To worry about DD 9 not being able to read....it's a long one!

[Helena2000]

They know. I tell them all the time. I have so many meetings about her with the school. They are lovely as individuals, and they all love DD, but they tell me they've got no resources and they are under staffed because they've had their budgets cut by the government, so they can'tgive her what she needs.
I tried to get her referred for assessment but the local authority said she doesn't meet the criteria because the criteria has been tightened because referrals have increased whilst their education budget has been cut.
School did a dyslexia screen last year and the results said she doesn't have dyslexia.
School tell me to teach her at home, but DD wants to switch off when she gets home and gets frustrated when I try to do reading with her, so then it becomes counter productive.
I just go round and round in circles.

Do you want her to be able to read or not?

YANBU to worry.

Eyes tested?
Have you tried reading with her in the holidays or at weekends, when she’s not tired after school?

School should be continuing to teach her phonics. Are they doing that?

Move her to a different school? Her school can’t just say that they are unable to teach her, that’s outrageous. Reading is the fundamental building block of all learning, and if she cannot read then she will not be able to progress.
You need to be shouting louder.

My friends child was assessed by the school as not dyslexic.
She paid for a private assessment- the child isn't just slightly dyslexic, she's actually terribly dyslexic, dyspraxic with ADHD.
Interventions and medication have made a difference but her 1-1 tutor is agog that nothing was done or provided sooner. She's now going into year 6 functionally illiterate and the school won't submit her for SATS. She's a bright girl with a good vocabulary and clever when talking, until she's in an academic situation when it shuts down.

You need to either shout a lot harder with the school or go privately. You also need to find ways to help her read. Google dyslexia friendly books. Offer rewards. Spend time- and it will take a lot of time- without showing you're frustrated. My friend has been on a massive journey this past year and there's so much that could have been done sooner.

You don't just have to use books to learn to read. You can find fun phonics games online -you can try audio books with a read along text. There are plenty of imaginative ways to incorporate reading without it being "boring".
YANBU to worry though, she needs additional help at school.

I know it's hard when they're tired from a day at school, but reading daily for 10-15 minutes at home could really help things along. My 8 year old is behind with reading but has made a lot of progress when we stepped up the home reading. Yes, it's been hard and they've been reluctant, but learning to read is a must. We are now totally focused on only reading books that my dc is interested in. That's really helped. Even if they are a bit beyond his reading capabilities. He'd rather be stretched reading something he finds interesting than reading an easier book on a topic he finds boring. We have also done reading rewards, points for reading and then a treat. Anything to get the reading going!

If she won’t read, read to her. Play stores in the car. Use audio books. Subtitles in the tv. Read a book yourself and model reading.

Thats a really difficult position OP.

I struggled to learn to read until I was about your daughters age.

Over a summer my mum was given (to borrow) by the school an entire series of Oxford Reading Tree books, starting with the simplest and moving on up.

We would read a book together everyday alternating pages. Then she would write out a 3-4 sentences from the book and chop and mix them up. I then had to unscramble the sentences and stick them down in the right order.

It was amazing how it flicked the learning to read switch for me. I weirdly remember a book about a giant who stole roads and thinking it was the most stupidest story ever and I told my mum that, so we skipped the book and read another. It felt really good to have my judgment validated and encouraged me, so I would suggest talking about the types of stories your daughter likes and perhaps use that as a key to engagement.

I would second getting her tested for dyslexia privately. My friends son couldn’t read and the dad is dyslexia but the school said he wasn’t so the plugged away. Eventually they got a private test, because they wanted to move to a private school and needed it and they diagnosed him and with the right help and support he caught up amazingly quickly. He still lacks confidence at school and is desperate to leave as soon as he can but he has caught up academically.

i don’t think schools take pleasure in seeing kids struggle but they do miss things, especially when they are stretched to breaking.

Oxford owl online has free books
Try the monster phonics scheme - that works brilliantly.

Also Nessy.com has a free screening tool (Sometimes) it’s recommend by Ed Phys

Have a look for Toe by Toe on Amazon, it’s a comprehensive reading plan specifically for people with dyslexia. It’s very prescriptive but designed for parents to use with their children, 10 minutes a day 3 times a week. My DDs reading age improved significantly - ie gained 5 years in 18 months. Best £30 I’ve ever spent.

I second the Toe by Toe resource. It's made a huge difference for my dyslexic DD. It's not the most exciting resource but was the most effective. We spend about 5 minutes a day on it for a couple of years until she finished it, which was as much she could manage.

Third one to recommend toe by toe.

Also a private dyslexia screen. Or educational psychologist.

Yanbu to want more to be done, it sounds like your school is letting your daughter down, however nice they are.

I recommend Kumon if you have it in your area. They assess the child's ability and work with the child. Kumon is not about the child should be doing x by this age, it's all about the child reaching their full potential. They do maths and English and some do science too. Can't recommend it enough.

I think you are a couple of years late to start worrying!

My dd was hopeless at reading, at the end of year one literally the only word she could recognise was her own name. I paid for her to do the easyread programme and within weeks she was able to read anything, and became a complete bookworm. She was assessed in year 2 as the top reader in her year group. Honestly it was an incredible turnaround. It’s just 10 minute lessons once a day on a computer at home.

No idea what it costs these days but they do a free trial.

https://dm-ed.com/info/easyread/

Oh and it says on their website it’s for children age 5-11 so she’s definitely not too old to give it a go.

Lack of resources is not a legitimate reason not to offer an assessment for an EHCP.

They have guidance and even template letters for you to formally request support from the school and the LA.

www.ipsea.org.uk/Pages/Category/back-to-school-hub

Sorry missed out that IPSEA are the org for independent advice on accessing support.

So she can’t read cos she’s never been taught?

15 min a day of learning saves her future OP.

How does she manage on her mobile?

It is not the OPs responsibility to teach her child to read because the school have decided that they aren’t going to! Practice reading, absolutely, but a child who is still struggling to read at 9 indicates a significant difficulty somewhere along the line which needs to be identified and addressed. Can she write?
Pay for a private dyslexia assessment, sure, but that’s not going to actually help the child to learn to read. We can assume that there is some type of dyslexia because of her age. Any school should have it within their toolkit to offer reading remediation to children who are struggling. Learning to read is literally what kids go to school to do. I am astounded that the school think they can abdicate their responsibility for this and somehow have managed to make the OP think it’s her fault.

I was going to suggest Toe by Toe too, it's very good, its designed for children with dyslexia, but should help either way. My DS was really struggling with reading last year, he's Autistic and I was thinking possibly dyslexia at play too. He's very stubborn and digs his heels in if he decides he can't do something. It was really hard to get him to read every night, I had to focus on it and stick to it, making him do it no matter what and no matter how long it took. It's important enough to do that. After a while it became part of our routine and he started making progress which made it easier to get him to do it. From hating reading and being way behind his class a year ago he's now up to standard and even choosing to read on his own for fun. Maybe your way through this will be different, but with my DS I haven't found any way through that doesn't require me to make him do it.

OP, I am so sorry for your child, this sounds incredibly tough for both of you.

I know how weird this sounds, our son had no interest in books or reading, he learnt to read with us looking at the lettering on the sides of lorries, adverts on buses and bill boards by the side of the road.

Maybe some children don’t like books.