible, she’s on stage 8, so not wildly below average for her age but has been on that level since sometime in the summer term. Can’t remember off the top of my head but I’d say around May half term. There’s some things that she does that made me wonder if she’s dyslexic but I haven’t taken that further yet as I’m still looking for further advice/guidance as to whether I’m on the right track.

Have you had a parents evening yet this year? Have the school raised anything?

Mine is 6.2, no sight words (unless say a huge prompt like the mine craft logo). Not a single word from the earliest reader, very few letters even recognised. I worry a bit it’s beyond slow reading, to a big problem. I can do a letter for a few days, she’ll forget it though.

Could it be a retention issue. Could she simply not be remembering.

This site (sorry can’t link) www.nessy.com/uk/screening-for-dyslexia/#free-dyslexia-questionnaire has a dyslexia questionnaire if you wanted more info on that.

Do you have any other ares of concern OP? Coordination, behavioural, anything outside of school/phonics? Has her teacher raised anything? If you are concerned about a bigger issue, have you spoken to the GP? That’s lots of questions sorry!

DS, who is now 8, at the time couldn't hear the word in a blend, but was able to sound out words. I got him the book "How to teach your child to read in 100 lessons". It was boring as well, but it clicked. The book used a technique called "sound blending". So as you blend a sound, you don't chop up the sounds. e.g. "/b/a/d/....you sound blend instead "baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad". Then you say it fast- "bad".

Other examples of sound blends.
..CHOP
"chooooooooooooop" say it fast. "Chop".
BAT
"baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat", say it fast "bat".

I got the 100 lessons book to try something different! The first few lessons when well, but I keep having to re-so them. She’s solidly learnt S M A from it over a few months, but not to blend.

Her behaviour is quirky, not so much difficult but she seems to generally operate differently. Likes home days best, simple life.

Probably yes, if there’s one thing I worry about it’s retention. My others for example learnt to count to 10+ at 2ish. I’ve had to really really expressly teach it and it’s a recent thing, it’s been a barrier in games like hide and seek. She seems to get concept okiah, but she’s not holding onto things and I think she relies heavily on looking, and doesn’t process spoken language well. Her vocabulary is good, but her application can. be poor

Coordination for gross motor is babyish, runs awkwardly, can’t scoot etc. I’d say though fine motor skills are very good

I just looked at the dyslexia test, the problem is really she’s not working at a level for it, she basically ticks all of it. It may be for another reason, it seems aimed a child reading/ writing with difficulty. She’s just operating across the board way younger

What are her general phonological awareness skills like? Ability to detect or generate rhyme or count syllables for example?

My daughter struggles with this. She sounds like yours - she was 6y6mo when she finally got blending. A few months on from that now, and she can very slowly make her way through her reading books from school. But she can only sound out for very simple (like 3-sound) words so far, and seems to be managing the rest via just remembering what the other kids said in school (especially as she is sometimes vastly wrong, saying for example some other two-syllable word starting with K for "kicking" or whatever). I worry as it seems the homework she gets is SO far over her ability level, and she really hates reading :(

Both of mine. Dd1 has amazing memory so simply memorised everything she saw, dd2 got diagnosed as dyslexic at 6 - but about 14 English sort of clicked , spelling isn't the best still but she's predicted straight A's at her (science) a levels. I think I have the same issue tbh. Try not to worry, they do develop coping mechanisms

I just looked at the dyslexia test, the problem is really she’s not working at a level for it, she basically ticks all of it. It may be for another reason, it seems aimed a child reading/ writing with difficulty. She’s just operating across the board way younger

Just did the same, and had the same impression. She's still writing 12 for 21, for example (and tries to argue with me that it doesn't matter because her teacher knows what she means...).

I wouldn't wait. None of that sounds right at all. Get her assesssed by an ED psych.

Google retained reflexes.

Ds2 made great progress after being assessed and given simple exercise to do. As in physical exercises.

He was also struggling with auditory processing which made things difficult