Quick question reading v writing

[houseofboys]

HI quick query particularly for any teachers out there.. My 7 yo DS has been assessed with reading age of 10yrs 6mths but writing is only 'just in range of normal for age'. Is that normal with boys to have such a discrepancy? basically he loves reading but hates writing. His teacher said if you're good at one you are normally good at the other, but I think writing feels like hard work to him! Thanks.

Does he have difficulty with the physical aspect of handwriting - may need some handwriting support/exercises? Doe he have difficulty with organising his thoughts for writing? Spider diagrams/mind maps can help here.

and reading ages are notoriously unreliable!

As far as I can tell it is very normal for their to be a discrepancy - and nothing at all to worry about. Reading is far easier than writing and children have to learn to read before they can learn to write...

It can be an indicator of a learning difficulty if the discrepancy is large enough to be significant on the screening test used, and it persists (as pointed out, there can be variations in accuracy and "one off" results).

Is the school planning any interventions to help his writing? What is their interval for screening?

Your choice is essentially between trusting the school's wait and see approach, and deciding to get full diagnostic tests done by an Ed Psych. The former approach is more relaxed (and cheaper!) and allows for the vagaries of individual development which is often irregular and nothing to worry about. The latter sets your mind at rest by being specific one way or the other, this clarifying what, if anything, is indicated as an intervention.

I think its very common - certainly going by the number of threads along these lines on MN :)

My dd is exactly the same - fluent reader, FWIW (and knowing that the 'reading ages' are pretty meaningless), we were told at her year 3 teacher meeting last autumn that the assessed her 'reading and comprehension' at 12.5 yrs in English, 9.5 yrs in Welsh.

Writing however . . . with extra help in year 2 she was graded as just (and I'm sure it was a just) into level 2 in the end of year assessments. By the end of year 3 and having 'come on dramatically' in the teacher's words, she could just about write a paragraph unaided.

Someone commented on another thread that it maybe to do with coming from a family that reads a lot & has loads of books. I guess you could say perhaps that earlier reading is the anomaly, rather than the slower writing, if that makes sense.

Having said that, I'm just crossing my fingers that things will 'click' at some point with writing as they did with reading.

Thanks. Interesting thought about earlier reading being the anomaly rather than the poorer wrting... he is fairly average at maths too its just reading he soars in. He's just started year 3 and I'm tempted to wait til end of year and see his progress. At beginning of yr 2 he struggled to write one sentence (with no punctuation). Now he writes three or four and at least remembers full stops and capitals - usually! However his most exciting adjective is 'spooky' when writing - yet he reads (and understands and speaks) words like flabbergasted and insouciant. Still I'm mostly just very happy he loves reading for its own sake :)

My son was the same.
It wasn't until he was 13 that mild dyspraxia was diagnosed. He just found the physical skill of holding the pen really hard. Back in primary school he refused to write sometimes - now we know why!
Luckily his writing is just about legible and he just got A* in both his English GCSEs!

Reading is a receptive skill - writing is an expressive skill - definitely not the same skill set. DS is well above average in his reading (something he loves doing) and just below average in his writing (not surprisingly something he hates doing). I would say he's pretty normal.

I think it is pretty normal for boys. My son was like that too. He really took off with reading as soon as he started school but writing lagged way behind and didn't really catch up until secondary school.

Very normal, we see it all the time in schools! More often than not, it is actually why children will end up with a Level 4/5 at the end of Year 6 as the reading level really pulls up the writing level.