reading

[starchilli]

My son is one of the oldest children in his small (22 children) year 1 class in the local state primary.

His reading is behind where I'd expect him to be, based on where the majority are in his class and in the year 1 class that I work in.
He knows all the phonics sounds but struggles to blend the words, though he can (oddly) spell at a level I'd expect for his age - for example chimnee, howse, door, roof, windoe, fense where recent words he wrote.

He is reading the stage 1/1+ of the Oxford Reading Tree books which is aimed at age 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 whereas a lot of his peers are between stages 4 to 7.

I'm seeing his teacher and the SENCo tomorrow to discuss the issue with his reading, is there anything in particular I should be asking for? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

He's just started Year 1? And he knows all his phonics? I don't think you have any cause for concern.

If he was still at this level at the start of year 2 I would be very worried. But, really, this level is perfectly fine at this age - particularly when you demonstrate his writing. He obviously has a good grasp of phonics and I would be very surprised if he didn't pick up reading soon.

Did you initiate the discussion with the SENCO or did school?

To put it in context, my DD with dyslexia did not know all her letters at the start of year 2 and now at the start of year 3 she still does not know all her phonics. She certainly can't write as well as your boy.

However, school will hopefully be able to advise you properly. If the are concerned the will put her on the SEN register and draw up an IEP with you.

He's six and can write and knows his sounds and you are seeing a SENco? I'm sorry but that sounds completely OTT to me. Children all over Europe don't start school until they are seven and they do better than British children (cliche but true). He's probably just more interested in other things at the moment! (if a six year old boy who can write like this gets put on the SEN register then I completely despair)

(three kids and have never even to my knowledge SEEN an 'Oxford Reading Tree' book - they sound DEADLY)

I'm seeing the SENCo not because I think he has special needs as such but he knows the sounds but cannot blend any of them together - he can't read words like "and" "so" or "it" for example.

The SENCo in his school is the one who'd decide if he needed assessing for dyslexia and anything else, plus the teaching staff where I work recommended seeing her to rule out dyslexia. She can also advise what I can do to help at home.

He knows the sounds for his reading level, he doesn't know the others. He cannot blend the sounds to make a word and he can write something (like the words I mentioned) but then he can't read what he has written.

The teacher wrote me a letter about his reading because he has not made any progress over where he was a year ago. I then asked for a meeting with the SENCo after talking to teachers where I work and parents of dyslexic children.

You're seeing SENCO etc. tomorrow? Are you in the UK? Did you mean you're seeing the staff on Monday?

It seems to me that you have expressed your concerns well here, OP, just tell the staff the same things. Around here dyslexia is not considered until at least age 7, though. I thought that dyslexic children were very bad at spelling, too, but I may be misinformed.

Oxford Reading Tree books are not deadly in themselves, ColdComfort; in fact, we used to quite enjoy them (especially when Biff's and Kipper's feisty gran got going). It's the obsessing over levels that is deadly.

I can see the point of gently inquiring though if the lad genuinely seems to be stuck and not making any progress over a prolonged period of time. But to be aware that he may simply not be mature enough to read. Neither of mine were at that age, and there is nothing wrong with their reading ability now.

Yes, Monday...lol. Like you say Cory, he may well just not be ready to read but I do want to make inquiries and also raise awareness in school that there may be an issue rather than leaving until the end of KS1 when they normally consider testing for dyslexia and having to raise the awareness then rather than going straight to the dyslexia assessment which they are ready to do.
Thanks everybody.

Which strand of ORT is he reading? If it's just the core strand (i.e.not Floppy Phonics or Songbirds) then he won't have a chance to practise his phonic skills, and may be struggling because ORT is predominantly a whole word reading scheme.

He has the core books and the song birds.

Can he read cvc words? (sat, mat etc.)

Some of them but not all of them, he was struggling with them very recently.

Sounds like the school are using mixed methods (whole word/sight reading and phonics) which could be confusing him.

If you are worried, do Jolly Phonics with him at home in small doses.

Most of the words in the ORT core books (at any level) he might not be able to read. Because they are based on the 'look and guess' method.

I would only get him to read regular cvc words till he's really confident with them.

If after a few weeks of just practicsing cvc words with you he makes no progress at all then maybe talk to his teacher about how you can help him at home....

The at-home reading progam I personally like the most at this age is Dancing Bears

StarChilli - what did the senco say?

They think he has an issue with visual tracking and have given us a visual tracker to use with him at home, they are also using one in school.
He tried it at home with an ORT stage 1 book this morning and declared "that this is actually helping me a lot" and then tonight was able to tackle a stage 4 book that school sent home (not sure if that was intentional or in error) and was able to blend sounds to read words that he wouldn't have been able to read at all before - like school, he went s ch ool and could tell me the word; he's not be able to do this.

They are trialling that for a few weeks and then reviewing the situation and will try coloured overlays if the tracker doesn't help, he is also being included in intervention groups and if they don't help after two terms they will go to school action for him.

Thanks for asking

That's really interesting to read.

there is a little boy that sounds very similar int he Y1 class I work in. He knows all his individual letter sounds and some of the ones like th/sh/ch. He can segment words orally and can blend words that I say outload to him (so I say d--o-g and he can blend it to dog) but he can't do this for any written down reading. The teacher and I have spoken about referring him to the ENCO - having read this I am going to speak to the teacher again tomorrow about him.

Wow! Really interesting. Glad that it's all working out for you. Sorry my prev advice was so rubbish.

Starchilli - I would get your ds assessed for overlays at an optician who actually deals with overlays to ensure that if they are what your ds needs, he get the right colour combination.

I say this as my ds was involved in autistic research last year and the psychologist there was surprised that schools are allowed to just try and then get children to regularly use overlays, when they have had no specific training. The behavioural optician we used was also a bit that overlays are widely introduced to children in schools.

A child may state that x colour works or they begin to read etc, as has happened with your ds, but it doesn't necessarily mean they have the correct colour combination for their eyes.

Indigobell, it's fine and it wasn't rubbish at all. I wanted different points of view so I think it all through and I got them. So thank you.

Minx179, the SENCO at the school said they would try overlays after half term but that they would get somebody in to do it from the county (they have a specialist teacher) as she hasn't done the training.

At the moment he is using a visual tracker which is a clear dome shaped item which magnifies the text and makes the surrounding area greyer.

Hulababy,good luck with talking to the school tommorow. When I am at work I hear children read and I have some who can't blend but they can if I do it orally like you do with dog.