AIBU to seek extra support for my son’s phonics difficulties?

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Hi, sorry I am posting here for traffic and seeking advice please.

My son is end of y1 and struggles with phonics/reading. There is a possibility he has ADHD.

I know the curriculum ramps up in year 2 and i am afraid he is going to fall behind. What should we be doing? School seem a bit blasé about it and only care about the kids who are causing behaviour issues tbh. Even said about his ADHD not being an issue because he isn't kicking off down corridors when I asked about seeking private diagnosis.

He is a quiet boy who likes to follow the rules. We have tears over reading and the SAT style worksheets as he wants to be "right' for his teacher.

Would a phonics tutor help? Or am I over worrying at this point?

Thank you

The right tutor (third time was a charm!) completely changed my DD's choices and mindset. It made a huge difference having the same message reinforced by two people. School were praising her for things that were well below her capability and setting a low bar, and my DD knew it. Kids aren't stupid; they know how they're doing compared with their peers.

In the end, she had the choice of university or a good-quality apprenticeship, which is what she chose – no thanks to the education system!

Phonics did not work for her. Once she was taught different strategies she came on leaps and bounds. over the next 12 months. It was still hard work getting though GCSE's and sixth form but with out the additional support it would not have been possible.

DS7 (Y2) didn’t manage any phonics at all until this year. He was diagnosed with ADHD and autism in Y1 and he point blank refused to do any phonics at all, saying “I know how to read already” or “it’s boring” and then an epic meltdown if pushed.

I completely backed off and didn’t even attempt it at home and at school they made no progress. He didn’t achieve a single set of phonemes and his end of Y1 screening was 0.

Suddenly in Y2 he announced that he was ready to do phonics now and he’s absolutely flew through the different levels! He’s still not at the right stage for end of Y2 but he’s made phenomenal progress this year.

I think it was a mix of being ready, actually wanting to and also I suspect the adhd medication has helped him to focus too!

So, perhaps he’s just not quite ready yet. Maybe Y2 will be his year!

Thats good. My son definately is making progress so maybe I am just being impatient but I still am concerned how anxious it makes him and the tears. Thank you all for your support.

ADHD has absolutely nothing to do with phonics. You can have adhd and be great at phonics or not have it and struggle. Seems irrelevant to me.

Op ditch the phonics. It's a barrier for many DC and when they struggle they just heap more phonics on !

I got my DD reading over one summer and up several book band levels to be a good fluent reader.

I joined something called reading chest which has nearly all the different reading schemes

If it still exists it was brilliant because I could order books on subjects she would like for her level. So we started with level 6 ort

When I read to her or with her I pointed at the word. Silly perhaps to mention but very powerful and simple.

We went back to basics with Peter and Jane books and flash cards of 100 high frequency words.

Then we joined the reading chest there are different level schemes so we had three books at a time ,read them sent them back by posts and they sent three more. It was brilliant.

Ditch the phonics !
It's like a cult here and everything is about that Micheal gove phonics tests.
My DD failed it and the phonetic spelling also massively confused her !
After summer I sent her back to school able to read !!
Since I've done quite a bit of research on it and found many DC can't get phonics but our schools cannot provide help.

I dislike phonics
Iv two dyslexic children. They enjoyed educational reading apps on ipad think along lines of nessy, pocket phonics, reading eggs.
Orchard do some great games.

Have a look at word wasp programme.
https://wordwasp.com/
You buy the book - theres two levels - wasp and hornet, the website explains how to pick. You just buy the book and work through it say 10 mins a day or 4 pages a day etc

Some kids learn better through whole word recognition than phonics - my DS is like this. It clicked partway through Yr 2. Perhaps your son is too.
Make sure when you read to him he can see the words on the page (and read to him every day), take him to the library regularly and let him choose books he likes the look of, put subtitles on whenever he’s watching TV. Words words everywhere.

Someone mentioned an eye test. You can also test for visual processing. Some eye clinics do this. My daughter was tested as part of a detailed Occupational therapy assessment. Turned out words were swimming all over the page. Tables didn't look like tables (which also affected her maths). We had no idea. This was separate from her dyslexia.