AIBU to be worried my 7 year old still can't really read?

[MigrainesAndMore]

My son is 7 in a few weeks and is one of the very eldest in his class so will be joining year 2.
For a little perspective he attends a very small independent school that don't focus too much on literacy / reading / writing from what I've seen however when I voiced my concerns I was told he lacks concentration and interest in reading.
He refused blankly to do reading with us at home so we ordered him his own collection of books that he didn't associate with school and have practised as much as we could.
Teacher then recommended a tutor which has helped slightly ( one hour per Sunday ) however after using her for 6 months and with us reading with him at least 5 times a week, along with him having a story from us every single bedtime he just doesn't seem to be grasping it.
Not only is he completely not interested, he seems to really struggle with remembering a word he's only just read on the page before, still segmenting and blending pretty basic words.
He is on blue level at school which when compared to mainstream schools ( ours don't discuss levels at all ) he's working at about a year below.
Is there anything else I could be doing to help?

[x2boys]

I wouldn't worry to much ds1 goes to a state primary school and could barely read until yr three he's still not keen and hasent developed a love of reading unfortunately but he can read properly .

[Socksey]

My DS only really 'got' reading when he discovered he needed to understand Minecraft instructions.... prior to that he was decoding etc but not really understanding what he read.... he's nearly 9 now and reads lots of different tho vs but particularly stuff that interests him.

[Mrskeats]

most tutors are not qualified
What's that based on? Most tutors are fully qualified teachers (as I am)
In my experience lots of private schools are not as thorough as state with phonics etc
I've been teaching someone who has been private through to year 11 who's spelling is appalling and it's never been picked up.
I second getting some testing done
I also think it's poor you are paying fees and a tutor

[CheesecakeAddict]

I think it's too early to put dyslexia on the table. He hasn't been taught to read. He is a year behind everyone else because he has had a year off being taught to read. Either get him into a different school or trust that their system will work and when he starts year 2 he will catch up.

[TeenAndTween]

So you are paying to send in to a school that doesn't have an ethos of teaching his age to read?
Then you are concerned he's not learning to read so you are paying a tutor to help him?

You asked Is there anything else I could be doing to help? Send him to a state school (which at minimum will attempt to teach him to read, and will probably succeed!)

[CorbynsBumFlannel]

I don't think you should be comparing reading levels with children who will have had daily phonics teaching all the way through year 1. There are plenty of sound reasons to delay formal learning until 7 or more and focus on developing social and physical skills before then. But by suggesting a tutor it sounds as though your sons school isn't one thing or the other. I wouldn't worry about sats. They are just for beating schools and teachers with and mean nothing in relation to the children.

[Huffletuff]

If it's a Steiner school, they won't even begin to learn to read until 7, so I'm not sure what the issue is.

If it's not, what phonics scheme are they using? Can you practise phonics at home?

My Year 2s read one to one with a TA every day. It showed an unbelievable improvement.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Will he be sitting sats at an independent school? Many don't.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Op if you are concerned about the school and its non importance on literacy and numeracy, I would send him to a state school.

[MaryTheCanary]

"most tutors are not qualified
What's that based on? Most tutors are fully qualified teachers (as I am)"

Are you quoting me? (I can't see anyone else on the thread who mentioned tutors and qualifications). I did not say "most tutors are not qualified," only that some are not. I use a tutor for my daughter, and the tutor I use is excellent. It was hard to find her, and I had to weed out a lot of less-excellent and downright hopeless tutors first. A good tutor is worth their weight in gold. It sounds like the OP needs to look again. And looking to the long term, she also needs to get her kid into another school.

[Scaredycat3000]

Sounds similar to my DS, start of year 2 could hardly read. When they rejigged the bandings of the books and put him on a low one even for him the books him and his brother in reception were very similar. I too had been told by his teacher, head of Senco, that there was nothing wrong and that it was all in my head. Exactly as you'd expect from a non selective faith school, they get worse results than non-faith non-selective schools. Three weeks after starting junior school I was asked if there was history of dyslexia or similar in the family. I have no diagnosis myself, but struggle exactly like DS1. We don't get phonics, it's the blind leading the blind. Finally somebody wanted to help. He's still behind, but has made so much progress this year, I'm so pleased for him, and proud, he can read! He had had no interest, refused to read to us, couldn't get it.

[lazyarse123]

I would see if you can get him statemented. My eldest son couldn't read and also wasn't interested. We were told boy's are slower than girls and not motivated, I have an older daughter so knew to push on this. We moved schools in the middle of year 2 and the whole scenario was completely different. (Both state schools) he was statemented and found to be dyslexic. He got extra help and proper support. He is now 26 and can read perfectly well although he sometimes struggles with forms and official letters. Nobody else in our family has dyslexia. Good luck with him.

[LadyLapsang]

As others have highlighted, the local authority in which you live is responsible for offering you a place for your son at a state school. Did you turn down a place or not apply? Just as you have done, families move, so a place may have become available at an outstanding or good school - I would suggest trying again. At your DS's age, my DS was just starting on Harry Potter - must have read them all about 10 times!

Another thing which stood out from your post, you mention only reading with him on weekdays, not weekends - I would suggest reading daily - the weekends give you an opportunity to read earlier in the day when he will be fresh. Also, does he see you and your DH reading for pleasure and purpose - the newspapers, recipe books, magazines, novels...He can help you assemble ingredients and follow simple recipes etc.

[TeenAndTween]

I would see if you can get him statemented.

Why on earth should this child get statemented? He needs teaching first. Only if he fails to learn to read after being properly taught should there be any thought about SN. The OP also said he was doing fine when in Reception at a school that actually taught him!

[Sirzy]

I know you shouldn't but I can't help but laugh at the idea of getting a statement (which no longer exist!) for a child who it seems at this point simply hasn't been taught the skills!

[Aeroflotgirl]

Unfortuntatly not being able to read won't get you an EHCP what was the old statement now, its really toughened up, so children with the most profound disabilities get it. My ds 5.7 years, developmental delay of 1 year, and speech and language delay, the SENCO of his mainstream school has told us that he won't get an EHCP as he is making progress and his needs are not as profound. They have said to me, those with EHCPs have very significant needs.

[Bluebubble123]

Has he not just had a phonics screening test if he was in year 1?

[Witsender]

Outside of standard schools not being able to read at 7 is nothing unusual and wouldn't worry me. 7 isn't at all late and shouldn't have long term effects. Either you trust the school or you don't is the issue though.

[pongoismyhero]

Can you not send him to state school?

[MigrainesAndMore]

Sorry I'll elaborate further as I think I've left things answered.
It's not a Steiner school no but I was told they don't " focus " on academics until year 2.
However they did do the phonics test and do touch on these throughout the day, son got 34/40 although not sure how much of this is us / tutor / school really as we did an awful lot with him during the lead up to it.
When we moved here we were offered one school 14 miles away in another borough and they would cover transport.
I kept him on every waiting list possible for a local school but he is still pretty far down those lists.
Made harder by his sister now starting reception this September so that's another nightmare!
I've carried on from where he left off in reception and as my husbands a ( secondary level ) teacher we thought we were doing all we could really!
Spellings aren't great but we practise those along with writing on a Saturday morning and I see an improvement, it's the reading that not only does he have no interest in but seems to get lost on the page, can't remember what he's just read which is worrying for me.
Believe me if I could have him in a normal state school I would! But to put it in perspective fees are £500 a month ( although this will double next month now I'll have 2 in ) so not your typical pushy independent.
They will be doing sats there too henge my concern.

[Littlefish]

Have you tried putting any kind of coloured overlay on the page he's reading?

If he got 34/40 for his year 1 phonics test then he passed. This means that in theory, he "should" be able to read phonics based books.

What sort of books are you and the school expecting him to read? Are they phonic based?

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

If he has got 34/40 then that would probably rule out any underlying phonological issue that would cause major issues with learning to read.

It is a fairly low score though and suggests he has some significant gaps in his phonic knowledge.

Do the school encourage looking at the pictures or reading round an unknown word and guessing at all?

[Nix32]

Can you tell us more about his writing? Does he write in sentences, are his spellings phonetic or correct, does he understand/use any punctuation? Does he enjoy writing?