five year old reading problems

[WhoKnew2010]

I'm just wondering whether anyone can give me any advice.

DD2 who is 5.7, is really struggling at school. She has a wonderful, v. experienced teacher who also doesn't know what to do.

We thought we'd cracked the alphabet over Christmas but she just forgets some of the letters as soon as we think she's learned them (especially v and y). I've just spent two sets of 20 minutes trying to teach her 'they' and 'away' and she just doesn't have the faintest idea. It's as though it's a foreign language to her and she just can't retain it. Orally she's bright enough and while flightly can engage with a favourite activity/film if she wants to. She has absolutely no interest in reading, which doesn't help.

Does anyone have any advice at all? Thank you so much.

Maybe she's just not ready yet.
One of mine didn't really read until the end of Y2. Studying English Lit. at Uni now. :)

Doesn't seem to have held Stephen Hawkings back either

" revealing he did not learn to read properly until he was eight years old, "

www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/08/stephen-hawking-70-cambridge-speech

So, while it's not a bad thing to be on the look out for any issues sometimes just the passing of time will make the difference.

I'm so sorry for disappearing. My bb has been broken!

Thank you so, so much for all your responses. I will print this off and go through it all very carefully.

I think that the common thread is that my disquiet (and as I say I couldn't care from an 'achievement' pov) is worth following up and you've given me a lot of avenues that I will explore. For that I am truly grateful. None of this is going to do any harm (as long as she doesn't feel 'different'.)

I think that there's also a common thread that it's important to continue to carry on teaching her - at her pace and perhaps in less conventional ways. I have an appt with her teacher in 10 days or so but the quick chat I've had at the classroom door is that dx is less imp than (parental) strategies whatever they may be. That seems to make sense to me.

My eldest (7) was also a slow reader - just getting there in Year 3 - and choir has helped her enormously. But it was a different experience ie. she was clearly struggling but could build on what she learned. DD2 just seems to forget it all from one day to the next, which is incredibly difficult (and frustrating) for her teachers. A multi-sensory approach makes intuitive sense to me.

Thank you so much.

I have took my son to school this morning, he is also in reception. His teacher informed me she is worried as he is unable to spell the word "dog".

He is doing really well with his reading, i am impressed with how well he has done actually. However, when i took him to school she has shared her concerns.

My son isnt 5 until next week! should i be worried?

It seems ok to me; my ds is 5.5 and could probably have spelled dog 6 months ago, but I'm sure some of his peers couldn't. i'd guess that receptive skills ie reading are acquired before productive ones ie spelling. If he's ok on the former, at 5 I wouldn't panic if he struggles on the latter. Obviously if he can't read either, then it's time to work on it (but not panic!).

Thanks for the Bear Necessities ref above, IndigoBell - the stuff on that site looks excellent; considering the spelling stuff for DD2 or DS.