"They learnt their phonics from alpha blocks'

[letdownalittle]

Aibu to get a little tired of hearing this? That letter sounds are just so easy to pick up that a bit of exposure to alpha locks or another program is enough to learn them at 3?

Does anyone else have little ones who do not follow the approach that seeing/ hearing a letter sound= knowing it. It seems be an approach where children are meant to be little jugs of knowledge where you put in a little bit of knowledge each day and they will be a little full jig soon. Mine forget half of what they hear at least, progress in fits and bursts and in the case of dd, nearly 5, haven't picked the sound or name of a single letter.

Does this resound with anyone else? Dd has watched alphablocks, looked at many a jolly phonic book, flash card etc but nowt. Writes her name and friends name and the odd word, but doesn't pick up sounds?

She is hearing impaired to a moderate level, hf autism but is otherwise fairly able. No other signs of learning needs, good vocabulary, can add single digits mentally...

I had one that struggled to remember sounds and couldn't blend.

I used Dancing bears one of their more basic books and just kept at it - 10 minutes every day - their tip of shouting out sounds helped enormously.

The phonics in school was often "fun based" - lots of games that took time but didn't seem to help probably as short term memory wasn’t great and they were easily distracted.

Had similar with maths they were utterly confused by it at school so had to step in at home with basics explained over and over and lots and lots of practise – luckily found an on-line site that dealt with that.

Now read a hugh amount of books and are considered brilliant at maths.

I do think hearing played a part - as well as poor short term memory and distractibility - as they were boarder line with hearing tests - but struggle to hear certain sounds or distinguish between certain ones- but the shouting out sound quickly to blend did seem to help a lot.

Personally I haven't found sound that great at stepping in when they are struggling with correct support - which I think was frustrating for their teachers as well as us.

I have read somewhere that some autistic children learn more by sight than phonics (i.e. just memorising the words). Phonics isn't necessarily the right approach for all children. See if you can get her to memorise a few Phase 1 words. Sound them out for her but don't make her do anything except repeat the word. If she can learn some words by sight it might give her the confidence to build on later.

My DD1 was slow to read. Got it towards the end of year 2. She has since been diagnosed with ASD. Her attention span is rubbish. She went from not reading much to top of he year (according to accelerated reader program) in no time once she got it.

DD2 is a late August baby and had glue ear. She was very behind start of year 2. Glue ear has cleared and is now nearly free reader at the start of year 3.

With both children we just kept up them reading to us, us reading to them. Me and DH read loads so it is seen as a normal activity. Both girls love reading now.

Personally I haven't found sound that great at stepping in when they are struggling with correct support - which I think was frustrating for their teachers as well as us.

that should have read school aren't great at stepping in.

I was taught whole word recognition as was all my class though only a few struggled with reading - and I don't think I worked out the complex code till adulthood. I have a well above average memory and great reading comprehension and I think that got me through. I do did well in exams.

Did leave me mixing words that look similar - but are different in middle of word - struggling with pronouncing unfamiliar words and added to me hating reading out loud that and I’d often guess so wasn’t an accurate reader and my spelling was a total mess.

I eventually got diagnosed with dyslexia – so perhaps I was always doomed to struggle – but it’s why I’ve persevered with phonics with my children in hope they can avoid having such problems.

It has been very annoying when my children came home exhausted from school and I had to do extra work with them - to hear from everyone else their child just got it.

I think for some children reading is really easy for them to pick up and they soak it up effortlessly. Ds2 picked up the alphabet watching Crosswits many moons ago and Dn picked it up from Countdown. As adults neither ds nor dn read for pleasure.
My dd could read at three without any formal teaching other than reading to her whenever she asked and putting my finger under the words she had to learn phonics when she got to nursery though even though she could read fluently because I hadn't taught her them either.
My other dd took longer to learn to read but she is the avid reader as an adult so maybe it is more valued because she had o work at it who knows.
Reading is only a skill that like everything else is easier for some than others. I think instilling a love of books is probably more worthwhile than pushing phonics when they are small tbh.

She's autistic and hearing-impaired, you can't compare her to children without those conditions. She's going to pick things up differently, and you're getting wound up comparing apples and oranges.

Thank you for those also posting about late readers. I think when you're in the middle of it it's easy to loose sight, even when you have older ones. We love books, we all read or are read to, daily for pleasure and DS free read from the beginning of yr 3.

It's just a few years of grim school interactions I find if they don't fit the norm in ks1. It was I must admit a little sad to have a written report a few days shy of his 5th Birthday that he didn't reach expected standards already!

Totally anecdotally - my oldest (who has ASD) was unable to make head or tail of phonics, ever.

Luckily, he did have astonishingly accurate recall and shape memory, so he learnt each word separately as a shape. (He could 'draw' his own name, to a point where it was recognisable, at the age of two.)

I have since been told that it is impossible for any child to build up enough vocabulary in this way, but hey ho, he's at university now so I guess he's getting by on his limited means.

I can imagine that a combination of ASD and hearing difficulties would make it even more difficult to make sense of phonics.

The Julie donaldson phonics books are very good. You get about a pack of 30 from book people.
A bit more interesting than your average phonics book.

If you mean me, I have no intention of slagging off anyone in particular. Friends say it, it's said on every site I visit, I've had it today from someone. It's not slagging off. I'm fed up this morning after starting to feel like a failure.

It's quite depressing at times to hear over and over bye that there is a magic way, that maybe everyone else presumes you don't bother enough with your child/ do it properly etc so I've had a totally separate rant.

Your daughter is in the majority being a phonics star I take it, nothing to feel paranoid about or like you are slagged off. I wouldn't mind someone thinking mine was clever, but it does get really really depressing at times. Seeing your child upset a lot because something doesn't work. Maybe the thread brought it to my mind in conjunction with a comment this morning. But my intention is not to target anyone. I just felt rather shit today... ok with you?

Your DD's hearing is bound to have an effect

. Alphablocks has cartoon characters, which means that their mouth movements bear no resemblance to the sounds the character is making. If you are someone who (even subconsciously) relies on a certain amount of lip-reading to follow what someone is saying, it will not be a particularly useful programme at all.

And there will also need to be a certain amount of interest in the first place. One of my DC would have rather gouged their own eyeballs out than sit and watch a programme about phonics. Books were vaguely interesting for their pictures but that was about it. It was Year 1 before the phonics finally 'clicked'. And this was a child with no hearing difficulties.

I had it a lot OP as well - it did get me very down.

A lot of the helpful advice – I was already doing – read to them twice a day, filled house full of all kinds of books joined library did phonics at home.

The common assumption I encountered were we weren’t trying or that that child was thick.

They needed a more structured and repetitive approach - took 18 months and they went form bottom groups to top sets which did put a few parents on the playground noses out of joint.

Your DC has a few more hurdles to overcome - doesn't mean they won't get there.

Saturn- an excellent point about cartoon characters! I think I know it all at times then I forget something so obvious!

Thanks Eagles. I'm just having a Low day.

I think my aibu is 'aibu to ask people to reassure me something I already know...'

OP, I feel for you. Some children do find it hard to learn phonics. It is worth persevering, while also using other methods.

My dd1 really struggled. I didn't think she'd ever 'get' phonics. She has ASD, and whilst she picked up the initial phonics sounds using Jolly Phonics, she just couldn't blend. At all. For years.

We worked and worked with her, alongside her learning using sight recognition, while word strategies etc (we didn't promote these, but you can't stop a child learning if they are determined, and she was determined to read).

Dd1 had multiple different things on the go for ages (in a way, she was lucky that she has severe ASD, plus learning difficulties, so is at a special school where they had time for a truly individual approach), but it wasn't until she was about 8 or 9 that she properly got phonics. Until then, she would ask and remember what words said, using whole word recognition.

I will try to remember some of the different things we used, lots of it was using apps, as they were a method dd1 really engaged with. She also used Headsprouts, which is an excellent online/app phonics system, brilliantly structured (and has a very good accompanying reading comprehension scheme too which dd1 is now working through).

OP, don't feel the need to apologize. You're having a hard day---it's okay and normal to feel frustrated and feel the need to vent a bit.

Keep plugging away. She will get there, even if she seems to be taking a bit longer to start with!

I found that mine was already interested in learning it, so it was easily taught. The Alphablocks Reading Programme is amazing. It's 15 magazines to work through, which goes all the way from basic reading to independent reading. He started at Easter and by the time he started in the September he just needed to build confidence. They can take it completely at their own pace. That and lots of reading with them are IMO the best things you can do to set them up.

My son is being 'watched' as there is a suspicion he has some special needs. He's a bit confusing but I suspect he has a high functioning form of ASD. He's Essentially taught himself to read watching phonics songs on YouTube.

He's obviously not perfect but he can sound out quite long words and read level one books very easily.

I've not really done anything to encourage it. He's interested and did it himself. I think kids are very different. He absolutely refuses to even attempt to write his name or any letters or draw etc.

I wish it was more acceptable to let children develop at their own rate rather than try to shoehorn them into 'levels' so young.

I have 2 children with ASCs. DS could read by the time he was 3 with absolutely no input from anyone. He has an amazing visual memory and we read to him a lto so he just seemed to learn by osmosis! However, once he went to school and was faced with phonics he just did NOT get it! He processed words differently and got very frustrated with phonics. He's 13 (nearly) now and will mispronounce new words but once you correct him he never mispronounces them again. He has no knowledge of building up a word from sounds.
DD is 10 (in 4 days!) and was the other way round. She loved books and stories from an early age but went to school unable to read. The formal phonics program that they used at school suited her to a T and she took off.
What I'm saying is that every child is different. Alphablocks is fab but doesn't work for every child. DD loved it. DS hated it. I used to teach and used the books with my Guided Reading group alongside other more exciting stuff. Some of them took to it but some of them didn't.

Your wee one has more challenges than an NT child. She will come into her own.

DS has no SEN. Didn't know a single letter or sound when starting reception, at least not to my knowledge. He is now just starting yr 1 and reading at green level and exceeding according to his end of reception report. So no, I don't think it dribbles in via alphablocks for all the kids!

I think no point of fussing over who learned to read early.
Some may continue to carry on being advanced, some just stall.
Most of children will be at the similar level by ks2, and there will be no comparing who's what book band, etc.

It would perhaps be weird if a bit of alphablocks was all a hearing impaired child needed to master phonics by the third week of YR! At our school they start learning one or two sounds a week. Yes, some pitch up knowing their letters but half of them will be, for example, saying "ell" or "luh" instead of "llll" and have to relearn before they can blend properly anyway.

I've had one child who picked up reading easily and another who struggled. Parents and children to whom it comes easy often have little insight into how lucky they are, how much it's just a lottery in how easily it comes. How it feels to keep plugging away at letters and cvc words long after most of their friends have skipped merrily into the free reading sunset on half the effort. But it shouldn't be about hard slog at 4 and your DD will tread her own path. That said, if she is not able to access what she is being taught at school (and it's perhaps far too early to judge that) then that needs to be addressed.

Like they always says on phonics thread, 80% of children get decoding no matter what method they use. So, exposing children to educational program may encourage them to learn early. My ds learned to read very early, due to watching TV with subtitles since he was a baby.(I am non native English speaker.)
His decoding skill was amazing as a toddler, but it didn't mean he had comprehension skill as well. Those needed to be learned more age appropriate way.