Reading Levels Year 1 and other problems.

[StayAwayFromTheEdge]

I've posted about DS before (under an old name).

We've had problems with speech delay, but after very intensive private and NHS therapy he is much improved. However, I have real concerns with his reading and general progress.

He's in Y1 at a private prep school and will be 6 in May, so one of the younger ones.

His teacher has tried a few reading schemes and changed him before the holidays on to the Rigby Rockets (Yellow Level). He is really struggling with them and I don't know how to help him (His lack of interest doesn't help either) - I know you shouldn't compare, but DS1 was so far ahead at this stage.

At a recent parents evening his Teacher said that he is pleased with his progress this year, that he wants to learn and please her, that he is progressing at his own pace (whatever that means) and that she is differentiating work for him (and others).

My gut feeling is that he at the bottom of the class (and yes I know someone has to be) and that he is far behind the rest of the class.

Looking back I sound very critical of him - He is a lovely, kind little boy who loves sports, animals and climbing anything!

Any suggestions on how to help with his reading or what I should be discussing with his teacher would be appreciated. I did mention dyslexia to her, but she said that she didn't think that was a problem and that "he was progressing at his own pace".

What's his phonics like? Has his teacher mentioned what his problems are in reading, can she be more specific?They do all come to it at their own pace, BUT you do need to be taught the phonic sounds well, and have them really strong. If he's on yellow it sounds like he hasn't got the hang of blending and coping with the harder combos. Have you tried the jelly and bean books? They are very good.

Have just noticed there is another phonics thread with lots of other phonic book suggestions for you .

THank you - I will have a look at the other thread.

His phonics seem ok and he knows ee, oo, sh, ch, etc but he still has to sounds words out, so he will read c - a - t ...cat.

Non-phonic words like Where are a mystery to him - I think the only non-phonic words he knows are:
The
Said
Go
He
Be

All words are 100% phonetic including the, said, go, he, be. The Rigby Rocket books are Look & Say books.
Has he been taught the alternative ways to spell the sounds in English or does he only know /ee/ written would he know it could be spelt or or or etc
Has anyone told him he doesn't need to always sound out words if he can say the word without saying the sounds first?

Mrz - Probably not in answer to your first question.

I am always telling him that he doesn't need to sound out, but you can see him silently sounding the letters out first - There are very few words that he can do without sounding out first.

Why are you telling him not to sound out words ?

The basic knowledge we need to be good readers is

1. that letters are spellings of sounds: written words represents spoken words
2. that a spelling can contain one, two, three, or four letters - examples are: s a t, f i sh, n igh t and w eigh t
3. that there is more than one way of spelling most sounds: the sound 'ae', spelt as in 'name', can be represented as in 'table', in 'rain', in 'eight', in 'play', etc
4. that many spellings can represent more than one sound: the spelling can be the sound 'e' in 'head', 'a-e' in 'break', or 'ee' in 'seat' for example

some fortunate people work this out for themselves others need to be taught

all too often schools stop after number 1 and this is when children slow down and struggle

I would ask him if he needs to sound out c-a-t every time he meets it R&T

R&T, because it take so long to read a very simple sentence and I feel it has become a habit rather than something he has to do - Does that make sense?

If he needs to keep sounding it out that's fine but it can as you say become a habit. Sometimes children just need "permission" to stop saying the sounds, they do it because they think that's what the adult wants when in reality we are working towards automaticity (reading the word without consciously thinking about it)