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.

I'd get her eyes tested too as a basic start. My DD is 8 and I was starting to worry she was dyslexic as she struggled and was way behind her sisters at that age. She mentioned that the words jumped all over the page too. Turns out she has bad astigmatism, got glasses and there has been a big improvement.

Came here to say the same. The book Toe by Toe - every single day including holidays - got my kid reading in approximately a year. It is TEDIOUS but it works. It's on eBay for £25.

Strongly advise private assessment at some point. Whilst my child is now able to read at expected levels, dyslexia usually brings a range of different difficulties (and strengths!). Unlike some psychological assessment, the dyslexia assessment is extremely thorough and in depth. I found it explained an awful lot of issues, and also gave useful strategies.

I sympathise with struggling to support at home. Kids with dyslexia often carry huge feelings of shame and frustration around not being able to access the classroom learning. They are often exhausted by a day spent in a place that will not cater for their needs. These feelings often come out where they feel safe, at home. Again, armed with the assessment, you would hopefully be able to offer support in a way your child can access, meaning positive feelings, less shame, pushback etc.

My husband was told in the 1970s by his first primary school that he was stupid and unteachable. His mum took him out and taught him to read and write, and his dad taught him maths. I can't believe schools still give up on kids that are not confirming to the "norm". His mum eventually put him back in school albeit a much better one that put more effort in.

My brother also had little interest in reading so my mum gave him comics and magazines about football and computer games and he got a lot better. I think it doesn't matter too much what kids read as long as they find it interesting.

Op do you think she is dyslexic? Have you looked at British Dyslexia Association to get further information.
My youngest the school was adamant she was not Dyslexic. I was less sure but we persevered. In secondary school we got a private assessment she left with 18 recommendation for support. The school senco teacher called me up and said "how has she managed so far this makes me want to cry" (did me too) she is now 19 and in University studying a STEM subject and doing well with it.

Schools are not experts I wish we had gone down the private assessment earlier but its not cheap sadly

You need to incorporate reading into everyday activities, and yes bribery if necessary. Schools cannot teach reading purely in the classroom they rely on reinforcing at home from the start, in our house it was no tv until 30 mins reading done (all parents were meant to do this)

My dd2 is dyslexic and it was a long slog but she got there around your DD's age op.

Lots of suggestions of 30 minutes of reading a day, but if your DD can’t actually read that’s a long time. What worked for mine was little and often, 10 minutes doing Toe by Toe, reading road signs as we passed, asking her to read a line on a recipe, a short story reading a paragraph each, subtitles on tv. She still wouldnt read a book for pleasure but is more of less reading at her age level (12) having started with nothing aged 9.

@Jellycatspyjamas and @newhere24 that is definitely not the case in my school!! So much time and effort is put into getting the children reading, intervention groups etc. please don't tar all schools with the same brush.

@newhere24 funnily enough we've had a couple of children come from one private school to us because they just don't know how to deal with SEN. (Private schools in our area are generally crap though!)

But phonics doesn't work for all. I wish this would stop being touted as the golden ticket.

www.engagingeyes.co.uk

Apples and pears workbooks

You are on a hiding to nothing at primary school if she has no behaviour issues

First get her eyes and hearing tested.

Then take her to see an educational psychiatrist for assessment. A good EP will do a lot more than tell you your child "is dyslexic" . Dyslexia is a bundle of processing issues that result in problems with literacy, but what is in the bundle will vary between children. So an EP will tell you and the school what your child's areas of weakness (and strength) are, as well as what you both can do to help. They may also liaise with the school for you. It may be that something else is going on here, and so a full assessment is needed.

Do paired reading each day with your child for no more than 10 minutes each time. A good guide : education.gov.scot/media/0iudcg0n/lit17scotlandreadsparentsleaflet.pdf
I found it helpful to sit very close to my child with my arm around her so she knew she had a cuddle and my full attention. She hated reading but enjoyed those aspects. We did this religiously for a couple of years and even now (she is a teenager) I make her read at least a few times a week because she needs to practice.

It will get better but if your child really can't read at 9 there needs to be an intervention.

The school may well be wrong about dyslexia- my sons was. They finally did a ‘screening’ after a lot of pressure from me and told me he didn’t have it. I asked to see the screening they did, and the results, and it showed very clearly he was dyslexic- the school simply didn’t understand the tool they were using.

My advice would be have a private assessment, learn where her strengths and weaknesses are and get a private tutor who is a dyslexia specialist. If that isn’t affordable I’m afraid the only thing to do is take the issue into your own hands, get some resources from online and try and teach her yourself.

What's exhausting is forcing the notion that phonics works for everyone.

If you can afford it you need to have private assessments - and urgently. I also think you need to change your mindset about school and consider your role in not really tackling this since Year 1. They are 'lovely' and 'love your daughter' isn't helpful at all. She cannot read at 9. This is incredibly concerning and they will wash their hands of her at secondary and she is going to really struggle and may completely disengage from education.

@Jellycatspyjamas and @newhere24 that is definitely not the case in my school!! So much time and effort is put into getting the children reading, intervention groups etc. please don't tar all schools with the same brush.

I’m not tarring all schools with the same brush - some schools are fantastic, my kids went to one that honestly did their best but just couldn’t give my DD what she needed. They would say they put a lot of time and effort in - and they did, but they didn’t find the strategy that worked for her so said her learning difficulties meant she couldn’t learn (the way they were teaching her). Once we found the right strategy she learned to read quickly and easily.

I know my situation is far from unique - most mainstream schools just don’t have the capacity or the specialist knowledge needed to adapt their teaching for kids where phonics isn’t the right tool, or who need it broken down in a different way.

Lots of good advice above OP. DS was a very late reader despite all the normal intervention and us reading loads at home. He was just 10 when covid hit and I got Reading Eggs online which has games and fun exercises with virtual rewards and we finally cracked it. Now, finally, he is reading books. Good luck

@timegoingtooquickly some state schools have the ability to do interventions. most struggle to cover the basics. The OP’s doesn’t sound as if they have a lot of ressources at their disposal. Our local ones have a whooping 10 minutes per week allocated for support - its not that they don’t want to, they just don’t have the staff! You are lucky your school has that luxury.
For private schools, there are exam mills (who don’t provide that sort of support), and independent specialist schools (where a substantial percentage of pupils are council founded if EHPs), who do. and some in between.

I know you have said after school she is very tired and doesn't want to do extra work. What about before school? Lots of posters have suggested techniques, but they will all require input - and I think that will need to be in daily small doses rather than a big session once a week.

If she's too tired after school, I think I would be getting up 15 mins earlier and making time to do the reading then instead.

What other evidence based options are out there? Certainly phonics can not be taught in a vacuum. Children need context so the word make sense too.

My daughter also learnt through reading eggs due to covid distruptions. Its an app and is very engaging. She mostly used the fast phonics part.

@lunar1

What's exhausting is forcing the notion that phonics works for everyone.*
*
I agree, it works for lots of children but by no means all.

This child will have been flogging phonics since reception, failed their phonics screening in Y1 and then had to flog away again to try the test the following year. If by then they haven't got the grasp give up!!! There are other ways to teach reading to these children.

There really are not other ways to learn to read. Phonics is the way. You would not tell a child to learn to play the piano by merely listening to piano pieces being played or by spending time looking at sheets of music by themselves or sitting at a piano and pressing any key. They would need a good teacher to teach them about the musical notation, to model how to play, to correct them when they make a mistake, to give them the next challenging piece of music at just the right time and so on. Some children will need more lessons than others. Some will need to spend more time practising than others. But there’s only going to be one way to learn to play the piano. @DrJump is correct there are no other other reading methods supporting by evidence. Children also need good language but the teaching them how to understand the squiggles we call letters match up with sounds, well that’s phonics.

OP can you explain a bit more about what you mean when you say she can’t read? I find it hard to imagine any school that would dismiss concerns of a 9 year old unable to read. Can she read any words?

If she can't read by 9, she needs a full cognitive and learning assessment.

Great advice. Your mum sounds fabulous too!