I am worried DD is still really struggling to even recognise her letters..........

[stoppinattwo]

She couldnt read her reading book tonight at all, it was far too hard for her, but not iyswim.

She will be 6 in november and she is already so aware that she is struggling. I dont think she is dyslexic.there is no history of it (is it hereditary??) she just hasnt quite clicked. The reading doesnt make sense to her...........i know what the problem is but its hard to explain. It is remembering the sound that a letter makes and then why it changes like sh ch th etc, all the little tricks that the english language plays is really confusing her to the point she cant even trust herself to recognise a letter. We were reading about the hare ond the tortoise tonight. and hes kept saying the Hare and the Him........nothing like tortoise, she was completely guessing, didnt recognise that the word began with a T and so couldnt be Her.

I dont know what to do, I think I know what the problem is but i cant put it into words, My mind works in the same way as hers does so I can sort of see what is happening but at the same time I think i need to speak to the school and air my concerns. Her teacher is the SN coordintor and i would hope she would spot a problem if there was one, she keep saying Oh dont worry she will be fine, but my instinct is that it isnt ok and she will reach a point where there will be a lot of catchup to do. She moves into yr1 in september and the pace steps up from then on. I really am worried

I think some of the problems that us parents face is we don't know the best way to help our children learn to read since most of us can't remember learning how to read. When I help hear the kids read at school, I get them to spell out the letters of words that they don't know and then run it together to make the word which was the methods my infant teachers used (over 30 years ago!!) but is this still the correct way to do this?

The letterland books are lovely, with beautiful pictures and lots of things to find that begin with the same letter. The large picturebook that has all the letters and sounds in it is a work of art that my dd enjoyed for years. Each letter is character with consistant shape and colour and personality. Really fun to read together, not a chore.