Blending?

[StripyShoes]

Had parents evening for Yr 1 DS. Apparently he knows all his sounds but has trouble blending. (Although he doesnt know some of his digraphs and is slow on trigraphs)

I have spoken to the teacher a number of times about my concerns over his reading. He does not recognise words from one page to the next, still confuses the, they and there, still sounds out basic cvc words, writes and reads d and b as the wrong one etc.

When I was really worried a few months ago when he literally couldnt read AT ALL after almost a year in reception we ordered and tried Bear Necessities (but didnt finish it as he was so resistant), and he does do well with the notched card bt now I am worried that he relied on this and I have ruined his blending skills! (He didnt use it for long but if he was struggling he would ask for it and it did seem to help). He has improved and is now on yellow, but is so far behind that even his teacher is getting concerned. We have jsut started doing Reading Eggs with him this half term.

I raised the issue last year but was fobbed off. Raised it at the start of this year and they put him on daily readers. he has improved but still not good. In class, the teacher will go through exercises with the group on the board but they are aware that once the sheets are handed out either she or the TA will have to go to DS and tell him again what to do, do an example with him etc as he cannot read the instructions :( They are supporting him, but I would like to be able to get him through this hurdle. I have also raised the possibility of dyslexia, but the teacher said he is too young to assess, wait until closer to Xmas and she would see again then if we felt he still had a problem.

Anyway, sorry for the essay, how can I help him with his blending? And does this sound like dyslexia to you?

Someone else started a very similar thread this evening. It might help.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1597821-Still-struggling-in-year-1

There's nothing you have said that would indicate or rule out dyslexia.

If he's confusing "the" "they" "there" he isn't reading through the word and looking closely at the letters so using a cursor card might help to focus him (cut a square of card and then cut a square out of one corner large enough to reveal words sound by sound)

For blending you could try teaching him to blend bit by bit so if he was reading sat
he would say "s" "a" then "sa" then "sa" "t" finally "sat" rather than "s-a-t" sat.

Thanks for replying.

I will look through that linked thread, thanks.

The but by but blending sounds like a good idea. So I continue using the notched card?

Is there difinitive things that point to dyslexia? I didn't put all of the things in the op as it was getting too long!

Mrz just said what I was wandering in to say after reading the op.

Might also be worth trying out some multisensory stuff - computer spelling programmes like Nessy, or simply writing in sand or foam etc, but the issue does sound like one of looking at all the letters instead of the first one or two and guessing - which lots of children do, both dyslexic and not.

No dyslexia is an umbrella term that covers a host of reading (writing) difficulties but the things you have mentioned are also common with non dyslexic young children so don't confirm or exclude the possibility

Btw I digressed on to spelling...what's his writing/ spelling like? That's often far more telling than reading

He has always been a reluctant writer but is writing more now. Would it be worth me digging out an example from yesterday for you? Happy to do that?