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Primary education

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Original poster

Reading fluently

37 replies

IndigoBell · 08/01/2011 08:08

Has anyone here got a child who has taken an exceedingly long time to go from being able to blend CVC words, to being able to read them fluently? ( say more than 6 months )

And if so what helped or what was the reason they took so long to be able to read fluently?

My DD seems absolutely unable to make this leap, so any and all advice will be much appreciated.

OP posts:
Malaleuca · 08/01/2011 09:26

Indigo, I have experience of several children who have been extremely slow to reach fluency. The amount of practice such children need is often vastly underestimated. Organising the practice and keeping the child motivated, (and sometimes the adult)can be taxing.
Methods of instruction are precision teaching; ensuring mastery on the right DI reading programme; over-learning on some other attested programme.

Some other therapies do claim to be necessary 'underpinning' but these do not negate the need for practice of the skill of blending, IMO.

I am member of another forum where children slow to reach fluency are often described and discussed. I have sent you a pm.

DullWomenHaveImmaculateHomes · 08/01/2011 09:47

It's really important that you and your DD's teacher are using the same methods when reading with her. I've come across so many parents who have being trying something different at home and it's actually done more harm than good with all the confusion.

It might be worth trying 'robot speak' (obviously you'd need to run this by her teacher but it's fairly common). It basically involves the child looking at a word or picture and saying the word as a robot would e.g. c-a-t, d-o-g etc. Then you say the robot word and ask your DD what the robot is saying. It helps her understand all the sounds in the word and blend them together.

HTH

Lamorna · 08/01/2011 09:48

My DS was very slow and I made lots of word games to make it fun. We had a picture on one side and the word on the other. He had the word side only read it and then turned it over to see if he was right. We had an egg timer and counted how many he got in the time. He enjoyed it, which was the main thing. You can play lotto and other games to vary it.(He got very fast)

mrz · 08/01/2011 10:16

I've taught many, many children who take much longer than 6 months to reach fluency.

Original poster
IndigoBell · 08/01/2011 10:21

Thanks everyone.

School and I are using the same approach - synthetic phonics. But I am only talking about blending regular CVC words now, so not sure how many different ways there would be to teach them....

c - a - t, c-a-t, cat? is how she currently reads.

At this point, after trying to teach her to read for so many years (she is in Y3) she won't find any learn to read game fun - no matter how much I dress it up.

OP posts:
Original poster
IndigoBell · 08/01/2011 10:24

mrz - what made them make the leap in the end? Just practice? How much practice? and how did you fit it in to the school day?

DD has been at this stage for 18 months, so appears to be well and truly stalled.

OP posts:
HaveAHappyNewJung · 08/01/2011 10:31

Is she making the individual sounds correctly? Saying "mmmmm" or "sssss" instead of "muh" or "suh"? The latter makes blending difficult.

(it's on my mind as I had to correct DH the other day, apologies if I'm barking up the wrong tree)

mrz · 08/01/2011 11:11

Daily practise there really is no magic formula.
We try to fit in 30 mins individual reading before school and daily reading in class (everyone reading together)
At the moment we have a child in Y5 who has been identified as "dyslexic" (my LA doesn't use the label) and has just made the break through after years of struggling.

missmehalia · 08/01/2011 11:30

(Am ex-primary teacher and mum of 2 - not that that makes me a total expert, nothing does!!)

I'd take a step back if I were you. Read to her loads, there are so many beautiful and funny books out there. Or things you loved reading and hearing at her age. Then leave them in her room or somewhere accessible for her to look at them herself without pressure. Also great events at local libraries, literary festivals, etc. Ignite her passion and hunger for it..

At her stage, so much of her day is controlled and organised by the adults around her, and so much of how she's judged is linked to how good a reader she is.

She's probably doing quite enough between 9 and 3 - reading is linked to almost everything at school!!!

Why don't you just see your role as linked to her literature immersion, so that if she's reading anything it's in a practical context? (e.g. recipes, food labels when shopping, signposts and navigation when walking/driving etc, etc). These are things her teacher will never be in a position to do.

I say do the formalised 'sit down with a READING book' (ugh) thing at school, home is for a rest, and for doing fun and interesting and more creative things. Think of it from her point of view.

Girls are under tremendous expectation to be fluent readers at a very early age, as it's traditionally been the way. Of course, all barriers to fluent reading like eye tests, etc should be monitored by the school.

And please stop worrying! I know you're trying to help, but when children 'click' with something it's just jaw-dropping how quickly they can progress. However, if you put her off by pressurising her, she'll never want to do it. And who can blame her..

missmehalia · 08/01/2011 11:35

Forgot!

Things that appealed to my (now fluent, but took a while) 8 yr old:

loved singing, so reading song lyrics from the CD/internet;

board games and the rules;

games on the internet (CBeebies website, etc);

Our address book, writing letters or emails to family abroad (writing and reading almost the same thing from opposite angles - sorry, in haste so not explaining terribly well.);

making cards;

keeping records of birds spotted outside, reading bits from non-fiction books about them (she's into nature);

I'm just trying to point out that if you're doing ANYTHING along these lines, you really are helping hugely. Like I said, her class teacher won't be able to do it. But sitting down with a book and a pointing finger, etc may well kill it stone dead for her. And she's so young...

mrz · 08/01/2011 11:39

missmehalia i suggest you read some of Indigo's other threads

becaroo · 08/01/2011 11:44

Has she been assessed indigo? Has she got a statement or IEP?

mrz · 08/01/2011 11:51

She hasn't got a statement as I recall but she was assessed for SpLD last year and is on SA+.

Original poster
IndigoBell · 08/01/2011 12:52

mrz is right. She is on SA+ and is under the SpLD team but does not have a statement.

She definately wouldn't qualify for a statement (yet) - but I also don't want a statement (yet). I want her to learn to read fluently and spell well enough that her writing can be read.

MissMehalia - you are right about not putting her under any more pressure. Which is why we have agreed with school that she doesn't need to read at home, except on holidays and weekends. Instead she reads with a TA every day on top of a daily, hour long, phonics intervention.

We are just having our next IEP meeting and I was hoping for ideas about what kind of support she could be given. But it looks like there are no recommendations besides lots of daily practice - which she is already getting. :(

OP posts:
becaroo · 08/01/2011 14:25

indigo It really sounds like you are doing all you can tbh but I understand your concerns.

My 7 year old year 3 ds1 is going to be assessed soon at his new school but being at a new more child friendly school is already reaping rewads for us....he is more confident and although not where he "should" be wrt the NC I am more hopeful he will be reading fluently soon.

Hope the IEP meeting goes well x

Lamorna · 08/01/2011 15:16

I really liked this book Toe by Toe
It is expensive but I found it very good with my son. A big adavantage with it is that you just do a very short time each day so it doesn't seem too bad for a DC who has become very anti.

mrz · 08/01/2011 15:21

I know Indigo has used Toe by Toe

Lamorna · 08/01/2011 15:29

I didn't mention the book that I found really good because I thought it would be out of print but I see it isn't.
Step by Step by Mona McNee
It costs only £5 so is worth sending for, even if you don't find it useful. I got my word games from there. She does a day to day system. She had a Down's Syndrome son who couldn't read and she was told that he would never be able to. She proved them all wrong, and wrote the book to help others. I have just found my copy which is battered and coffee stained , a testament to the use I made of it.

Original poster
IndigoBell · 08/01/2011 17:04

Thanks everyone,

Given that we have already changed school, done toe-by-toe, dancing bears, accelRead accelWrite, EasyRead and vision therapy, as well as school doing Read, Write, Inc with her for the last 2 years I'm not really keen to start yet another learn to read program.

It is not that she doesn't know how to read. It's that she can't read fluently.

I was just really wondering if anyone else had had a child with such severe difficulties becoming fluent, and if they'd found anything that helped. But it looks like my SENCO and me will have to work it out ourselves....

OP posts:
Lamorna · 08/01/2011 17:13

It sounds as if you are right to take off the pressure.

HaveAHappyNewJung · 08/01/2011 17:18

becaroo I remember you from home ed board, I've name changed. Has your DS returned to school then? Is it all going ok? :)

I've heard of toe by toe, wanted to try that or similar but it's unworkable in our situation - DSD doesn't live with us and there is no way her mum would do it :(

becaroo · 08/01/2011 17:51

oh my god just typed a massive post and lost it...aarrghh.

indigo Some kids dont read til they are 9/10. There are some people on the HE boards with this experience...perhaps you could post there?

NAHNJ Hi! Things are going well for ds1 but its earlay days. He has been back (at a small village primary) since Nov.

Hope you are all well over on the HE boards? I miss you guys!

Oh, and indigo I tried them all too! I did like Headsprout.com as it was computer based and interactive and ds1 enjoyed it but its not cheap...you can get 3 free "episodes" to see if you like it before purchasing the whole programme though and it cn be sone at home or school.

Saracen · 08/01/2011 17:57

My dd could sound out cvc words at four but didn't want to learn to read until she was 6.5. She then slogged away persistently and fairly cheerfully for several years, making very gradual progress until it fell into place around her ninth birthday and she appeared to become fluent overnight.

I think she just wasn't developmentally ready before that. She used to say that the words were too small to see easily, that she lost her place on the page, that it was just too slow and tiring to tackle books with more than a couple of lines of text (and an illustration) per page. In her case, leaving her alone and waiting was the key. Meantime I read aloud and got lots of audiobooks to keep her interested in reading and give her access to material she otherwise wouldn't get.

Oh, you mentioned spelling: for many children the spelling comes along of its own accord after the child can read fluently. My dd could hardly spell any common words at eight, and now at eleven is just as good at spelling as the average child her age. With her enthusiasm for reading, I have no doubt that she will eventually become a very good speller. Being able to write well (manually or by typing) and wanting to communicate helps to reinforce spellings too. Her interest in blogging and emailing her friends was a big boost to my dd's spelling.

missmehalia · 08/01/2011 19:07

mrz, am fairly new to mn, so am not privy to all the background that some of the rest of you are... but I can see from further down that this little one's subject to so much one to one and the 'spotlight' approach. Indigo, there's clearly a lot of support in place for her. Fantastic.

My only point was that there's vast amounts already being done in the formal approach, and I'm staggered that so much has/is being done with her at such a tender age. It's because of her age, TBH, that I was suggesting putting the brakes on any formal learning outside school hours.

It's not so terribly abnormal that fluency isn't there at this age, I don't think there's anything to be worried about!!!

mrz · 08/01/2011 19:22

sorry missmehalia but how old do you think Indigo's daughter is? She is in KS2 which is why her mum is concerned.

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