Alternatives to phonics / sight reading

[Reluctantadult]

Has anyone got any experience of alternatives to phonics? My ds age 5 in Yr 1 is a real sight reader. He's actually ahead on reading I would say, but doesn't decode and segment the words as he goes. School are keeping him on easier books and say not using phonics might hold him back later. He does know the digraphs etc he just reads by sight. I can't see why this is a bad thing?! School suggested it might hinder him later.

What do you mean by a sight reader? That he isn't sounding out loud but reading in his head? That you think he's memorized a lot of words?
Does he know the sounds that individual letters make?
If you say "let's "h" "o" "p" " would he know what the word was?
Can he recognize rhyming words?

Sorry for lots of questions, but all might affect advice.

He knows all the sounds for letters, digraphs etc, beyond the point they are in school. He just doesn't seem to need to use them to read! I think school are batty and he's actually ahead. But feel like I'm in the twilight zone when I speak to the teacher about it!

But he comes across a word he doesn't know by sight, how does he go about reading it?!

If you wrote down some nonsense words like flub, strake, vaink - would he be able to read them?

Good idea with nonsense words!

I expect he'd decode it, but it rarely happens, he just seems to know what they say. I think if school bumped him up some reading levels he'd need to decode things. They keep telling me he needs to decode things so they know he's got the basics in place and can move him up. It's driving me a bit batty?!

He'd be able to read or decode them. We play nonsense word games like this on phonics play etc.

So he's reading the full world out loud instead of splitting it up into the sounds?

Seems weird the school have an issue with this, this is how my child reads, they are also in year 1.

Yes he just says the word, the same way an adult would when reading.

I don't get it either!!!! At least it's not just me. I've got parents evening in 2 weeks so wanted to find out what others thought.

So he is using phonics, he's just blending in his head?

Maybe you need to explicitly tell the teacher that. She seems to be a bit confused because automatic/silent blending of phonic sounds is totally normal and appropriate in Year 1.

Something isn't right here. Many children in year 1 are decoding in their head or recognising words and only sounding out the few that are tricky. My daughter does nearly all decoding in her head when she needs to. I'm surprised by the school. Have you tried him on some harder books to see how he manages? Does he read smoothly?
My friends child could basically read anything once she'd been given the basic rules by year 1.

So he is decoding then, just at speed/silently? Out of interest, try some difficult ones Inc nonsense words and non typically phonetic, as well as words that aren't in his vocab.

Yes as pp say, my ds was reading like this at a similar age but he was doing so because he was decoding rapidly, having learned his phonics. Are the school concerned he doesn't know his phonics somehow?

I guess they are keen on him decoding because in Year 1 the words are fairly basic and follow similar spelling patterns but as he progresses through school he will still need to have decoding skills to make out longer or more irregular words. All words are decodable. Adults mostly sight read, that’s what everyone progresses too, but you still need decoding skills for words you haven’t come across and words. I’m not entirely sure what your definition of sight reading is - you cannot sight read a word you have never seen. Your DS will be decoding.

Do you know what phonics system the school uses? What level is you child on?

It may be (sorry to say) that your teacher uses this as their stock answer and they don't actually know what level your child is at. I'm some phonics programmes, it's not the teacher who assesses. So they give their standard answer because they don't actually know your child's reading ability.

Equally, your child might not be quite as confident with unfamiliar words as you think. Try out a few "alien words" eg. Froik or (harder) kormthoot Can they read them?

Can your child spell words? Sometimes the phonic levels are based on reading and spelling ability combined.

School have recently changed reading schemes and are sending him home with stage 4 books to read x3 times in a week. Equivalent to Oxford owl stage 4. He was stuck on stage 3 books until recently I had to ask why 3 times before the teacher assessed him and moved him up to stage 4. At home he reads Oxford owl stage 5 & 6 books and similar and all sorts of other books. He loves reading, it's always been 'his thing' since he was very young. School don't seem to see this.

@Stevenage689 that's interesting. His writing is not great. I wonder if his spelling is an issue.

It could be spelling (equally it could not be!). In fact, as Oxford owl is a reading scheme, not phonics, that seems less likely.

Keep giving him a range of books. Keep letting him enjoy reading. Push it at parents evening a little, at least to understand where they're coming from.

Hows his understanding of what he's read? Is his writing at the same level?

Ive a sight reader in my class but she doesn't take on board what she has read..so now I've given her end of reception/year 1 books to read with the reading aspect being based around her re-telling the story/answering questions about what has happened!

His understanding is good when I ask him questions. His writing isn't great but is improving now. He's had a weak grip.

I wouldn't worry too much about what stage he is on. My child is reading chapter books at home by themselves but is also in year 1 and on stage 4 books. I just provide lots of extra reading opportunities at home, not so they progress quickly but primarily so they develop a real love of reading which I think is much more important personally.

Does it really matter what level books school are sending home if he is reading higher-level books at home?

Due to whatever five year old logic, DS always just grabs the top two books in the reading box to take home, so he usually ends up with random books he has no interest in reading. So we go to the library and he chooses his own books in his own time and reads those. His teacher says she doesn’t really care as long as he is reading.

Sometimes the books he picks are easier (he is on orange band but chose a red band book the other day), sometimes they are harder (he also picked a white band book about dinosaurs which I had to read 95% of). The easier books he sight reads like an adult - which is useful for him to practice tone and emphasis when reading aloud. We also talk about punctuation choices etc. The harder books he sounds out, or if he is really struggling we read alternate pages or sentences to give him a break.

If he has access to harder texts, I don’t see an issue with him reading easier books too. Not all reading has to be at the absolute limits of his comprehension. After all, adults choose our reading matter based on the subject, not the difficulty of the language.

My eldest was the same, just seemed to know how to read. Read fluently at 5 and was very bored with set books.He always raced ahead with set books so I just gave him something more challenging at home.
It was interesting when DS2 came to read as I assumed he would be the same and in fact he found it much harder and phonic type learning helped him.
There was no difference between them at age 8.