How can I help my DS (reception) with his reading?

[LauraNorder]

We sit down with the school books and words every night but he seems to be making very slow progress.

I am trying to not get too anxious about it as he is a July baby and still not 5 yet but it's the end of his first year and he still find letter/sound blending quite tricky.

He loves books and has 2 or 3 bedtime stories a night plus more in the day if we have time. He has the concentration to sit and listen to a book but I would like to encourage him with his reading a little more.

A friend with a DS in the same class is paying for extra coaching for her DS but I am not sure this is necessary (although am prepared to be convinced otherwise).

I am also going to have a chat with his teacher at the parents evening on Monday to go into his progression in finer detail and see what she says. His report was very positive, saying he tries very hard but unlike DD in Y2 we didn't receive and attainment levels just effort.

Just wondered if anyone could recommend a book/scheme or approach we might be able to dip into over the summer holidays.

Sounds to me as though your doing everything right. Don't put him off reading - the best thing is to keep sharing books with him. Keep up the practice over the summer and it will come. I listen to children reading in my daughters Y1 class and many of them still ahven't got the hang of blending sounds so don't panic!

Oh really Seeline that's encouraging - it's not seen as too much of a problem that they haven't got the hang of letter blending?

I will keep at it then! I am also going to volunteer to help with reading, I might pick up some tips

Your DS sounds exactly like my DS1 - he really struggled and didn't really 'get it' until year 2 (he's now 7). Lots of practice and lots of praise, and keeping a love of stories through reading books to him are all important. My DS is now very good at predicting storylines and working out harder words because they're things he's heard in the stories I read to him.

As for reading schemes, my favourite, which I also used to teach DS2 (age 4 to read, is Read Write Inc. It's a synthetic phonics system with simple, short stories, and you get a box of flashcards to help with learning letters and sound blending before you start on the actual books. There's also a second box of cards with harder sound combinations (like 'ough' and '-tion') which I've just bought to help DS1 now that he's a bit further along. Well worth a try, the starter set is on thebookpeople.com and is quite reasonably priced.

Also worth a look is starfall.com - it's an American website with lots of 'books' that are very simple and phonetic, and you can click on the pictures to make them do funny things. Totally free, lots of fun and it's something different to just reading books to mix things up a bit for a jaded child! Because it's american some of the sounds are a tiny bit different and they use upper case more than we do but still really useful. HTH.

Thank you Baron, some great ideas there!

hi Laura,

My DS is in year 1 now, also a summer baby. I was really worried about his reading last year - he really struggled and letter blending was really hard. I used to wonder if he would ever get it. It happened really suddenly, after Christmas this year - he was in year 1. And now he is reading Horrid Henry books to himself after we've done reading together at night. Suddenly it took off.

I spoke to my mum about it - she is a primary teacher, and she said she has seen this happen time and time again - usually some time in year 1, something clicks, and they "get it".

I would just keep doing what you're doing. I never pushed DS to read if he really didn't want to, as I believe that would have put him off even trying.

Can also recommend the Read Write Inc books.

Wow UC - would love to think DS could do that this time next year!

Another thing is to make sure he's not trying to read something too difficult, ensuring that he has a very high success rate.
Go back frequently to words he knows, single letter recognition/formation- e.g. there's an 'e' who do we know with a name starting with e? Can you spot another one? Can you make one out of stones/spaghetti/whatever? Stuff you've probably done before that he feels comfortable doing and build it up very slowly or at his pace, just informal everyday activities. Do oral/aural stuff too,like I spy and rhyme making so he gets used to manipulating sounds, repeating them and thinking about them.
As soon as he looks like he's flagging leave it be for then.
You supporting him will be a great help.

He's nearly grasped eye spy just recently however he does make us laugh

DS - "I spy with my little eye something beginning with "N"

ME - Lots of guesses but then give up

DS - "A Nareoplane"

DS - "I spy with my little eye something beginning with "f"

Me - again lots of guesses and then give up

DS - "sFari Park"

Read words that you see often, sign posts for your town/road etc. If he doesn't want to try DON'T make him. DS1 didn't really get reading until yr3...and now he's in the top half of the class.

Easier said than done but take it slow!

Laura - is your friend really paying for coaching? For a child in reception? Seriously?? The world is going mad.

Assuming you read him bedtime stories, encourage him to read out the sound effects/speech bubbles etc - especially the phonically decodable ones.
I'm a great believer in teaching reading fifteen seconds at a time - whenever you're sharing a book together keep an eye out for the bits that he could help with - but don't push it, it should be fun.

My dd is an eye spy sneak, she says I spy something beginning with say 'f' then randomly says "yes!" after we've all had a few goes!

Yes she is Lovecheese. I too think it's a bit much but her son is definitely further on than my son which is what has got me worried/thinking.

I think he has enough time being taught at school so would really prefer his out of school activities to be fun and something he chooses to do - not more school work! As I said in my OP I was prepared to be convinced otherwise but it seems you guys have a similar train of thought.

If he's not ready, he's not. As long as you keep sharing books and making it fun, he'll get there. Lots of countries don't start formally educating their children till much later and they certainly do no worse. It's probably the summer boys in general who suffer most from early school starting.
Avoid the pushy friend!

www.piperbooks.co.uk

I do bang on about these books but in my view they are unrivalled for teaching beginners how to read, and for their ease of use for parents.

Try encouraging him to do some reading that is not book-related as well as the other great stuff you are doing together.

I mean things like... when you are out at the shops looking at labels on packets, see if he can 'help' you find the right packet (e.g. plain flour instead of self-raising, raspberry yoghurt instead of strawberry), or reading signs together etc. Anything which brings the world of written words into his real life.

I'll always remember DD looking at two sorts of lollipop, not being able to make up her mind and me telling her to read the flavours. She (slowly) sounded out caramel, and was thrilled.

I can't tell you how very very glad I am to see this thread!
All I seem to be reading is 'my reception child is on ORT level 10' etc etc and then I look at my dd, she was 5 in May and is stuggling. She has been on an IEP since the first parents night in October as she has speech problems, she had a delay and also has physical problems in her mouth that have efected her ability to form sounds corectly.
I had her IEP review meating this week ready for us to attend her SALT review next week and even though I expected allot of it it still made my heart sink and had me fighting back tears as her speech problems have extended into her reading and writing, she knows all her sounds utterly and completly but just can't get blending when reading or lisstening, her teacher thinks it is because she is unable to crate the sounds as they should be and this is limiting her ability to figer out how to blend sucsessfully, she had had a tough old year that has included a surgery with two weeks off school to recover along with lots of time off for SALT therapy (pointless and more damaging but another story!) and doctors appointments and her teacher has seen the effect it has had on her, her confidence is knocked badly (largely due to the terrible speech therapy fiasco) and she is now looking for the easy way when reading, guessing and learning words for what they look like rather then how they are made up meaning that she is just on a platau reading and writing wise.
I am just so glad my dd is not alone and that in a way I am not, there are others here who's children aren't streaking ahead and are taking a little longer, I myself was late to click with reading, I had many many months off for health reasons ans surgery as a child in infants but when I was about 6 and a half it just clicked and I read my way though the infant libary and onto the junior libary (and I am still going lol!) so I have to remind myself of this.
Sorry for hijacking I really am, so much going on and just over eager for any chance to spill and get some support!
School have advised we give dd a long break from any school work over the holidays, just sticking as we always have to reading to her and helping her gain back some of her confidance and love for the writen word and then a couple of weeks before school goes back start back doing some very gental reading, giving her things that she will read without too much trouble (you basic 3 letter words really). We are lucky as in her school as being so very supporting and helpfull, everything is in place to address her needs in year one and as long as you have the same I am sure it will be fine... eventually! Sorry for the really really long post, the hijack and the need for me to let it all out somehow, would like to talk more with parents of little ones who find this reading capper a bit harder. x

roadkillbunny, you sound so worried.
But I'm pleased you have such a supportive school.

Just to reassure you that lots of yr1 children (not just foundation) struggle with sounding and blending, even without the problems your DD is facing. They certainly aren't all on stage 10 (or anyway near) by the start of yr1.

Your DD has plenty of time, she has a fantastic supportive mum and a school who are patient and helpful. She will get there in her own time.

If anyone does wish to do some phonics teaching over the summer holidays because of concerns about a struggling child, I am going to mention a very systematic and easy-to-use systematic resource which provides everything you would need to start from the beginning and go quite far with the alphabetic code for reading and spelling. The resources are downloadable and extremely sensible. It is my own material and I know all that stuff about not doing self-promotion etc, but I have designed this stuff precisely TO help parents, teachers and tutors who need the help. My Early Years Starter Package material is ideal for Reception and Year One children (and older strugglers) and it costs only £11 for masses of systematic resources. There is also masses of free information and free material in unit 1 of my programme and this does not require registration. Just click on the unit 1 button via the homepage. See www.phonicsinternational.com .

OP don't worry. I can assure you that this is quite common (especially for boys). If you continue to work with your ds at home a few minutes a day, he will improve.
My sister has three dc's (two girls and a boy) The boy is Summer born child and found it difficult to blend etc and even at the end of Reception did not know his sounds. This was all new to my sister who had two daughters who were reading really well at the reception stage. I advised my sister to concentrate on building up her son's confidence and not to be concerned with the fact that other children were on stage 6 of the ORT(i know that this is difficult).
One day in year 1, it just clicked and my nephew began to read. He is ten next month and has gained a place at a top grammar school in Kent.

roadkillbunny - your post is very moving and
I attempted to e-mail you privately but you don't have an e-mail set up. Therefore, I'll post here. Children with speech difficulties have found BRI books to be incredibly helpful as they progress from the first three books - containing only 5 sounds, and gradually build up. Almost a dozen linguists worked on the programme and it was originally trialled in over 2,000 schools. Have a look at the website - if you've time:
www.piperbooks.co.uk
If you think the books might be helpful I'll send you a few to try.

But I agree that you should leave most of the holidays free! Good luck.

Thank you for all your posts, all very helpful and most importantly for me - reassuring!

I love the summer holidays and cannot bear the thought of having to "coach" him through them.

We'll do a bit here and there but as some have suggested I will try and bring reading and letter/sound recognition into everyday life without him even realising.