Child not reading at school.

[Karleeb30]

Dd has sen and an EHCP meaning she should be being supported at school more than she is.

She is speech delayed and reading has not come naturally to her. She can barely read. I appreciate that a teacher has potentially 30 kids so reading with 30 kids individually must be hard. I remember we all read individually with teachers/ta's at primary school quite often or out into small groups based on ability. Maybe things have changed (I am late twenties). There are two ta's in her class.

However, I am not happy with the lack of reading. I know a lot of reading is done at home with the parents - but in Dd's case she is really struggling. She is 6 and the youngest in her year 2 class.

Aibu to think based on the fact that she has an EHCP and should have a ta supporting her (which half the time she doesn't) she should be reading more at school?

Older DS has sen too and his ta read with him every damn day to get where he is (same school too).

I don't expect special treatment but I'm so angry that her learning needs outlined on her EHCP aren't being met half the time!

Wwyd? EHCP review is very soon. Wait it out until then? Complain? Complain to the EHCP sen people and say her needs aren't being met?!

@liveforsummer

She's only 6, how much reading for you expected to be doing. I work in a p2 class of 6 year olds and even the better readers are only on stage 1 books. Usually some wound be further on but covid has a lot to do with that.

By stage 1 I mean she's on single word books (assuming that's stage 1 Without grabbing her book out too look) She was on books with short sentences last year but they've changed their books this year and she's ok the very first books!

Some of her friends are much further ahead.

I'm guilty or comparing. I was a 'free reader' by year 3 or 4 and reading Jacqueline Wilson books. So I don't know what's normal or not 😏

The local authority has a clear duty to ensure that your child receives all the support set out in section F of the EHCP, and the school must use its best endeavours to do so. If that isn’t happening it can be enforced by a threat of judicial review or a formal complaint, but that really depends on whether the support is sufficiently detailed. LAs have a habit of writing EHCPs in very vague and waffly terms that mean they aren’t realistically enforceable.

I’d suggest you get advice from SOS SEN or IPSEA to see if your child’s EHCP is precise enough and, if not, how to get it amended

How often do you think she should be reading at school? You’ve not answered that yet

I don’t know why you think she’s not reading at school. School for that age is 90% learning to read so just because she’s not changing her reading book doesn’t mean she’s bot reading other things.

Honestly I think you are expecting too much from her. You think she should be more advanced than she is but honestly some are just slow at learning how to read.

You can have a chat to the school and let them know your concerns but the best thing you can do is read to her and let her follow the words. When she is more able she will be able to read parts to you too.

She will be doing phonics - which will teach her to blend (or slide) sounds together to read words. If you have concerns that she cannot read, speak to her school. If she has speech and language issues, does she have access to a sp therapist?

I would ask to speak to the school SENCo and raise your concerns

My aim with this AR would be to get section F quantified and specified. It legally has to be.

So what does she need help in? I'm assuming English, reading. Phonics and her SaL?

Get her professionals to worse how much needs to be done daily, by whom, when it's reviewed and who sets the tasks and who delivers them.

Reports must state this. Do not allow "recommended". It needs to say "DD needs 10 minutes reading practise 1:1 daily with a Ta".

Get it all tightened up in AR and clearly tell them your intention will be to take it to tribunal if they don't write it correctly as Sendcop states and this is in no ones interests - there's either as they costs to them will be greater as they'll have to recommission further reports.

@Jangle33

How often do you think she should be reading at school? You’ve not answered that yet

I don't know what's the norm but I would expect her to be reading her book at some Point during the week!

@Jangle33

How often do you think she should be reading at school? You’ve not answered that yet

This would be set by the professionals who should be outlining how much she needs to be reading at school to meet her needs

Should it not be part of her EHCP?

My daughter has on her plan

1-1 for 30 minutes SALT daily.
1-1 for 15 minutes twice per day reading/phonics
1-1 delivery of a literacy intervention throughout literacy lessons.

When was her last EP report? That may need updating in line with her reading difficulties.

School should also be supporting her reading difficulties even without it is specified in her plan

The problem is that her EHCP was last updated not long after finishing eyfs with time off due to covid. Her EHCP needs to be updated and have more focus on her phonics I think. She knows all her phonics individually but cannot blend them yet!

How many hours is the EHCP for if there is no one to one?

@Karleeb30 at her review ask if the EP can advise re her reading/phonics.

I asked for an update on this specifically when it became apparent reading was also an issue. My DD is in year 2. LA were happy to ask for this advice

Can she consistently identify a letter sound when you read with her like /s/ ? She needs to be secure in those to then move onto trying to blend.

Guided reading with her more often in class might not be as useful as you might think. The phonics work they do in class as a whole would be more productive to helping her read than trying to get her to do something she might not be ready for yet, iyswim?
Its always okay to raise concerns and ask for an explanation. After all, you're her only advocate and she should be getting what she needs. You should be clear on where she is, and how they are working towards her goals.

[quote Mumofsend]@Karleeb30 at her review ask if the EP can advise re her reading/phonics.

I asked for an update on this specifically when it became apparent reading was also an issue. My DD is in year 2. LA were happy to ask for this advice[/quote]
I will be doing this. Her annual review is very soon. The problem is my local authority tee forever to send out paper copies. I was sent her last EHCP copy by the senco digitally but now I've tried to get into it has expired (if I knew it would do that I would have printed it out). I will chase up another copy tomorrow!

Is there any provision relating to reading in her ehcp?

An ehcp doesn’t entitle her to anything that isn’t clearly specified within section F if her ehcp. If there is an identified need, provision and outcome they will do the same amount with her as everyone else.

Arrange a meeting with her teacher to discuss the support that she is actually getting in school. Then you can take it from there. Unfortunately, IME as a TA, staff are always really stretched trying to provide support to all the children that need it so it's not unusual for children not to get all the support they need. Also, the emphasis tends to be on supporting the children who are nearly at the expected level because schools are judged by how many children they get across an arbitrary line. Children who are never going to meet that threshold become a lower priority (which is obviously all wrong). I'm sure some schools are better than others for this but they are all under the same pressure to get the most children they can up to a specific level.

As a parent, you need to be the squeaky wheel. Ask the difficult questions. Push for them to provide the support that your child needs and is entitled to. Go through the EHCP with a fine-toothed comb to make sure you are happy that all the support she needs is on there. You also need to do as much as possible at home. Ask the teacher to guide you with things that will help if you do them at home. I'd even consider getting a tutor. You shouldn't have to but I feel like the system is stacked against the children that struggle.

Things move quickly in school in my experience and if you don't pick up letter sounds as they are taught and are still not confident in Y2 you would need extra help with a TA because the rest of the class would not still be working on this. Not sure if you mean individual letter sounds when you say phonics but that's what I am assuming. I know a teacher who would keep children back from assembly in a little group to work on this sort of thing, digraphs etc with them every day and it made a huge difference. She really needs something like that that happens very frequently IMO, even reading her book once a week would not be anywhere near enough.

Do you know the letter sounds? I would spend your time working on these every day with her rather than reading her one word book over and over - but do read to her every day and let her watch you read the words.

What I did with my son when he was learning was to cut pictures out of magazines for a few letter sounds at a time. Then write a letter on the top of a sheet and get him to find the pictures that began with that letter sound (obviously you wouldn't want a phone for the letter 'p' it has to be words that obviously begin with the 'puh' sound.) Then I would get him to stick the pictures on and we made a huge poster of all the letter sounds and things that began with them. If yo ucan find pics of favourite toys etc this can help with engagement.

@niugboo

Is there any provision relating to reading in her ehcp?

An ehcp doesn’t entitle her to anything that isn’t clearly specified within section F if her ehcp. If there is an identified need, provision and outcome they will do the same amount with her as everyone else.

I think her last EHCP stayed that she is able to recognise phonics individually but can not yet blend them. Bearing in mind this was written a month or two into year 1 after having most of reception off due to covid. She hasn't made much much progress since this point.

She did go to school twice a week in this years lockdown...

She's made huge progress in other areas. Her speech has vastly improved, her letter formation has improved too but this is behind her peers too. She's making progress in maths and she's very artistic. But she just can't grasp blending her phonics 😩

I'd imagine she must be having a considerable amount of teacher or TA support in class quite simply because she won't be able to access Y2 work without it based on that level of reading (and presumably writing). Whilst I don't disagree that she should read a reading book with an adult sometimes and having her books changed regularly, it's likely they're doing all sorts of other things that will help with her reading. Unfortunately there is no silver bullet and a lot of their strategies might take a long time to work. If it were as simple as reading every day with her then believe me they'd just do that.

If she can't yet blend, she needs to be playing games to develop her phonemic awareness. Eg. Say "mmm" "aaaa" "t" - can she say the word? Then say "mat - what is the first sound? What happens if we take off the mmm? What happens if we swap t for nnn?

This will be much better for her development than reading the cvc books over and over again. Ask the teacher or the senco about phonemic awareness and speech therapy. You could perhaps approach it as " I'm asking so I feel prepared for the review meeting."

As pps have said, get what she needs into section F. Daily reading - not necessarily - but daily phonemic awareness - yes! Though not necessarily 1:1. There will quite likely be others who need it too.

Two things spring to mind. You mentioned that she is the youngest in the class. Is there any possibility of her repeating year one?
My other thought is whether she is in the right school setting for her needs. Would she benefit from a more specialist environment?
The EHCP review is vital and hopefully you will have some questions answered.

School should be really concerned about this. There is a real focus on children keeping up with phonics. The bottom 20% of children should be targeted.
You need to ask the school how you can support,so that you are not mixing approaches.

This is the new reading framework (July 21) which may be of help.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy

Op by pass phonics let them do that at school.

Do flash card, High frequency words, go back to basic books to build her confidence up again.

Phonics is becoming a barrier to so many dc with sen from the reading.

Op as an illustration my dd wasn't doing any phonics she couldn't understand it.. Thanks to mumsnet the above was what was recommended to me so I tried it.
It gave her a new bedrock to read knowing the high frequency words, also trying to write them out and then going back to basics like Peter and Jane.

I also have joined Reading chest so we could get more of their reading scheme books.
Over lock down with all this in place we got her from a jerky level 5 up to a smooth and confident level 8.