The Teaching of Reading: What can parents do???

[Catflap]

Hi there to all who have followed my phonics ramblings on many a thread, and indeed to those who haven't but are interested in this thread title!

I have commented a lot on the state of poor reading teaching in schools and described the effective method of synthetic phonics which is beng taught in a few schools but largely ignored by the educational establishment.

It has been fascinating reading the comments and observations that everyone as parents has on their children's reading - it amazing how many of you pick up on things that the teaching profession are not accepting. I have always found parents to be a preceptive lot. However, what is also sad in this case is how many of you put your trust and support in your children's teachers - which I wholey support because we are losing that fast - but in this case it is sadly misplaced.

The Reading Debate is discussed quite widely online now and has made its appearance in the news recently. You can do a search for 'synthetic phonics' and it will present you with plenty to read, but a thorough site for discussing the issues and providing you with information is the Reading Reform Foundation website

The thing is, lots of you are recognising the issues and are understanding the sort of methods that I describe and see that it makes sense. But what do you do??

I thought I would just post with a few suggestions, as it would seem pertinent after all my advices to offer some pointers for more positive action! Thing is, it's not that rosy an outlook, all the while the Government continue to rrefuse to accept that there might just be something in this synthetic phonics lark and teachers are driven by pressure from above...

However, should you believe that there is something in it and feel it could help your child, I would personally suggest that you have the following options open to you:

1. Do nothing. The chances are that your child will eventually struggle through like many thousands have in the past and will read successfully, or in some fashion, or will struggle and be offered some sort of remedial help eventually.

2. Teach them yourself. Get your hands on some resources and information and provide your child with the skills and knowlegde they need. This is of course is labour intensive, has some financial implications and could be seen as not your job...

3. Find a reading tutor that practices the same philosophies. This could be hard as there are few scattered around, but by posting on the messageboard of the above RRF site, I'm sure you will find someone who could help. (I myself am planning to get into that at some point, but not whilst dd is still so small and more are planned!)

4. Hound the teacher and then the school. Equip yourself with all the necessary facts and information and maybe get a team of parents and ask questions and get answers. Maybe even contact your LEA.

Meanwhile, online tuition will continue to be available whilst I am still managing to access this board!

Hope this helps give a bit more direction and a conclusion to previous discussions.

Interesting. I fully undesrtand the synthetic phonics approach and really do not understand why it is not taught in my ds's school. He is in P2 working (slowly) through the Ginn reading books. They use Jolly Phonics as a resource - but not the main teaching scheme. Can I teach him myself at home without confusing him further?
I certainly don't think teh whole word approach works with him - he simply memorises the page on the reading book and recites it back (using the pictures as clues).

I think that is one important aspect of reading though scotlou, memorising!

One thing that my child found enabled her to read quite early on was to practice "blends" - these being the sound that 2 letters make often at the beginning of a word eg "bl" "tr" etc .

Reading is about breaking down the word into its sounds as well as seeing the shape of the whole word.

What I don't understand is that I learned to read in the late 60's when I was about 3.5 to 4 and I know we used (my mum can back me up on this one) synthetic phonics then and our school was old-fashioned so they would not have used any untested "new-fangled ideas" as they loved to say. We did also learn some whole words such as mummy, daddy, our own names etc without phonics which helped us gain confidence in our early efforts

We had family/church connections with staff at the school and we were a large family so there are plenty of us to piece together various memories from our schooldays, and we cannot remember anyone leaving primary school unable to read, indead the headteacher prided herself on it and there were extra reading classes pitched at the right level for those who needed help whilst the rest of us did nature studies or whatever.

What the "^*!!" has been going on for 40 years such that synthetic phonics is suddenly a new discovery.

Whoops, they were also hot on "spellings" at that school so I apologise for indead, which should read indeed !

Cam - obviously they need to memorise individual words - but what he does is "read" a book and then recall what he has read- without reading the words the next time. Therefore he gives the apperance of reading but isn't. If you take the words out of context he hasn't a clue. The synthetic phonic approach seems really sensible to me as it gives the child the tools to work out most words.

Catflap (v. funny user id btw)

Do you have any info on how early one can start introducing toddlers/pre-schoolers to something like jolly phonics ?

If a child is started off with it at home will they be sidelined in their early school days as a child who can already manage the basics and therefore does not need much attention or does this purely depend on the luck of the draw with the teacher.

Phonics goe sin and out of fashion like everything else in education Ijustdon'tknow.

Scotlou how old is your ds?

Call me a fuddy duddy but I really don't think education should have "fashions", well researched developments just like new drugs and treatments in healthcare but not fashions ?

When are the right people going to wake up and smell the coffee (presuming any of them can still spell coffee)?

Every couple of years or so I have to sift through applications for a job that a non-graduate but reasonably educated school leaver with good social skills can use as a stepping stone to a good career with a relatively good starting salary plus all training costs being paid for (it will take them up to an earnings par with most graduates these days).

As the years have passed I have begun to despair at the applications although we always find someone but their chances of making it very far with the professional examinations is reducing as the professional examinations have not yet had the bar lowered and failure is failure, not "deferred success" (unless they want to pay for their own resits which we find a great incentive to passing the second attempt).

I really feel its not the pupils' fault and having started looking into education in England for the first time recently I can now understand why some of them are coming out of the system at 18 with "qualifications" that just paper over the cracks in the foundations of their education.

Rant over.

I posted his on another thread last night - but I thought I'd post it again here- as it seems relevant

"as some of you may know, I posted a 'desperate' message last night (or was it the night before LOL) saying how frustrated I was, and how I didn't know how to help him.

Well tonight we had a parents evening at his school to give us a brief guide on what and how they would be learning during their time in reception, and also how to help them with their reading. We were then given a sheet to take home with 'guidelines' on how to help them - some of these may not be applicable to your schools way of 'teaching' - but I thought I'd copy them out for anyone that was interested - I'm sure they certainly going to help me (some may also be glaringly obvious too )

• Share may different kinds of texts, stories, non-fiction, poems, comics, laels, signs and so on...as well as their school reading book

• The best time to share books is when you and your child are both enthusiastic - make it a happy, relaxed and fun time

• Spend plenty of time dicussing texts - the story, characters and pictures

• Encourage your child to use the pictures to help them read the text (do not cover up the pictures)

• Remember memorising text is an important first step in reading.

• Rereading a book helps build on initial decoding to allow your child to enjoy the story and illustrations

• Encourage your child to use the pictures, sight words and phonics (letter sounds) to decode words (as they progress)

• Record brief comments in the red Reading Book, and read the teachers comments

• Bookmark words should be practised in a random order (they get given 'bookmarks' with about 5 'sight words' on which are words they should learnt to recognise without trying to 'decode' - these are often words which can't be worked out phonically - such as "like"

• Bookmark words need to be learned by sight, so they can be recognised in any context (i.e. any book, sign etc..)

• Children learn at their own pace and build on their individual strengths, please do NOT make comparisons

HAPPY READING"

Of course education shouldn't have fashions, but governments just love pretending that they're bringing in something "new" as a sop to the electorate.

As we all know, the only thing that governments do consistently is to underfund education.

I'm old enough to have seen all the fashions come and go several times and am lucky enough to have been educated during a fairly benelovent phase in the history of goverment intervention.

I have to pay now for my dd to get what I had at school.

That all sounds good to me QoQ

In response to how soon can you start a child, I guess as soon as they are interested and ready. DS2 (4 at end of August and just entered Reception) started to be very keen on letters and playing I-Spy around last Christmas - 3y4m. After reading some advice from Catflap on here, I got the Jolly Phonics handbook and worked through it with him for about 10 minutes a day.
For those of you who know about various reading schemes, he is now reading Oxford Reading Tree Stage 6 with ease - not a boast, but my vote of confidence for synthetic phonics. He hasn't needed to memorise loads of word shapes, as he can build up new words each time he meets them. Of course he has acquired a 'sight' vocabulary on the way, as we all do with repeated exposure to words.
He can also read things like "Oddbins" on the street and "Stock Room" in the school - things he would never have managed if he'd learned whole words. He would eventually have managed to learn the phonetic system implicitly as my older son (now 7) has done, but it has been so helpful to him to have the system made explicit.
He comments now on irregularities in spelling: "It's funny that we say 'ov' for 'of" when it is a 'f' at the end", "It looks like "m -o- th-er", but we say "m-u-th-er" (cue for me to tell him that 'o' represents that sound quite often eg "come", "done", "cover").
The advice QofQ's school gave out is very similar to what I got from DS1's school. But of course "like" is a regular word - it is just not a rule that is particularly easy to teach beginning readers.
In case anyone wonders about my force-feeding DS2, he has always been very keen on his reading lessons and cries if I tell him he is too tired to read at bedtime. This week the first thing he has wanted to do on getting home from school (mornings only) is read a book to me. My older son wasn't like that at all, and I didn't try to teach him before he started school.
So I guess the message of this rambling post is that synthetic phonics really works and you don't need to be a teacher to do it - just interested, keen to learn yourself and able to devote a few minutes every day to it.
Thanks for your excellent posts, Catflap I am considering discussing it with the school at the reading meeting, though obviously quietly.....

As a teacher, I feel I must point out that not all teachers are mad 'Look and Say' enthusiasts. I, myself, feel very strongly about the importance of a phonic based approach to the teaching of reading. I have also never personally taught in a school where this ethos didn't exist (although I'm not suggesting that phonics is taught everywhere).

Of course, 'look and say' methods also have a place. They must be used to complement the core teaching of phonics as not all words can be phonetically sounded out and some sounds just have to be learned by rote such as ght as in night. This is where picture clues and memory games come in.

I felt I had to post both in defence of my profession and to reassure mums of new reception children that their youngsters aren't necessarily being failed by their schools.

Yes, lots of schools (judging from threads here) seem to be teaching a solid synthetic phonics base.
Of course all sounds have to be learned by rote, whether the more common ones like the short 'a' or the less common ones like 'igh'

Queen of Quotes,

My ds1 was in Reception last year. His school held a reading evening for the parents and we were given similar advice to you.

My son had problems with his speech and later in the year I learned that children with speech problems often go on to have reading problems. I didn't want this to happen so I decided I would teach him to read myself. However, I also realised that I didn't know how to do this (despite the reading evening and accompanying booklet). At about the same time I came across some posts by Catflap on this site and I have to say that I cannot recommend her advice highly enough. Do a search on her username and you will find brilliant advice on teaching children to read, much better advice than you have received from school. She is a teacher and she really knows what she is talking about. Basically, despite what the school tells you, I would say that one thing is of utmost importance: teaching your child the letter sounds and to read by sounding out the letters in words. Blending, in other words: c-a-t "cat". There are about 42 sounds in the English Language. You can find them on the Jolly Phonics website (www.jollylearning.co.uk - along with the JP Steps which are posted on the messageboard back in May 2003). I have taught my son to read using these steps and he is now one of the best readers in his Yr 1 class, despite being one of the youngest children and having ongoing speech problems.

Personally, I would discourage my child from guessing at words from context/picture/initial letter clues. Schools teach children to read by using a mix of methods. This approach works for about 75% of children - the other 25% will fall behind with their reading because they haven't had enough "phonics" input.

I have posted similar information on a few other threads tonight in the hope that you will see at least one of my messages.

By the way, I used the Ruth Miskin Literacy books for reading practice. You can get them from the Ruth Miskin Literacy website. I bought the black and white versions because they were cheaper and my son doesn't seem to mind at all!

Chocolategirl - they do learn to spell word out phoneticcaly - as they progress through the year. It was stressed strongly to us that these early days it's as much about confidence (even with 'reading' the book my memory) than anything else.

And I think they should know - they have an excellent 'record' with their literary skills at the school - infact alround an excellent school with great 'results'. (hence the reason I'm bl**dy grateful for having moved next door to it last year, before it was time to apply for places - or I'd never have got a place).

yes - just double checked their Ofsted report from last year (following on from which they were put on the Ofsted list of "outstanding schools" - or whatever that list is called).

Reading - compared to ALL school A, compared to similar schools A
Writing - A and A
Maths - A and A

I feel out of control of ds's reading. He wasn't succeeding and was frustrated but little was being done at school. He rarely read to an adult there and they didn't take my concerns seriously.
He's now 8 and been diagnosed dyslexic. I taught him at home last year and his reading jumped ahead, simply because we were reading every day, before he was tired in the evenings. I am a teacher (recently retrained aqt primary level) now cworking on a dyslexia course. I don't think ds would ever have learned to read if we hadn't made a fuss. The trick? Phonics.

Catflap's posts are always excellent and with a DS who has speech problems his reading has only improved with a spell of synthetic phonics teaching by the SENCO at his school.

I agree that memorising and picture clues are all a diversion from the main task which is picking up all of the sound codes. Only then can they successfully decode new and unfamiliar words!

I'm sure her advice is excellent. But

a) I have every confidence in my DS's teachers to teach him to read well, I saw plenty of 'phonics' books out on display at the parents evening, as well as the books which they've started with to increase their confidence. And their 'track record' has been consistent for many, many years.

b) I don't particularly like the 'insinuations' that my DS isn't being taught well/optimally

"you will find brilliant advice on teaching children to read, much better advice than you have received from school. She is a teacher and she really knows what she is talking about."

Yes - well my sons teachers are (funnily enough) also teachers, and also know what they're talking about.

QofQ - I don't think any one was intending to undermine the teaching your child gets - I certainly wasn't!

I have followed Catflaps posts for a long time now and she is incredibly insightful! I'm not sure that all teachers are good at teaching reading and in fact many teachers I ahve spoken to will still say 'after teaching reading for 20 years+ I still don't know how they learn to read'! Doesn't inspire much confidence!!!

Catflaps views are really becoming more mainstream views now- but many teachers will still teach on the basis of what they were taught while in collage!

I think you would be ill advised to ignore her posts - I think they are spot on!!!

well I'm sorry as I said she probably DOES give excellent advice, but I don't particularly like the 'tone' of them. And the "putting down" of my schools 'guidelines' for the reception pupils wasn't exactly a great way to encourage me to read further.

Perhaps I should go into the school tomorrow and tell them, that despite their "well above average" reading ability at the end of Y2 when the children leave to go onto middle school, they're not teaching them properly?

oops, didn't intend for people to get fed up by 'insinuations' from this thread.

it's late and I have lots of comments in response to other posts here, but felt I must just clarify...

This was mainly a thread for those people who had expressed concerns at their child's reading or the teaching of reading at their child's school.

For those people who are happy with how their children are reading and how they are being taught, this thread is of no consequence. I merely meant it to be an addition to any comments I may have made in previous threads.

I am not insinuating that all teachers are 'look and say' enthusiasts - of course phonics is recognised as important and is a major part of the NLS framework.

Nor am I suggesting that synthetic phonics is new - it's been around for at least a century...

However, I will just add that not many teachers are fluent in how children learn to read best and how to teach it most effectively - but this is not our fault. I was quite horrified when it dawned on me I didn't really know - and I mean really know how to teach Reception children to read - why on earth hadn't this been a major module at uni???? Teachers still aren't given the fullest info on courses - i have been on NLS phonics courses and they are sadly short of what is really needed. And very few teachers have the time and energy to find it out for themselves. I clearly did - at the expense of many other things, let me tell you, I am sad to admit. I think back to all the advice I once gave parents on helping their child to read and worryingly, I realise now, I did not know what I was talking about. I thought I did and it was all with the best intentions, but my training and subsequent teaching practices left me very short.

Having discovered what it is really all about, i am still shocked that training is so lacking and feel that at least maybe I can do my bit by helping to inform.

More later.

QofQ - if you're lucky your DS will be one that picks it up, however he is taught.

Some of us weren't so lucky and Catflaps posts (and SENCO's similar approach) has made a world of a difference!

The school's overall results are scant compensation when you have a child who is struggling

Apology accepted (although - when I re-read I realised that it wasn't actually you who'd make comments that particuarly upset me).

I guess I'm very lucky that DS is going to such an amazing school - just been re-reading their last inspection report which is splattered with the words "outstanding" "excellent" and other superlatives (is that the word I mean? )

I guess this bit from the report hopefully shows that I'm not "misplaced" (your word ) in trusting the teachers

"Children enjoy stories and, when they look at books, sustain interest for a long time. In the
classroom there is regular reinforcement of reading skills, identifying letter sounds and playing games to support the learning of key vocabulary."