DS1 Year 2 reading poor

[throwmeakipper]

He's on stage 3 of Oxford reading tree and doesnt seem to be progressing at all but isnt helped by his attitude.

I go in all happy and enthusastic but its wasted, he either becomes silly, makes up words and is just stupidly awkward.

I have to walk away as it just becomes a battle. He only gets 1 book a week and he cant manage that.

I am concerned but then his behaviour is shocking too.

He is very healthy and no issues in school. I am wondering reading disciple in school is too weak and possibly a more forceful way would push him.

My daughter has just gone into year 2 she's on stage 3 reading too....I tried to read with her this morning and she was making up words I ended up getting cross with her which didn't help

Its very fustrating isnt it? I've decided not to push it he is good at maths and is bright. My SIL (primary teacher) said he should be on a much higher level but he's not interested and cant remember any of the words he learnt in yr 1.

I even try to read to them but ends up dS2 turning the pages over, more questions and them getting silly.

Oh the joy!!!

Throwmeakipper - what does his teacher think? I can't advise about the reading as my DD's school use a different reading scheme. However, if you are concerned, is it worth asking about reading recovery? Our school use a mix of teachers and parents to support children who are struggling, and sometimes we find children will behave better with someone else than with their own parents.

Also, have you considered trying an online reading programme, such as Reading Eggs? This involves lots of reading games online that get progressively more difficult. Or Nessy?

EIther way, I think your first port of call is a chat with his teacher to assess what help he really needs. Good luck, and I do hope you get something sorted.

A pack of books that is absolutely fab is the songbirds pack which is totally phonetic so if their phonic knowledge is good they can sound out the words they don't know (unlike Biff and Kipper).

They are stage 1-6 IIRC.

You can pick them up on amazon.

I would be speaking to the teacher tbh and maybe trying to work out what phonic sounds he does not know (or needs more practice with).

Mine's a good reader (just started yr 2) but she has never wanted to read. I think she's lucky in that she sees a word and just remembers it without trying. But getting her to progress and just sit and read a book is like squeezing blood out of a stone.

I don't know if teachers would agree with me, but computer games work for us. Sounds terrible I know. But she'll read the story, read the instructions, read the comments and massively enjoys it. We don't let her play violent fighting type ones. But there are some phonics ones (Alphablocks comes to mind), the BBC bitesize ones I've used for maths, now she's older some more intricate ones where there's a story running through it.

We also spend half an hour reading with her at bedtime, where she reads one page, we read the next.

We were told at the year one parents meeting to just get them to read anything - whether it be road signs, recipes, leaflets. And keep explaining what things mean. We get her to write the shopping list.

Getting mine to do spellings is a nightmare. She gets really silly and complains she can't do them. Sometimes a different approach makes the world of difference. I put them in front of her this morning. No I'll do them later. I'm playing now. I say - just do one and then you can play. NO. Just do one. My dh says, just do one and i'll play x with you. We go away. she comes in the room all beaming - come and see. She's done two and is laughing her head off. I bet you can't do another one. I don't think she can we say - do you? She disappears. She's done another one. I'd really like to go to the park but we can't until those spellings are done. She comes back, she's done two more and finished. It's laborious and painful but game playing and pretending to be shocked or suprised seems to work.

In some schools they have reading recovery programmes which are very very helpful. This is a special programme which help children to learn to read and to love reading too. Some children work better with the teacher than with their parents. A lot depends on the teacher actually and the school whether they are interested in their pupils to succeed.

Oh Dear!
Reading Recovery is a hugely expensive and for many children an ineffective reading programme.

www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/reading-recovery-is-failing/story-e6frg6nf-1111113770263

education.qld.gov.au/literacy/docs/reading-recovery20.pdf
www.wrightslaw.com/info/read.rr.ltr.experts.htm

Mrz, I do not know what is so expensive and bad about this programme. In our school I know a few families whose children struggled with reading in Y1 last year. Their level was very low. Now I see that have catched up with most of the kids. The teacher who was doing Reading recovery or may be it was called Everyone A Reader was employed by the school to do it. She helps all pupils with reading and writing and she is a permanent member of the staff so I do not see any extra expenses. That is her job to do it.

Throwme I'd echo what a couple of posters have said - go and speak to the teacher. They will either have suggestions, a plan or be able to reassure you that in fact, he is making progress. Remember that at this stage kids have huge leaps, it's not a steady upward curve. Things change very quickly.

My advice is NOT to (tempting as it is) make a battle of this which will make reading seem like a chore or a punishment, rather than a pleasure. So continue to read to him fabulous stories every night. One of the problems with the school reading books is that, let's face it, they're crap stories and not very engaging. My DD resisted them - could that be what's happening here?

Just to reassure you, I was worried all of last year when my DD was in Y2. She just didn't seem to get it. She did do Reading REcovery, which helped a bit, but really I think it was just time and a bit of faith (through gritted teeth sometimes) that something would click eventually. DD now in Y3 reading chapter books. And she loves it.

Good luck.

throwme

Maybe he is mucking around because he is finding the reading hard and so is trying to avoid doing it. DS1 struggled with reading, he was at a similar level in Yr2. The school put him on an IEP and worked through a structured programme with him (Toe by Toe). He is now Yr5 and is reading Harry Potter etc. although his spelling still need some work.

DS1's reading did click to an extent in Yr3 but I think the extra support helped.

I would speak to the school and see if a more structured approach would help. Toe by Toe is a bit dry for young children and so I would suggest Dancing Bears if you were looking for something.

www.amazon.co.uk/Toe-Structured-Multi-sensory-Reading-Teachers/dp/0952256401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347892225&sr=8-1

Dancing Bears

Lovefruitsandvegs The Every Child a Reader (ECAR) programme was scrapped because it was hugely successful didn't provide long term benefits.
It costs almost £3000 per child for 30 minutes a day for 20 weeks ... and the research shows that it fails to help the lowest achievers and of those who initially improve with RR find themselves struggling within 2 years. Longitudinal studies (over 15-20 years) show RR has done nothing to improve literacy levels.

I don't know about you but I don't call that either good or cost effective

Fair enough mrz. I will find out the name of that programme. It might be something different. £3000 is a lot of money.
throwmeakipper , not all children want to do their homework and not every child loves reading but it is important that a child can read.
You could ask your son whether he wants to borrow a book from school, from the town library or buy it in the shop or online. If he says he does not want a book then tell him that he does not have options. He needs to read a book once a week, at least (of course it depends on a book). Ask him to read a book then he play. Tell him that he has to read something and that is why it is important that he borrows or buys a book which will be interesting for him. Does he like Horrid Henry? My DS is in Y2 and he likes it but my DS reads school books too. I have to be strict with him too when it comes to reading. Do not walk away from him as you do not win by that. It should be fun reading books but he needs to know that he HAS to do it. Once he reads a book he can go and play. Does he like routine? Ask him to plan his afternoon once he comes home from school. For example:

1. DS changes his clothes, washes his hands and has some food.
2. Play time for one hour and then homework or Homework and then playtime
3. Brushing teeth and to bed

May be you need to record his reading? Help him to read the word which he does not know. Sometimes I devide a word in two if that is possible.

I know it is not easy but you need to show him that he is you son and you are his mum. It is your duty to help him with homework and he has to do it. He can do whatever he wants when he is an adult. Do not walk away from him.
Sorry, if I am bit too harsh. My DS is not easy and it is a constant battle.

P.S. School books can be pretty boring. The books are chosen by me and my DS and not the teacher.

Our school uses the better reading partnership which I was trained in as a volunteer along with a TA. I volunteer in KS1 and have done several courses of it now - I have two children and read with them for 15 minutes three times a week for 10 weeks in a very structured way. One child who had very little support at home made 2 years progress on tested reading age in the ten weeks and his confidence and enjoyment of reading improved immeasurably. All of the children who have taken part have made progress that hasn't slipped back following the course. For it to be cost effective you need committed volunteers - the £200 spent on the training course has had measurable improvement in school so is money well spent IMO.

I think if he struggling with reading you need to help him. Reading is a very important skill children need to love reading so they can read books about different subjects. If he struggle it is, probably he does not understand exactly how reading works. Probably he misses something in Reception or Year 1 and nobody did the extra step to teach the missing bits for him.

You can do some researches how to start to teach reading for children and start the reading with him from the beginning. (Like he was in reception). It is not a hard work, because the bits he already knows he will excel and you do not need to practice a lot, but the pieces he does not understand take the time and practice with him. Sooner you start it, the sooner he will be better in reading. If you won't start it now and you leave as it is for a couple of more years it will be harder to help him. Because in Year 5 or 6 you do not need to concentrate only reading. Couple of month and he will be confident in it and he will like reading.

He behaves silly and makes up words because he does not know what you would like from him. He does not know the word even if you tell "just read it", so he makes up one.

I hope it helps.

I checked the programme yesterday and it is indeed Reading Recovery. Somehow it works in our school but according to mrz it has been scrapped. May be our school have their own programme which is called reading recovery. I do not know.

Reading Recovery worked for my dd in Year 1. She has just gone into Year 3 and is one of the most able readers.

I had to go up last night and tell her to turn her light off as she was reading the Pippa Funnell pony books. If you had told me I would be stopping her reading at the start of Year 1, I would not have believed you.

Speak to the teacher, different authorities have different schemes and RR is still available in our area.

My DC did this when they were struggling.

Mixture of poor teaching - guessing and picture looking and underlying issues. DD couldn't do work searches in apple and pear program a sign something was wrong but thats improved with age and little practice and DS reads better with a cursor as else he picks up letters from all over the page which may need to be investigated further if age doesn't improve it.

I'd start with a phonics program like dancing bears to rule out the fact he hasn't 'got' decoding though shouldn't he have sat the phonics test end of year 1? Perhaps more engaging reading material like I don't know the X-project books or non fiction. Perhaps some on-line website with reading games?

Personally I would avoid reading becoming a battle - it doesn't help in fact I stop reading with DD1 for a while as it was very upsetting for both of us then came back after a break and we both had a better attitude.

While it obviously you should talk to his current teacher - I found some of the DC teachers not very helpful - one entire year with DD1 just got told to insist she read at home and everything was fine. Wasn't the next teacher take on things at all.

We still have Reading Recovery in our school but that is because they have choosen to continue it. The government as I understand it are no longer funding the scheme.

The RR teacher is absolutely lovely and other parents have said she has helped thier children hugley.

My DS was a reasonably competent but not outstanding reader at the start of Y2. Now (beginning Y4) he is doing well, but I couldn't describe him as a keen reader; a lot of the time he's just a bit lazy, I think.

Things that worked for us to try and at least get him interested and to take the stress out of the situation:

• abandon books for a while, call up a basic word processing package on the PC (word etc), increase the font size, and take it in turns to type in words/ sentences for the other one to read. Has the charm of using the computer (always popular) rather than a book, so takes away the 'stress' of 'having to read your reading book' and makes it more of a game. Let him type complete nonsense words/sentences if he wants to, but be a bit strategic with the ones you write for him i.e. compose a sentence with 4 or 5 easy words that he absolutely knows, and add in just one or two that are probably new for him to attempt to decode. Our rule was always that DS could be a bit silly if he wanted to, but he HAD to at least try to read what I typed in.

• play similar kinds of games with magnetic words/letters - again let him be silly about it, on condition that he makes a reasonable attempt to try to read the stuff you put together.

• bribery!!! In the earliest days with DS1 in reception I used to bribe him - we'd do 10 words and he would get a Haribo for each one he got right - as he got older and a more competent reader he got a Haribo for each correct sentence.

• once you've achieved some success with the above, try some different books (not all kids like ORT or Big Cat and can be very switched off by them) - I can highly recommend the DK readers series (you can get them on Amazon) - they have different level books on stuff like Star Wars, for example, and they are beautifully illustrated (DS is very 'visual' and can be put off even now by dense looking blocks of text). They are certainly a lot more appealing than some of the staged school reading books.

• try some non-fiction books, or comic style ones. I have found that sometimes boys are a bit more engaged with non-fiction stuff i.e. science, etc.

• keep reading to him (I am sure you are anyway) at bedtime, without any requirement for him to attempt to read, and keep being enthusiastic about books in general.

Hope this helps. As I say, my DS is certainly not what I'd call an 'avid' reader but he is now fluent and confident and I live in hope that one day (DH and I are both avid bookworms) he will truly discover the joy of reading