When phonics isn’t working…

[Bingowingo]

DS, year 6, struggles with phonics. He has poor visual tracking and visual memory. He remembers more complex words that are quite distinct. He struggles with differentiating phonemes and smaller words that look similar. After nearly 7 years in school he still couldn’t pass the year 1 phonics test.

I get from what I’ve read that phonics is the key to be able to decode new words, spell etc but when it isn’t working what’s the B-plan. We’ve done online games, flash cards, watching YouTube videos, etc etc. I’m actually thinking now that the fixed focus on phonemes is delaying his reading not developing it.

Are there children that don’t ever develop good phonetic awareness? Is there an alternative reading programme?

I think the ladder of reading and writing infograph is a good representation of the importance of structured literacy - teaching the code. Whether that is for reading or writing. It also considers the percentage of children that will learn with broad instruction or almost effortlessly.
Ladder of reading and writing