reading experts this way please? :(

[MathsMadMummy]

bit cheeky posting in primary ed (more likely to get a response hopefully!) but bear with me.

I have a 12yo DSD, just finished yr7. always struggled massively with reading (her twin flourished with phonics though) and now, while she does love her new school and makes good effort, she still really shies away from literacy.

it breaks my heart, and DH's obviously, particularly as he did go for custody and we feel she'd have been much better off education-wise with us. she's so clever but can't prove it at all. she got some help in primary although dyslexia tests were inconclusive, but had a scribe/reader for SATs, ended up with great results which were then too good to qualify for extra help in secondary! FFS

no way can we (or her mum) afford any private help/tests. I've had a look at some of the books recommended on here, toe by toe etc (I know some are controversial) but they all seem to say it must be done daily. we can't do this as she lives with her mum, we see her every week or two but it's harder to fit in now as she's tired from school.

I'd be more than willing to pay for one of these books and use it here (I've also read up a lot on phonics for when my kids are older) but we know such a scheme would not be used at home. her mum has no faith in her, she's written her off (when DSD said she wanted to be a vet, she told her that she's not clever enough to be one, who says that to their own child? :() and generally doesn't give a monkeys about the kids' education - as long as they're not getting in trouble (which they don't) she's not bothered. even if DSD was willing to put the practice in to improve, she wouldn't get any help at home, she never has.

she's hopefully staying with us for a week this summer, DH will mostly be at work but I'm at home with my 2 littluns anyway. I don't want to pressure her into schooly stuff but it would be good if I could help. it was a bit easier at primary as the DSDs were more willing to do extra stuff, workbooks etc, but now they don't. DSD does enjoy school, especially science ATM, but I feel that as she gets older her lack of ability in literacy will slow her progress and demotivate her all over again :(

I'd be so grateful for any advice, I really don't know what to do :(

The first thing I always ask is has her sight been checked - rule out the obvious first

You say her twin has flourished with phonics so if I was working with her I would assess her phonics knowledge and see where the gaps are. Does she know the basic letter/sound relationships? How many alternatives does she know? Then work out where to concentrate
It's difficult when you don't see her daily as 15 mins every day can have a significant impact .

{www.phonicsplay.co.uk]] may be too young for her in content

Ruth Miskin Fresh Start might suit www.amazon.co.uk/Read-Write-Inc-Fresh-Start/dp/0198462263/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281110698&sr=1-26

this is a good programme which she could do at home and with you. The USB stick is very handy for using on different computers.

thanks.

the USB thing looks interesting, but as I said she just wouldn't do any at her house, really I'm just wondering if there's anything we can do only at our house I guess.

re: sight - she does wear glasses all the time now and has regular checks so they're the right strength. I'm hoping to get some of those coloured overlays to try out too.

how would I go about seeing where the gaps were? I know the nonsense word test, the only other thing I thought of was the phonologically controlled schemes (we have two sets, and some flashcards) as she can read them to DD. I have loads of game ideas, stuff I've read on MN and in various books but I'm torn between wanting to help and wanting the best for her long term, and not wanting to upset/insult/patronise her by giving her babyish activities.

she has improved at secondary, I think possibly because the emphasis on literacy in itself has been removed IYSWIM. she read out her report on the phone but I'm not sure if she'd just memorised it?

www.phonicsinternational.com/assessment.html

I'm sorry, I would advise agains Units of Sound. I have had children come to me having done it and they still don't have a clue. It doesn't teach sound by sound decoding, it teaches 'chunks' of words which actually contain more than one sound. This doesn't help with flexibility when a child is confronted with a letter (or group of letters) which can be pronounced more than one way, or in a situation where the 'unit' could be split in more than one way. (I'm trying to think of an example here....)

It also fails to make explicit the way each individual 'sound' is spelled, which causes particular problems when it comes to spelling. I have problems with children who have been taught, correctly, that 'qu' = /kw/ but have never cottoned onto the fact that the letter 'q' only spells a /k/ sound. If I ask them what sound it spells, they invariably say "/kw/". This confusion is unneccesary/inefficient..and this is when only one 'unit' has been taught - imagine it multiplied by many 'units'.

I'd second mrz's suggestion of FreshStart (it's what I use at work). It is a programme of 33 'modules' (workbooks) each one of which focuses on a particular phoneme. You would need to buy the Handbook first because that has the placement test in it which will tell you where to start her in the programme. If you don't do that you could waste a lot of money on modules you don't need to do. It is designed for group use, but it works absolutely fine one to one. The text is meant to be age appropriate, I haven't had any of my pupils be particularly critical of it.

Or there are the BRI & ARI books (search on Piper books)

Even once a week is better than nothing. In the interim, I suppose she wouldn't accept her brother as a reading buddy would she? If he knows his phonics and could help her, uncritically, with some reading practice that would go towards dealing with the problem of her not being with you all the time.

I have a 'Helping your child with their reading' advice sheet that I did for parents - if you wanted to contact me privately I could send it to you (Is that an OK thing to do on here?)Just any reading, if properly supported, is a great help.

I've used units of sound with secondary aged children and have found it very effective. The dyslexia Institute also use it within their lessons. I'm a specialist spld teacher so also would teach decoding/phonics alongside it.I use it with year 7 chn upwards as they are often resistant to phonics/decoding programmes by that age. I wouldn't use it with younger chn except as support to the overall programme.

The need for regularity of instruction is essential. Once you decide on a programme, it is possible to 'rent' an online classroom, quite cheaply, and deliver the instruction online. Some tutors here in Western Australia tutor students in remote locations this way. They upload all their own worksheets and the students can write on them and talk to the tutor. You could do Toe by Toe this way,scanning the pages in, as long as you can speak to your stepdaughter online. (not sure about the copyright for doing something like that)

Also here in Australia, we have a charity called the Smith Family Foundation, who organise telephone reading buddies. You could do something like that to listen to her read over the phone.

thanks for the responses.

have organised it for her to stay for 6 days very soon, wondering what sort of activities we could do.

also been looking into things like improving co-ordination, eye-tracking and that sort of thing as that may be a problem for her.

Would second the use of FreshStart. I've used Toe by Toe a lot ( I am a tutor) and while for best results it does need to be done every day, doing it for 20 minutes 2 days a week ( do you have her every week?) would still help loads. It would just take longer to do! I think it is a great programme and would give her confidence as she realises she is progressing!!