I need a crystal ball!

[IndigoBell]

You have all heard me cry about my DD before, but I'm feeling really down again....

DD is in year 3 and I'm really pleased with her new junior school. The SENCO is wonderful and DD is getting loads and loads of extra support. Her teacher is great her TA is great her phonics teacher is great. I'm pleased about every single thing about the school. ( after her previous school let her down very badly)

Had a meeting with the SENCO last week and they are really pleased with her progress. She is now reading at a level 1a and is on track to finish the read write Inc scheme during year 4. ( gone up from a 1b at start of year)

But for the holidays has she bought home red band books to read and the 45 key words to spell.

Will she ever catch up?

The thing is, compared to last year, she has made huge progress :(

We took her to a behaviour optometrist who found lots wrong with her vision ( despite 2 opticians saying her
vision was fine) and she now has bifocal glasses and
eye exercises - which are really helping.

She is seeing the Ed Psych next term.

It is all so depressing. I need a crystal ball to to stop
my endless worrying and stressing.

She has no SN and is of perfectly normal intelligence.

Then, yes, she will catch up!

I can't say when because I haven't got a crystal ball either .

The vision thing must have been a huge factor. The fact that she is now making masses of progress after getting her eyes sorted is so encouraging.

I can't tell you to stop worrying because of course you are going to - but you would be worrying a lot more if she either wasn't making big leaps in progress, or was still at the same crap school, or hadn't got her eyes tested. Everything is coming together, Indigobell. It's just going to take some time now, but she should get there. Give yourself a little break from worrying at Christmas - then go for it again in the New Year .

I hope you and your family have a really lovely Christmas.

Thanks Feenie.

Why are you worried? All the things you've posted sound really positive.

Because she's not 'closing the gap'. If she continues to make this progress at the end of the year she'll still be a full year behind the 'expected' (ie minimum) level.

All that we've done is stopped the gap widening.

I also wasn't expecting her to bring home red band books (which are a level W). I was expecting green band books.

I know they are deliberately giving her easy books so that her confidence grows. But it is hardly reassuring me.

And it's not as if she just ripped through the books and complained that they were too easy.... They really didn't seem too easy :(

I also thought she already knew the 45 words - given that we have been learning them for the last 3 years. Thing is she mostly does know them when I 'test' her at home. So I am assuming in her work at school she doesn't get them correct....

Rred band and 45 key words is reception level work - and she is in Year 3. Why wouldn't I be worried?

Has she had assessment from somebody like a learning support teacher? They are great in my la for providing activities and resource suggestions

She has been under the SpLD (dyslexia) team for a year - and they haven't made a single recommendation besides continue with Read, Write, Inc (which she has been on for the last 2 years).

They seem to assume that all difficulties with learning to read can be cured by proper synthetic phonics teaching....

I feel for you. It's hard to imagine them catching up, but what you said initially is encouraging and positive. She has made progress. She's moving forward, albeit more slowly than you'd like.
My DS1 started Y3 in september and it's gruelling. He's expected to be more independent in everything and that in itself is draining on them. Never mind the challenges of the schoolwork.
Enjoy Christmas, relax and remember how much she's improved and wait for new year. She may surprise you.
I just know that in my own experience with both DSs you cannot afford to take your foot off the gas.
Indigo, you have left some supportive messages for me in the past. Chin up. Stay positive. Merry Christmas.

I have a crystal ball. Crystal Ball says don't worry, it'll all be fine.

Seriously though - I think that's the attitude you have to adopt, believe it, and that will give your dd more confidence and think 'I can do it!'

I am a real clever clogs but really struggled at school, had extra help with everything and was in all the 'remedial sets' I think they called them. I couldn't read or write properly until I was around 7 / 8. The most important thing is that your dd has the guts enough to climb that mountain

And if she is less than 100% in any subject, who cares? iykwim

Nemo - thing is if I hadn't worried she would still be at a terrible school (with very good league table results - and a very low number of SEN pupils) and she would never have visited a behaviour otpometrist and got glasses.

She is almost 8. Really, she is very behind.

(Targets agreed at SENCO meeting was for her to understand the days of the week, and for her to learn how to spell her full name (instead of the dimunitive.))

I didn't worry when she was behind at the end of reception. In fact I didn't worry at all till she was put on the SEN register in Year 1 and her teacher said she was very concerned about her.

Even then I didn't do anything about my worry till after Y1 had finished - because stupidly I trusted the teacher to teach her.

I regret the years I didn't worry about her. We'd be 2 years further down the path of finding out what works for her if I'd started 2 years earlier....

(But I know your advice was well intentioned. And I also know if I was less stressed it would be better for her.)

So sorry Indigo. FWIW I went to a shite primary and I had to teach myself the days of the week, months of the year and times tables. What I did write, I wrote backwards - including my name. And in your shoes, I wouldn't have been worried at the end of Y1. At least it's getting sorted now - try not to beat yourself up about it

Hi Indigo
Yes, she is behind. But you knew that before she came home for the holidays

She has just got her vision sorted, you have ruled out SEN and now you can start again with her and do the 45 words , and crack the red books and build her confidence right up over these holidays

She WILL catch up I am sure- and you are without doubt the reason for that because you believed in her and made people listen

If she makes no progress with these 45 key words over the holidays then go back and ask more questions. But until then, please dont beat your self up

Indigo my dd now 17 got level 1s when leaving primary. She got 12 A and A* GCSEs and it is expected she will be an Oxbridge candidate.She was just a late bloomer who didn't reach average levels until she was almost ten. She got level 5s in year 6 and 8,7, 7 in year ten.Your dd has plenty of time to catch up I'm sure.

YOu have managed to stop the gap widening, which is fantastic and now you are doing everything right, have the right diagnosis and help to start closing it but Rome wasn't built in a day. Help her with what she has to do and then she will have the confidence to progress from there.

My DD was working below Lvl one when she started Y7. ONE TERM into Y8, and she is working between Lvl 3c and 4c depending on which subject. Your DD WILL catch up. You have done all the right things for her. Now it will just take time.

Sorry, asdx2, I don't understand your post - you seem to say your dd got level 1s and level 5s in Year 6?

OP, perhaps she is not spelling the words correctly in her general writing?

Why not focus on getting her to use the words in sentences? Give her the words on small cards and say (silly or not) sentences for her to put them in order (use tiny post-it's for any other words), take out one of the words and get her to write it in on a post-it, say the sentence and she writes it herself, etc.
Also get her to write the words over and over - use as many different pens and pencils as possible each time, etc. A wipeable whiteboard will also be very useful.

She needs loads and loads of practice at this level for the spellings to come automatically in context.

My brother didn't learn to read until he was 8.

He had no problems with vision, no sens.

He was just lazy. I'm not kidding. He was the most gorgeous laid back child and managed to charm the pants off his teachers (and my mum) and just didn't really do reading. Then he got a very fierce and determined teacher who forced the issue and he learnt.

Obviously very different to your DD's situation, but the point is that within a few years he had completely caught up with his peers. (he's still a laid back charmer though :))

I think the teacher's focus on her confidence is very smart. Especially over Christmas, as it means she can relax and enjoy the holiday and have a break from any stress about reading, while still practising.

She needs to learn to read for fun, on her own, and books that she doesn't have to struggle with will help with that.

Also, rememer that she doesn't have to do all the work to "close the gap". All she has to do is keep reading and enjoying it. The other children's rate is naturally slowing, she'll get there.

The numbers are on your side, so is her progress, and your support.

The best thing you can do for her imo is try to relax about this. You don't want her to pick up on your (totally understandable) anxiety around this.

How about the two of you go shopping for a special Christmas present book from you to her to celebrate how well she's doing? A book you will read her a chapter of every night, so you guys can have all the fun of reading, none of the stress? Pick something super exciting. Not sure what 8 year olds like these days. I loved the CS Lewis books at that age.

Thanks everyone.

You're all right.

I'm feeling better today. It is going to be slow for her to catch up. But she will catch up - because I'm never giving up on her.

Until she can read and write I will be worried about her. But everyone is really doing everything that can be done. So we just need to keep working together...

You'll probably have me back here with an equally desperate thread end of next term :)

Sorry Feenie level 1s at the end of year two and then level 5s at the end of year six.Dd went to what was a separate infants and juniors (now amalgamated as a primary though)
At the time there were two different Headteachers and two very distinct styles of teaching though I suspect that's no longer the case since it became one school. I don't know because I chose to send my younger ds and dd with ASD elsewhere.
The junior school style suited dd more, she wasn't aware until then that she wasn't doing well. It was a shock to her to see things marked with a cross if they weren't right.
She liked rewards and team points which in Infants she got plenty of because she was very well behaved but in Juniors the rewards were for academic achievements and so along with the more formal teaching and the repetition she got up to speed.
She entered Juniors in the next to bottom group and left there one of the two most able.
I don't think it's a particularly rare occurrence though tbh. Ds (asd) got level w in year two and 5,5,4 in yr6. Understandable though when you consider he didn't talk until age seven. He too sits GCSEs this year and is expected to do well particularly in Maths and ICT.

Ahhh, that makes more sense! Wow - very impressive progress on both counts, and as you say very possible.

Oh, I see. I didn't understand the book banding. Sorry.

Indigobell we wouldn't be mums if we didn't worry about our children. I'm sure she will get there with you to help her x

Mrz, Feenie and anyone else. Do you think DD could have ADD predominantly inattentive?????

Indigo perhaps you could see this as a consolidation phase where you make sure that your DD has the foundations firmly in place. Now that issues like her vision have been sorted hopefully she will move forward more quickly but it is really important to make sure she is building on a solid base and that there are no gaps.

My DS1 (yr3 aged 7) struggles with possible dyslexia. He also has retained reflexes which we are working on (once these are sorted if the reading problems persist we will go to an EP). His school (a prep with small classes) do give learning support Toe by Toe and Stareway to Spelling and they regard this "catch up" work as, in someways, more important than the class work as DS1 will struggle to fully access the class work if his reading and writing is problematic. At one point I asked them to put my son down a book band as he was not really understanding what he was reading even if he was successfully sounding out the words. The same with spelling he can learn the words for a spelling test and get full marks, two days later he will spell them wrong again. Stareway to Spelling is painfully repetative but my DS really does need to overlearn things so just because he learnt words in yr1 doesn't mean he still knows them in yr3 if they never got past his short term memory.
So I wouldn't see your DD doing work from earlier years as a bad thing as it is important to make sure there are no gaps. You will probably find she moves through it quickly and at least then you will know she is building on solid foundations.

Chazs - She really, really is being taught to read properly. She just isn't learning. She has had huge amounts of synthetic phonic instruction.

Currently she is getting:

• daily 1:1 with a TA
• an hour a day Read Write Inc small group work
• once a week small group spelling
• once a week small group maths.

She has been on Read, Write, Inc (one of the most famous / effective Synthetic Phonic brands) for over 2 years, and pretty much had daily 1:1 since reception.

Even over-learning doesn't work with her.
(Hence us still learning the 45 reception words which she has been learning since reception.)

Red is the lowest book band possible. Her books have about 6 pages each with about 3, 3 letter words. And she does not find these books easy.

If she really was a 1A which school claim she would be on green book band, which is 3 bands up.

This is not a problem with not knowing the foundations. It is problem with being able to learn. A problem with slow cognitive processing and a problem with her working memory.