Has anyone had a struggling reader in Y1/Y2 turn themselves around in later years?

[Kellamity]

DS is a summer born and while he has plenty of enthusiasm and determination he is one of the weakest readers in his class. Is this always going to be the way for him? The unending game of catch up?

Yup. DD2 (also summer born) was just like that in YR/Y1/Y2. She's now 9 and a half, and has eaten through Harry Potter. It was really just like something switched one day.

If his teachers are not worried, I'd try not to be. Easier said than done though, I know. We do still worry, even though there is clearly nothing wrong.

He will catch up with the right support and encouragement. I have a child in my class who was a level 1 at the end of year 2 and only at 2c (below average for year 2) at the end of year 4. He has been with me for 18 months and is now above average and might even sneak a level 5 in May. He is also reading Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix and loving it. Try not to worry, give him lots of practice and encouragement and keep reading to him.

Ds was the same in yr1 and 2 and then it just clicked in yr 3.

I got him some of the I Can Read books on Spiderman, Batman etc, and he loved those, and they did help his reading alot. You can get them on Amazon.

I was one, summer born too, struggled like fury until age 7 and then whooshed through to age 10 books in a matter of months. Admittedly that was 37 years ago.

My DC is a good reader, but I noticed that her progress stalled a bit while I was concentrating on her reading to me rather than reading to her. Apologies if you are already doing it but I found a chapter a day book had her wizzing ahead.

DH reads to him every night. He doesn't enjoy fiction much prefers non fiction. He will read to me and is enthusiastic and determined just very slow progress.

This had an effect on his handwriting but surprisingly I found he had written labels for all his sharks in his bedroom the other day.

His spelling is very good

Thanks for the reassuring messages

My DH struggled terribly with reading and writing in primary school. He is still less than 100% confident writing (but the wonders of word processors and spellcheckers mean he is fine).

Didn't stop him getting a first class degree in engineering . I'm sure your DS will be fine with your support.

Wow piprabbit now that is encouraging!

potteringpenguin

Thats fantastic!

May I ask a question? My son (8.5 - Y4) has always struggled with reading/writing/spelling from reception onwards......He was dx as dyslexic last Sept (no shock to me tbh)

He is now making progress but AFAIK is still a 1a in reading and writing.

What was it you did with this child that helped him so much???

Well my nephew was a reluctant reader age 5, 6 and 7. He's now just turned 8 and about average I think. Still not his favourite thing in the world but he enjoys Horrid Henry. I think for him it just clicked a bit later and my sister said that when he was 7 they decided to do reading every night no matter how tired he was etc etc and it was then that he made a lot of progress quickly.

My DS struggled until Yr2, then caught up and took over some of the dc that were reading fluently in reception. However he does have dyslexic problems with writing, but does read well. He is 16 now and targeted for A/A* for GCSE and should make it (fingers crossed) in everything except German.

DS2 was in a reading group of his own (below all the others) until Primary five. i then did the 'Toe by Toe' reading programme at home, it took about 18 months altogether but he is going to leave primary in the top reading group, reading several years above his actual age. it has made such a difference to how the teachers think about him and his self esteem. Still a very slow writer with erratic spelling but you can't fix everything ayt once

Toe by toe? I'm off to have a look at that!

Toe by toe worked for my DS too. It helps kids who don't automatically learn all the unwritten rules of reading at school. He did it in Y4-Y5, was bottom set. He is now in 2nd out of 5 sets in English at secondary and a confident reader, although still slower than some others when writing. Not sure what age group schools start this with though, your DS may be a little young for it if Y1.

For younger (ks1) kids Bear neccessities from sound foundations (from amazon) is better than toe by toe IMHO. Also dancing bears.

(tried them both btw!)

He's Y2 so starts Juniors in September.

Going into Yr 1, my dd (sept. so older), was struggling and it was picked up on by her new teacher, she really hated trying to read and found it all very stressful.

Put on Reading Recovery scheme 1-1 each day for about half an hour and it at least she started to enjoy it.

She has just gone into Year 2 and is reading Animal Ark books without too much bother and I have to tell her to turn her light off and stop reading at night now - if you told me I would be doing this a year ago, I wouldn't have believed you.

Don't worry, it will 'click'.

Yep. In Yr1/2 DS2 was struggling so much that he was getting extra help from the SENCO (he had been being seen by the SALT through from Nursery until Yr1 anyway) and was being assessed for Dyslexia. By the time he left Yr6 last summer he managed to get himself into the top stream at Secondary school. He's also summer born (June) and I think a lot of his issues were to do with confidence. He struggled because he was young and then he found it very hard to catch up. His yr5 and yr6 teachers were absolutely amazing in working with him to build his self esteem and show him he could do it.

kellamity, I feel for you because my DS is also Yr2 (very late summer born), struggling enormously with Reading, Writing & Numeracy. His graded assessments at the end of Yr1 were all P scores (ie he was below NC level). And yet he is an articulate, bright child verbally. School (good state school in Home Counties) provided a programme of support in Reception/Yr1 which was not really effective, apart from Reading Recovery. However due to his age he only got 8 weeks on this prior to end of term. Yr 2 has been more rigorous in terms of support (fab fab Yr 2 teacher, TA & SENCO) and there has been some progress (eg now Yellow 8 book band).

Previous posters mention confidence - my DS is very very aware that he is supported, "can't read", other children take over when they are working in pair etc. So I try to boost his confidence as best I can but I do find that vague praise isn't the right way to go. So we do proper jobs eg Christmas cards, birthday cards, thank you notes, shopping lists (chalk boards), menus for role play at home. If I see any interesting (and cheap!) stationery I buy it for him so we have pens, pads, note books all over the house, but DS likes writing in them. We have enough books at home to set up a library! Like your DS funnily enough DS seems to be an OK speller but I do take homework seriously and that is a regular weekly hw.

I have tried reading him chapter books and my DS really doesn't yet seem to have the concentration needed to get the book finished. We have been trying Roald Dahl and he mostly listens to those now on CD.

An aside: I do feel very passionately about summer children being allowed to delay a school year in England (if their parents feel it would be best). The pressure my now broken family has been under over the last 3 years is quite disgusting. Gove spoke to the Education Committee recently - I had tweeted, together with Bliss on this deferral issue. His reply was trite and unacceptable. Do look at it on the video - at about c. 1hr 28mins or in the minutes. If you don't agree with his attitude do please contact him. The more support this campaign gets the better.

I'm an infant teacher and SENCo as well as mother of a 31 Aug child. In my experience as a teacher, many children who find reading difficult during Year 1 and into Year 2 will find that it falls into place during Year 2 and they then start to make rapid progress. Learning is not linear and reading is related to development...some kids just aren't ready until 6 or 7 (which is probably why kids in other countries don't start school until 6).

I agree with the other suggestions given for help at home.

As for summer born, it sometimes has an impact, but more so with boys in my experience, and particularly when summer born children start school later than autumn born (eg Jan or after Easter rather than in September). If you search on here you will find plenty of posts about summer born children with first class degrees, fantastic grades at school and great careers :) Mine is 14 now and already has an A* in GCSE maths.

Have you had his eyes tested, OP? 2 children I knew who were very weak readers in y2 just needed glasses; massive improvement once that was diagnosed (y3).

I would also say that some children dont "get it" in Y2.

Sorry, but thats just not the case for all children.

Early intervention is key.

Talk to the Senco??

Not all kids catch up. Not all kids learn to read.

Most do.

I second Becaroo. Dancing bears( or bear necessities) is Much better than toe by toe. Toe by toe is just more well known.

My DS had me panicking that he would never read- quite honestly he learned nothing is year 1 or 2 and I despaired- he had no interest whatsover and no progress was being made, I was panicking- his self esteem was also nose diving as the other children were leaving hm behind big style. He was in year 2 and still on level 2 ORT!!!
So I pulled him out of school for six weeks, went back to real basics (reception stuff) and I really worked with him hours per day- I was determined; he progressed in a shocking way- after six weeks he was at stage 6, his self esteem rocketed, and I returned him to school. In year 4 now he is where they all are, interested and confident.
I thnk he had gaps and he was giving up, we had to go backwards in order to move forwards.....
HTH

My DS is a mid July baby. He really didn't get reading until at least mid way through Y2 - it was very very slow going. He is now Y6 and we have to stop him staying up late reading most nights (so much so I am now getting concerned he may end up short sighted !). He has been a book worm for a couple of years now.

I have another son who picked up reading really easily compared to his brother but has only just at the age of 9 decided to actually read for pleasure.

Lots of kids, especially boys don't get reading very early. The very best thing is not to make an issue of it. Read to him as much as possible, make reading fun, show him you enjoy reading, and it will come in time.