4-year-old trouble reading

[amanda0109]

My little girl will be 5 in July and she’s just finishing Reception. Recently she’s been very frustrated that she’s not reading as well as the other (older) children in her class. I read to her all the time and point out words for her to read herself - which is does sometimes. Other times she tries to fill in the word based on memory (if we’ve read the book before) or what’s happening on the page. When she can’t read the word she gets very frustrated and wants to stop. Does anyone have any tips? I’m not overly concerned - I do think she’ll get it eventually. I just don’t like that she’s frustrated and I’m kind of at a loss about how to make it “fun” for her.

She can spell things from memory (say the letters if I ask her to spell the word “dog” for example) - it’s just reading the words on the page that she struggles with.

I do have an appointment to get her eyes tested.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

No suggestions but I'm watching with interest - DS is the same.

Is she using her phonics? IE, is she at least able to identify all of the sounds in her reading books, even if she can't blend them yet?

I am a teacher. Yes keep it fun. Memorising stories isn't all bad. Have you seen on Facebook (might be a website too) fun phonics which has lots of activities and games developed by a mum/ teacher for her child in this situation. Have fun X

Can she recognise individual letters? Can she blend them together? At this age that will be the strategy she needs to use most.

If you have a tablet then she might enjoy a phonics based game to keep practicing fun. My 4 year old likes Teach Your Monster to Read. The lowest level starts with lots of practice of the individual sounds and gradually moves on to blending and some common ‘tricky’ words. There are other games - I have heard people recommend ‘Reading eggs’ but I haven’t tried it.

Buy "Toe by Toe" or Ladybird Keywords Scheme. And do 5 minutes of the former or a page of the latter every day. Both are highly repetitive and so they will get plenty of practice with the most common words. We have taught a lot of children this way and progress has been very rapid. Good luck!

She's a summer born child so it's sometimes normal for her to be behind the older children. My daughter was the same, she soon caught up after Reception class. Don't worry too much, try and keep it fun.

Thanks for the suggestions! She has “Teach your monster to read” and does well reading when it’s a game - just not when she’s put under pressure. She recognises all of the letters and knows their sounds, and has from a pretty early age, it’s just blending she has trouble with. @mazv1953 thanks for those suggestions - I’ll get them for her.

Having just finished Toe by Toe with my 10 year old, a 4 year old doesn't need that style of book.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things with her. I'd keep going the way you are. She's 4.
How would she react to making her own word bank on post-it notes to stick all over the walls - so get her to write "dog" ( and draw a picture on a second post it?) And pkay find the word out of her collection, or pair them with the picture?

My DD didn't get phonics for a long time so she was reading based on memory. She would memorise words. Like yours, she got frustrated because everyone seemed to be reading and changing books quickly. Suddenly in Year 1 she 'got' phonics and she zoomed away from her peers. Not only could she read with phonics and blending, she also had a wider vocabulary because she had been memorising all these words. I can't tell you whether it was the change of teacher or whether her brain just works differently but just keep reading. I don't think we are all programmed for phonics.