Give me a break...tired of hearing people go on about reading levels!!!

[sereka]

"My DD or My DS can read before starting reception." or "The teacher is sending home books which are too easy." Oh spare me. Children develop at different paces and if your child can read dont worry about the books the teacher sends home. Read books at home and join the local library where you can choose books which interest your child.

My DD is starting reception next week and I am very happy with her progress. Just enjoy your kids. I am so excited about her start at "big" school and she is likewise very excited.

First time round I did fret a little. Second and third time round I couldn't care less....which is fortunate really as DS#2 is way behind in many areas although his reading has improved in the last 6m. I guess it depends on whether you think angst and worry is a positive thing - or you prefer to let it go and just carry on helping and encouraging as you would have done anyway.

I think it can be quite a big thing to parents as it is a quantifiable way of measuring their progress. A lot of the time we don't know exactly how well they are doing (teacher's comments can be pretty vague!) whereas with reading levels you can see them progressing through and can look up whether they are "average" for their age.

Just like everyone worries about milestones like walking and talking and first teeth, these are hugely important measures of development at the time but aren't so important later on.

No, squeaver sadly they don't all learn to read eventually. We have at least 10% functional illiteracy in this country, and lots of children arriving in secondary school unable to read sufficiently to access the curriculum.

I'm starting to think it's another one of those irregular verbs:

I have a genuine need to know how my child is progressing
You could do with chilling out a bit
She is horribly pushy.

domesticsluttery completely agree.

MrsBoring - exactly. Not all children learn to read. These 'milestones' only matter if you don't make them. And unfortunately you can't rely on your school to tell you if there is a problem. Obviously lots of schools do tell you if they have concerns - but lots don't.

My school continually insisted my DD was fine despite putting her on the SEN register (without telling me) and despite her being well behind in everything. They also lied to me in every parent teachers meeting and kept telling me she would make a level 2 in her KS1 results. Which I absolutely knew she wouldn't. And she didn't. In any subject. But if I wasn't proactively researching the whole thing I would have not been aware there was a problem. School would never ever have admitted it.

So yes, as long as your child learns to read in the infants it doesn't matter at all. But if they go into the juniors unable to read or write at all it's a different story.

Totally agree. I find this obsession on here horrible, upsetting and hurtful.
It seems there are times posters seem to scrabble around to find something, anything to post about just so they can drop in what level their child is reading at and how wonderfully bright they are because they start reception reading blooming war and peace!
I know my reaction to these sorts of threads is over exaggerated due to personal circumstance and people don't intend to make others feel upset and hurt, or insinuate a child who isn't screaming ahead through reading levels is somehow less intelligent, less worthwhile and will fail at life but when you see your child struggling through no fault of their own it is bloody well upsetting and hurtful.
My dd is a lovely girl who tries hard and is loving and caring to those around her. So bloody what that she has just started Y1 and is on ORT 1+, she has worked hard to get there, she gives her all, she has speech problems that have had a knock on effect with her reading, she has done bloody well to get where she is, she has had to endure surgery and have hours and hours of speech therapy to get to her 1+, she has had to see all her class mates move through the levels ahead of her, I have had to hear her say that she thinks she will never be able to do it. If a child is a free reader or on level 1 that child has worked to get there and I am getting sick and tired of people insinuating my child is somehow less bright and less able to achieve in her life because of her reading level at age 5. I get being proud of your children but there is a point that it just becomes smug and hurtful, how about just commending on the effort rather then taking every chance you can find to state what bloody level of reading book your child is on!
Okay, I will get off my soap box and I know I am being a bit unreasonable due to the fact I am over sensitive, I would just like sometimes for people to think before they speak/type, Can't you just say 'John is doing very well with his reading how can I help him build on this with his teacher?' rather then 'John is reading at ORT level 12 but his teacher gave him and ORT level 10 book, it is going to put him off for life!'

Our school deliberately avoids reading schemes to avoid all this rubbish. They encourage free reading.
The expected attainment for an "average" child is to be able to read fluently by the end of Year 1.

It's not the parents of functionally illiterate kids posting on MN, though is it?

It's the ones who are worried that Jemima's on level 7 while their dc is only on level 5

Still on ORT in reception?
Gosh

DS2 is on Level 10 ORT. But he still wets himself sometimes and can't ride his bike without stabilisers.

'Tis all relative.

You have to accept that a chat forum like mumsnet has people from all backgrounds, posting all kinds of questions and concerns, and what may seem ridiculous to one may be highly emotional and relevant to another.

They have just re-stickered (?) all the books at DTs school so they are all different colours. Some of the competitive mums were going mental! 'She used to be green but now its yellow and yellow is a reception colour' blah blah blah.

I am interested in how my child is progressing and not how well they are progressing compared to someone else.

@ Schilke... Nop i have not blown it actually. I do care about my DD and her education. I know she is above average bacause i was told on her end of nursery report( she attended the nursery of a brilliant private school). I must admit though reading some of the post on here sometimes lead you to want to be competitive but thats not what Im about and it drives me up the wall when people go on about their kids being "gifted".

I am not competitive far from it. Just care about my own DD's progress. As Long as she is happy...

most nurseries don't tell you stuff like that.
It is easy to tell everyone else to chill if you have access to lots of info about how your child is doing. If someone else appears to be interested in how other people's child is doing, they may be simply trying to find out in relation to their child what you already know in relation to yours.
A lot of schools are also very strongly opposed to giving out information like 'above average', 'below average'. They have good reasons for this but it does leave you somewhat in a vacuum.

Squeaver,

Know what you mean, but I don't agree. Reading levels are a virtually open-ended system. Even many adults don't get to a very high level of attainment!

Not everyone needs to be super-literate, but it's delusional to think that all readers' experiences are the same or as enriching. Improvements can and do take place well into tertiary education and beyond.

Sereka - ok perhaps it was the way I read your post. It came across as I don't have to worry about this because my dd is above everyone else.

I agree with you I hate the talk of reading levels on here. I have been lucky as there is no talk of it at my children's school.

Actually, I do remember one occasion in reception. A child picked up a book and brought it to her mother. As she was crossing the classroom her mother shouted " No, X, remember you're the first one to move up to yellow".

My dc4 starts on Friday and she is excited too. I just hope it continues as it's a battle to get my other 3 to school! Hope your dd enjoys it.

Is it not competitive then to mention that your DC went to "the nursery of a brilliant private school"?

Just wondering...

Just what I thought ds.

Can't stand the competitiveness but just happened to slip in at that dd is above expectations and attended the nursery of a brilliant private school .

I suspect that a number of posters on mumsnet
exaggerate their dc's reading ability. I find it rather amusing when some posters say that their dc's could read FLUENTLY at 2 years old, my dc's could barely speak at 2 years of age, let alone read.

As other posters have said , by the time they reach juniors they all even out .
I think the best thing is not to involve yourself in any discussions regarding reading levels and just encourage your dc' to do their best.
My dsis could not read until she was eight. My mother was told by the school that dsis would probably not do well academically. My dsis has a science degree, Msc and is studying for a doctorate.

It's particularly easy to chill when you have outside affirmation your child is doing very well, I would have thought

Roadkillbunny - if you ever feel like posting on the SN forums, about the reading or similar issues, then I am sure you would be welcomed, some people who post there have kids who have speech and/or language difficulties.

btw my DS (who has language delay) was also on level 1+ at start of year one, something suddenly "clicked" during year one, and he made a lot of progress in a year, hopefully the same will happen with your DD.

Forhehead,
erm, how is it true that 'by the time they reach juniors, they all even out?'

In my son's class, at the start of year 3, for example, there are readers who demolish level 5 books in days, and a few who are rather below NC2.

I think it's a complete myth that it all evens out. Advanced readers often remain advanced readers, while strugglers may never get very high at all.

I have even known well-educated adults who have inadvertently revealed themselves to be slower readers than they would have liked, or readers with less comprehension than they would have liked, without ever admitting it, of course.

Can I point out that there is more to reading than just decoding.... which a lot of the ORT levels are about. I remember the Year 3 child I had last year who had "already read The Hobbit by herself"!!!. Arse had she!

She may have decoded a lot of it and she was 2 sublevels above an average but that is a loooooooooooong way from being able to appreciate that kind of text. And unless you appreciate and undersatnd a text then reading is pointless..... it is just solving a puzzle!

Over40 - of course reading and decoding are not the same, and I agree that pushing for school books to be as difficult as possible in order for a child to progress is failing to understand the process of learning to read. However, a book can be understood on many different levels - read the Hobbit in Year 3 and it's an exciting adventure story with a dragon, dwarves, a wizard and a hobbit. Read it again later and you get a bit more out of it, but to claim that it was pointless of the Year 3 child to have read it is a little bit presumptuous on your part, I think. Why on earth, after all, would she have ploughed through the lot if she wasn't getting something out of it?

My DD couldn't read squat when she started in reception. Most likely because i held back from attempting to teach her as during the course of gaining my degree in Early Years I've read far too many documents citing the potential harmful effects of "too much too soon".

I agree that the most important thing is to have a good grasp by the time they reach Juniors otherwise it impacts into other areas.

Sereka, I'm feeling contentious this evening, and I couldn't help noticing that:

a) you have nothing to worry about with your child, and therefore no need to compare; and
b) you used to come on to mumsnet to compare your child with others, so are not averse to comparisons in general when they are useful to you, personally.

I have to confess to thinking from the above that you would be intensely interested in other children's reading levels if you had reason to suspect your dd were actually performing below average, or if you were concerned about the quality of education in general at your dd's school (and therefore looking for evidence of its failings). I therefore don't see a huge gulf between you and the mothers whose posts you deplore - just a differing level of anxiety.