4 year old struggling with letter recognition - anyone relate?

[BeansMeansBeans]

My 4.5 year old DS is the only one (in his very small class of 6) at primary who doesn't know his letters. We have been doing flashcards with him but I'd say he only knows about half the alphabet and isn't really bothered... For example, he just says "not sure" without even looking at the letter on the card, even if it's one he already knows!

He gets read to every night and is in a very "word rich" home with both parents reading etc. He's very curious, chatty, and interested in the world around him. I just feel worried he'll get left behind. We do have dyslexia in my family, although I don't have it personally.

Anyone have a similar experience? How did it turn out?

Have cbeebies youtube phonics videos onfor him
Just take to specsavers

That’s great. You could also look into making your own flashcards using a typeface specifically designed for dyslexics in mind, called OpenDyslexic, or Comic Sans is also a great choice as every single letterform is differently shaped, and therefore in theory easier to decode. (I’m a graphic designer btw).

If school are using Read Write Inc then using those flashcards would be best to keep consistency.

@BeansMeansBeans Consistency and repetition really are the key to phonics. Rather than practising all the sounds in one go, choose half a dozen. Include 5 you know he is confident with and one he is unsure of. Repeat until he is confident.

There is lots of information for parents about Read, Write Inc - have a look at some of these.

www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/

As much as possible, follow the guidance rather than introducing new strategies - you want to reduce cognitive overload and keep it as simple as possible.

I think I am taking him to get his eyes tested first, then seeing how he gets on from there. I might get in touch with his teacher when they're back at school and see what she recommends as the best strategy to support him at home.

Some of our Reception children don’t yet know all their sounds - do you refer to them as ‘sounds’ or ‘letters’? RWI teaches the sounds one at a time so until your dc is secure in one sound adding others is pretty pointless.
Have a read of this link, it’ll be useful.
home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/

He might just find it all really dull. He's very young and whilst dyslexia might be a possibility it's more likely that developmentally his brain is just not ready for this particular aspect of learning. We expect a lot from very young children in this country.....

4.5 yrs old sounds fine even give FH of dyslexia. Most countries would still be in nursery/kindi until older than this. Even other uk countries don't expect 4.5 Yr olds to be learning formally at this age. Outcomes at 17/18yrs are no worse for not pushing very young children into academia.