DS (7) struggling to read

[jofeb04]

Hi All,

My ds (7, and in Year 2) is really struggling to read. He is still on the first band, and finds it very hard to blend the words.

DS is OK with the three letter words, but with four letters, whilst he finds it hard to read(which takes him a long time to read out one word), when asking him to spell the word, he does not seem to "hear" the third sound (so spot is spelt as spt).

We have had a small whiteboard home over the Easter holidays, which he seems to read better with (larger writing, more obvious black on white).

We are desperately trying no to place any pressure on him as he is quite anxious and is aware that he is not doing the same things his friends are in school etc.

Other bits of information about DS: DS takes (generally) a long time to do something but then seems once it is picked up he is fine with it, is much more of a thinker rather than doing (he will think about riding without stablisers, falling off the bike etc before doing it). He still struggles some days to remember the days and months in full order, and has to think for a while before saying something is left or right.

Has anyone got any tips which we could take forward with DS - he mentions that he doesn't like reading as it is hard (he will do maths without being asked at times, as he is pretty good with that).

I don't think I said that I didn't think the OP's child has a problem because clearly there is something causing him to struggle but I don't think it is helpful to assume a dyslexia label will help in any way, or that every reading/writing problem is dyslexia.
From the limited information available without knowing the child it seems he has a difficulty processing all the sounds in words which could have a number of causes from poor articulation, slight hearing loss (glue ear is very common in 4-7 year olds) to the more complex problems your daughter has experienced. I would try to quickly rule out all the simple things first before investigating more serious possible causes.

I think 5 is too young to worry, alot of kids (both of mine) arent interested until 6 or 7 and then it seems to click, however a 7 year old may need testing. Surprised the school has not tried more methods. My DD was recommended speech therapy in Year 1 for the sounds and DS recommended a hearing test, which showed he had glue ear. I would speak to his teacher properly or get a private test done. My DD is just clicking with reading (still 6 but in Year 2, but can blend most words now and remembers the words so it is more the memory that may affect him.

Some children do 'click' at the age of six. I would however be concerned if my year 2 seven year old was that far behind. I would deffo ask if he could be assessed.

something rings a bell with me here...my eldest child could not blend or read very easy words like "the" even though it was repeated on the page.
In the end he memorised all the words as whole words and all the spellings.
He didn't know left from right and he couldn't do things in order...days of the week,times tables etc
That was 12 years ago now...he is 19 now,extremely bright and no language problems...doing degree in English. However he does say he cannot see words written in his mind's eye as I can, and he sees days of the week as colours
Sometimes different is good and it evens out over time. I mean get all the support but it may just be a transient difficulty.

Some children who reach the age of 7 do, as lazydog comments, do take off but many do not. As well as exploring the options mentioned by IndigoBell and others, do have a look at www.piperbooks.co.uk and, if you feel that the books could help, I'll send you a set.
They are extremely well researched and trialled and are particularly effective for children who struggle.
Best of luck.

Sounds like my DS1 who's dyslexic. What's the teaching like at school? Mine was doing really badly, making no progress, moved him and within two terms his reading age had improved 2 years and he's still not where he could be for a bright child, but now actually learning to read and getting on. Get the school to get the educational psychologist in, get him assessed and ask them what they're going to do about it. If you can't get him proper help at school, move him if you possibly can. Good luck, I know it's a hard road.

I was also once told that whilst the average child knows a word askig being exposed to it 10 times, a child who has dyslexia will probably have to see it 1000 times before they know it. It helps to remember that every time you read the word "the" and DS still doesn't recognise it. We also talk about him needing to "exercise his reading muscle" more than other people so he can grow that part of the brain, which means practice! Putting it in those terms does help him to accept why it is harder for him to learn because the worst thing for the child not learning to read is the fact they are so conscious of being different.

Hi All,

Just an update, and a thanks for all the information. We found out yesterday that DS is short-sighted, and when they have been doing stuff on a whiteboard-style thing on the wall, DS was unable to see that well.

The school is great, and the teachers are trying with DS but I feel they are unable to give DS all the time he needs - DS read (and blended well) about 20 words on Sunday, but, it took him a long time to do it.

That's great news.

Did you get his sight tested by an optician or a behaviour optometrist?

Because as well as being short sighted he may have other vision problems, like difficulties with moving his eyes smoothly left to right....

Indigo, it was an optician.

jofeb04

Some of the issues you have mentioned could be due to an Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), which is a listening disability, not being able to process all that you hear. According to the UK Medical Research Council 10% of children have some degree of APD. Those who have APD have problems processing the gaps between sounds, which includes the sounds which can make up words, and the gaps between words in rapid speech. And using phonics impossible.
APD is also one of the many underlying cognitive causes of dyslexia, or reading disability.
Dyslexia is only about having problems processing or using a man made communication system the visual notation of speech, and that dyslexia is language dependent due toe orthographic or structural differences between the various writing systems used to create the variations of graphic symbols used to represent speech.
Currently if you think an APD assessment would be useful you will require a GP referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), and have the results of a recent hearing test. The GOSH assessments can include the APD battery of tests on one day and may be further two days of Speech and Langauge assessments to assess the affect of having APD can have on Speech and language, and Psychological assessment regarding the affects of living with APD. This is called a multi-discipline assessment, which is recommended by the UK APD Steering Committee and follows the Recommendations from the USA American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) which has been regulating APD assessment and diagnosis in the USA for decades.