Is there a good literacy programme to help a yr 2 child catch up?

[cafco]

My DS is in Yr 2. He is doing really well with his maths but not so great in his literacy. His teacher has predicted he will get a 1A / 2C at the end of the year in literacy. He has nystagmus which is a visual impairment where his eyes 'wobble' so will cause some issues with tracking words. The school use Read, Write Inc as there phonics programme and they move the children across year groups according to ability. He works with two other yr 2 children and some yr 1 children. His teachers say that he is making really good progress but I am still really concerned about the level he will achieve at the end of the year. I realise that all children are different and learn at different speeds but am concerned that once you get behind it may be difficult to catch up. We have always read lots at home, bedtime etc and he really enjoys stories so it is not that he has not had access to lots of books / stories. Any help / advice would be great

Just keep doing what you are doing. Most children have a point where things just click into place, no point in stressing unless the school flag up a problem. The levels grading is not really a great measure at this age as once the understanding kicks in they can go from basic skills to normal very quickly. Our school also uses the "toe-by-toe" books to re-affirm the basic phonics with the children who are still struggling. My ds has been on this for the last few months and has made real progress, his twin sister has (in the same time) gone from reading level 7 (ORT) to "free reading" so they really are all different!

I'd recommend looking at Bear Necessities for 10 mins daily 1-1 phonics (I'm not a RWI fan) and using phonic reading books ... how is he with reading from a computer screen? Look in MN learning section at the Bug Club ebooks and www.oxfordowl.co.uk
How is his writing?

We have never really looked at ebooks with him though we were thinking about this as his reading improves as his visual impairment advisor has said his text size should always be 18 or bigger and you can increase the text if needed and regular books often have fairly small text. His writing is big but legible although probably like a lot of children it gets sloppy when he doesn't concentrate! He is currently on ort stage 7 with reading and he does still sound out a,lot of his words before blending them. Thanks for the advice I will have a look at bear necessities, am hoping if I start now & continue with short sessions over the summer holidays that he will be more able to cope in yr 3

RWI fan here!
What RWI group is he in?

Is the 1A/2C predicted for reading or writing? It seems quite low for a child already reading L7 ORT books.

(Your school must have the same problem as ours! We do RWI but couldn't afford the thousands of pounds needed to buy a set of phonic based books for home reading!)

Meant to also ask ( was being distracted by children when posted last message) would it make things more confusing to introduce a new scheme? He has only just had his first stage 7 book. He did have three songbird phonics books over half term but yes school hasn't replaced them all. He hasn't always been doing ort, recently had some Cambridge bridging books plus some other schemes before that.

Is he reading RWI books?

I would recommend a variety of (phonics) books until he becomes fluent/confident.

Bear neccessities definately!

Sorry just noticed you said school sends home ORT ignore my question

by writing I mean can he write stories, reports, leaflets, instructions etc