Primary 3, Stage 1 reading

[FateLovesTheFearless]

My DD1 is going into primary three after the summer holidays. She enjoys school and does well in most things but her reading. She is still on key stage 1. I know children learn at different rates but my DD2 will be going into primary 2 and is on key stage 4 reading. I know it bothers my DD1 that her sister can read better.

I spoke to the teacher last year when she informed me that she was putting dd1 back a level in reading (they tried her on stage 2) and that she would have extra help, not to worry she will get there.

I am trying to get her interested in reading, she has a huge variety of books in her room, we practice the alphabet and recently she has been enjoying trying to do word searches. We do her reading book and practice her words every night. My stbxh and I read to both girls every night though it's less often now as they are 7 and 6 and sometimes watch a DVD instead.

I am thinking of seeing the teacher again as there hasn't been much improvement. But I wondered if there is anything more I can do to try and help DD1 with reading?

What books are you talking about? Key Stage 1= infant school in England so y1/2 or Scottish p2/3.

If your child is given books that are not decodable like Oxford Reading Tree then I'd be asking for ones that practice phonics.

Has she had her sight and hearing tested?

I'd be asking more details about the extra help so that I could go over the same at home and check it was appropriate. I mean if she doesn't know her single letter sounds then no point trying to teach complex sounds like igh.

It's the biff and chip ones, stage 1. Scottish levels. She has had sight and hearing tests and is fine. She told me this morning when we were discussing her reading that she gets stuck on her alphabet but when she asks for help the teacher says no, which doesn't sound right to me. Her teacher is lovely so I think there must be a bit more to it. I practice her alphabet with her and she has word cards from school we do every night. It's taken a good few months though for her to finally get the word 'they' for example.

At her last report her teacher told me that she was very ahead with maths, she loves numbers, can count to the 1000's and can tell the teacher how many sides a 3D shape has without needing to see it. She just doesn't seem to have an interest in letters, a want to actually learn to read.

You should assume she is dyslexic, and decide what you are going to do about it.

The defn of dyslexia is A person who struggles to learn to read and/or write despite adequate tuition

So, either she hasn't been taught adequately - or she's dyslexic.

I have loads of suggestions for what you can do for here here

If you think she just needs extra teaching, then probably the best place to start is Bear Necessities

I did consider dyslexia. With the 'they' word, when reading it she still says ey-the. Then says they. Despite me showing her the-ey. She also mixes letters up like b and d.

I think the first thing I will be doing is making an appointment with her teacher to see what's going on. I don't believe she can't be taught correctly as dd2 has the same primary 1 teacher dd1 had and is doing well. But I won't rule it out on that alone.

I will check out the thread and the books thanks.

Little update. I spoke to the teacher on Thursday. She said that my dd gets extra support in a reading support group twice a week as well as reading in class as well. She said that she thinks my dd is very intelligent, she has an impressive vocabulary and can express herself very well by speech. She thinks my dd gets frustrated because she is having to work at reading instead of just being able to do it. She said my dd gets upset very quickly when she can't read a word.

The support teacher came in and immediately said her attendance is a problem. I have 4dc and unfortunately over the winter, illness spreads back and forth, my dd is never off school without a need to be. Whilst I saw her point, that missing a support session can put her back, I was confused as to why I was only being told there was a problem when I choose to go and see them, instead of getting in touch with me. Anyways, I explained there really isn't much I can do if my dd gets sick or ends up with nits (big problem in that school, the girls have had them three times this year already ) but that perhaps I could do some things with her at home.

She then said that my dd is possibly dyslexic but it's too early to assess her. End of primary 3 apparently.

So that was that. I don't understand why it's too early and wasn't really happy with the outcome of the meeting as it appears to mean just leaving things as they are for another year.

Try and contact Dyslexia Scotland and see if they can give you any advice/support. Be warned, it can take a long time to get referrals for anything through school unless there is a v determined head teacher who is willing/has the time to annoy everyone and anyone to get the child seen. Sadly HT's usually have loads of kids they need to do this for as well as the rest of their job. It's not right and it's v frustrating for parent and teacher alike.

I'm assuming from your post that your daughter has been taught phonics but the school uses look & say books which will be an obstacle to your daughters confidence. I agree with Indigo Bear Necessities would be worthwhile and a good starting point and I'd also suggest looking at the free phonics books available on line to see if this helps.

www.mumsnet.com/learning/ebooks

www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Library/Index/?AgeGroup=1&Book=eBooks&BookType=Phonics

What you have to understand is - a diagnosis of dyslexia won't bring any help with it at all.

There is nothing school will do differently if you bring them a piece of paper saying she is dyslexic.

The recommendations for teaching a dyslexic child to read are the same as for teaching any other child to read - lots of phonics tuition.

The support she is getting, which isn't working, will be the same.

So like I said, you should assume she is dyslexic, and then decide what you are going to do about it.

It's not that school won't help - its that they can't help.

My friends son had similar issues with reading. He excelled in maths but struggled with reading. Suddenly in P4 it all clicked and he sailed ahead.

They were really frustrated as he was put on toe to toe which is a confidence builder type scheme but no one told her at the time why.

Hope you can get to the bottom of it soon x

Mrz thank you. Yes she does know some phonics but the books are word recognition and picture guessing. I will keep on with phonics tuition with her and see how things go.

toe to toe which is a confidence builder type scheme - no toe by toe is a phonics learn to read scheme. It's nothing to do with confidence - if you can't read - you can't read.

If they haven't been taught phonics properly in the infants, then you will need a scheme like this to teach them.

Thanks indigo, I will check out the various links. I get what you are saying and will work on helping her with phonics as much as I can.

Just an update on this

My eldest is on her summer holidays now and I am working in her reading with her. We found a great website online that she absolutely loves which works with phonics and vowels. When we started, I found the only sound she knew was 'oo'. In the last five days she has learned 'sh' 'ch' 'th' and 'wh' along with how vowels change with e at the end or taking the first vowel sound when it's coupled with another.

I am really pleased to say there has been no getting upset and no giving up when she struggled. Last night in particular was brilliant, she was really getting pleasure out of being able to read some of the online stories and you could see her gaining confidence the more she managed. At the end of the half hour she told me she really liked reading.

I also bought some books she had never read before and refused to read them to her first like they do at school. I explained when I was little, I loved reading because I didn't know what was going to happen and it was exciting to find out. We have stuck to a page a night as its quite a lot more advanced than what she has been doing. She comes to me with the book now and asks to do it

She definitely struggles with the letters b and d, as well as m and w, which makes me wonder if the suspected dyslexia is correct but overall she is doing fantastically .

I am keeping a record of what we are doing and when term starts again will be going in to see her teacher. Thanks for all the advice given.

My daughter has been able to read for quite a while and still confuses b and d. But she never reads the word dog as bog. I don't know what she'd make of the word bog, she's never heard of it. I'll ask her tonight.

Hi Fate, what is the website link?

www.starfall.com