8 year old struggling to read

[Falcon1]

I've been worried about my DD (8) for years (and have posted a few times) as she's behind at school (always 'working towards expectations' in everything). She really struggled to pick up phonics and only started reading her school books without tears/tantrums at the start of year 3. She now reads daily with me (paired reading) without complaint and is on off the FRED scheme, finally. So we now read very easy chapter books together provided by school. She is able to sound out all the long words and it feels like the right level for her. Her comprehension is excellent (always has been).

The issue is that she reads SO SLOWLY. It is clearly a mammoth effort for her and she can only do a couple of pages before becoming exhausted. She will never pick up a book independently, despite being really excited about new books she selects from the library or book shop. We have tons of books in the house and in her room. She has always been read to every night, which she loves, and happily listens to audio books every night so has a good vocabulary.

Obviously I've thought of dyslexia. She has had a screening at school (they thought there might be an issue) and a pre-assessment by a dyslexia assessor. The advice we got was that she was average and there likely wasn't enough evidence to diagnose dyslexia yet and to wait until year 4 or 5 before paying for a full assessment.

In the meantime, is there anything I can do to help her read more fluently? Or should I just chill and hope it all clicks eventually?

No answers but similar situation with us here

Thanks @worktired . It's hard to know what to do for the best, isn't it? My other DD is an avid reader and is flying through school, so this is new to me.

I would get a full EP assessment. My DD was like this and she passed all the phonics tests etc as she knew how to sound them out. Reading was so so laborious but they didn't listen to me because she passed the dyslexia screeners too. The EP assessment showed massive problems with fluency and comprehension alongside other things. She was diagnosed with severe dyslexia that also effected her memory and in turn expressive language as vocab just didn't stick in her brain and she struggled to put complex sentences together. Her spelling was ace so teachers were shocked. She has an EHCP now and doing much better but it was stressful. We started really worrying when she was the same age as your daughter. I really wouldn't wait any longer. It's very hard to catch up the longer you leave it and the effect on my DDs self esteem is still visible now.
I would suggest Apples and Pears and Dancing Bears books. Made the biggest difference to us. Toe by Toe is good too but very dry.

@Dodgeitornot - this sounds just like my DC - spelling is fine, but not comprehension etc. Do you have any specific terms that I can use to highlight what I want them to focus on?

@worktired You're concerned about fluency and comprehension. Receptive and or expressive language. I would contact an EP. There are now dyslexia assessors but I find an EP assessment is far better as it doesn't just concentrate on dyslexia but assesses various other things and is more recognised.

@Dodgeitornot Thank you, that's interesting. How old was your DD when she had the assessment? I'll look into those books, thank you

@Falcon1 9. I wish we did it sooner. We did an EP and than a SALT assessment. Dyslexia can really effect speech which was the case with my DD. The EP suggested the SALT assessment after they did theirs.

Has she had an eye test?

I couldn’t read until I was about 8 years old ( nearly 40 years now so a long time ago)
I struggled in school all the way to uni ( to study English no less ) , so hard work paid off … I was told I was a hard worked but not that smart, turns out I am dyslexic ( uni picked up
on it and I was assessed )
I naturally figured out tools to support myself but the hard way, I would consider an assessment now. I still have confidence issues from those years of being inadequate that will likely never leave me

Yes @Whattheladybirdsaidnext - her eyes are fine

Forgot to mention my brother was a sold A student, he never had to study or try he just remembers things, an engineer and I know those studying with him were in awe of his ability to attend classes never study be out getting wasted and then get up and ace the exam. He is literally the polar opposite of me academically

Get a proper assessment from an EP.
a they won't just say "she is dyslexic" (or not). They'll give you a full assessment of her strengths and weaknesses and strategies to help her, plus if you need them to will talk to the school about adjustments for her.

When we had one of my kids assessed one interesting thing that came out was that she had terrible visual tracking and her eyes kept skipping around. She also had a poor working memory. these are both things we have been able to help her with and at 13 her reading is a little ahead of her age which is very pleasing given she really couldn't read much until she was 8 or 9.

@Bleepbloopbluurp - can I ask how you helped with working memory? This is something we're struggling with, along with poor executive function.

You can buy books with dyslexia friendly font- it might be worth trying some of those and seeing if they make a difference- if so you might be some way to confirming your suspicions or not?

How is she with reading in her head? My dc never liked reading out loud. I would only have them read a page or two and let them read the rest in their head when younger and eventually gave up all together and just let them read in their head. This was fine, as they are GDS in reading even if reading only to themselves. Also, it makes a big difference once they find something they love to read.