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?

Sorry, DK Starwars readers.

Thank you Gabid I hadnt come across the DK readers. Just been through Amazon with DS and we've chosen 3 that he thinks he'd like to read!

gabid
a little thing
remove all electronics from bedrooms and allow half an hour of reading time between into bed and lights out

my two now play on their phones in bed but read more
it makes weekend mornings very peaceful too ....

DS1 really struggled with reading initially (late Aug bd). In Yr1 we started Toe by Toe which did make a difference. It is tough going for a young child so do look as some of the other options like Dancing Bears. Yr2 he was way below average in his class for reading (school were doing TbyT with him by then). About half way through Yr3 it seemed to click and he started reading for pleasure. I bought him anything he wanted to read (within reason) Dennis the Menace, BeastQuest etc. He is now in Yr4 and I sometimes have to tell him to stop reading and go to bed. I also limit screen time for the children so they are more likely to pick up a book because they are not stuck in front of electronic entertainment.

I do think that intervening yr 1/2 if you think they need some help is worth it as the brain is still developing and so there is still an opportunity to reduce or remove some problems before they get hardwired into the brain.

TalkinPeace2 - Thanks, but he would only want to play with Lego and does not have any electronics/TV etc in his bedroom. Before bed we have 1/2 hour when I read to him and then I allow him to look at books in bed for a while - he looks at the pictures but will not attempt to read.

He loves Starwars so I leave him with lots of Starwars books including the DK readers Level 1/2 he has read before and can read easily but so far he will only look at pictures.

I am open to any more tricks and ideas to get him to read, but maybe its just a matter of waiting and supplying him with suitable stuff.

ah yes, lego before bed - then they roll over on the precious model that was snuck under the duvet - been there !
do you go to the library and "limit" him to only three books - reverse psychology ?
also what do you read for pleasure - when can he curl up next to you with you engrossed in your book and him in his ?

Ha, the Lego stays on the floor and he is not allowed to play after bedtime. Yes, reverse psychology might be an idea - a new Starwars reader arrived today, maybe I tell him that he can't have it just yet.

I like to read novels on my Kindle at the moment, DS seemed keen on being read to on the Kindle, so he has a couple of books on there as well, but at the end of the day DS is not very bookish - I read, he plays Lego.

could you get him to make models of things out of books you read to him?
Swallows and Amazons (which is lovely to read) led to whole marinas sailing across the carpet.
Later on DS read the books for himself.
When does he see you reading paper books like his - even the newspaper or cookbooks?
Get David Attenborough books out of the library and read the photo captions together??

he looks at the pictures but will not attempt to read.

that is good - he is getting pleasure from books, and as his confidence grows he will start reading them. He is probably reading them a bit now but not letting on.

Have faith - he will get there.

He will build anything to do with Starwars, and that's it - he follows the instructions for those models, but there is no reading.

I do read a lot and DD (3) is a lot more into books. And in the last year or so I tried lots of things to get him to read, including cookbooks, but it was still and is now to some extend hard work to read, but as time goes by and he practices it will become easy and he may enjoy it at some point - I hope.

But its not an easy journey with DS - I can see now that it will be a lot easier with DD, she is interested in letters and writing now, and she will be almost 5 when she starts Reception, so won't be pushed into it so early.

I don't have primary aged children yet, but wanted to offer my own experience. My mother tells me that she thought I was never going to learn to read as I really struggled with it. A few years later, I became a voracious reader and have several degrees, most recently one from Oxbridge, so I think I worked out okay in the end.

Hi OP,

my oldest boy struggled terribly to learn to read. it was such a slow and painful process...

Age 6/7 he was a year and a half behind. Age 8 he was a year behind. Age 9 he is now where he should be, in terms of reading.

We also found out he is dyslexic, but it affects his writing more than his reading.

Am still amazed that suddenly (well, "suddenly") he was able to read well!

So yes, it can happen :)

Try Star wars/clone wars comics.

Any comic actually! Great illustrations (better than in most books) and funny/exciting text.

that is true - the Beano - we have boxes of them from when DS was year 1 year 2 and he still rereads them
Dennis is a bit of a wimp nowadays but some bits are still laugh out loud

Yeah, just bought DS his first Beano. He was SO excited .