DS can't read/won't read

[Playerpleeeese]

My DS is 5.5 and in reception.

He is happy at school, and eager to learn about things, always asking questions etc.

He loves maths questions and will happily write.

But he just won't read! All he says is I can't do that I can't do it stop making me.

I've spoken to his teacher today who seems to think the same as me, he has trouble with blending. He can spell them out phonetically and knows all the letters but won't blend them together to read the word.

At parents evening a few months ago he was slightly behind everything he 'should' be doing. But I put this down to him just having grommets to correct his glue ear which caused 65% hearing loss in both ears, and thought he would catch up.

His teacher mentioned to me this morning that she is going to speak to Senco about his reading to get strategies to help him.

I'm really worried and don't know how to help him, as e lives school so I don't want this to put him off of knock his confidence iykwim. Or shall I just wait and see seems as he's still so young?

Has anyone has similar?

not quite the same situation because my daughter likes reading and is reading quite well BUT we did have similar with the 'why are they doing this to me?' 'I don't WANT to read this book' 'It is too hard' (it wasn't, it was very easy for her) and we have just discovered she has irlen syndrome/scotopic sensitivity/eye stress and probable dyslexia to some degree (even though she can read well and is only in reception)

she now has coloured glasses which have helped her no end, the words stay in the right place on the page now, she can usually see all the letters in the right order and punctuation now. she still finds it hard at times though. She has struggled with blending. she ended up just learning to read the words but we have done a lot of work on trying to help her break down longer words etc. Interestingly right from the start when I used to say things like C A T cat, she would just say C A T C A T. she didn't seem to be able to make the link phonetically but we have practiced an enormous amount and tried different ways to help her with it and she has got there.

I would PERSONALLY say from his obvious erm fear of it for want of a better word there is probably a reason behind his problems with it.

I honestly wouldn't worry for at least another year. Lots of kids don't read straight off. What Periwinkle says is interesting though. My son has Meares Irlen too. Definitely worth asking your son a few simple questions, so what does he see when he looks at a page of text? Do the words stay still, or do they move at all? Can he see them clearly or are they blurred? Weirdly a normal eye test doesn't always pick it up and obviously it's nigh on impossible for them to read if the words are moving.

My son happens to be dyslexic too, so not too surprising what with that and the visual problems that he didn't read until he was 7. Still though he wasn't unusual. Lots of his friends have no problems yet they were late readers too. Definitely a lot didn't click until year 2. They're all reading well now, including my son.

My son is yr 3 & reading has only really clicked in the last 6 -12 months. He was below national expectations at the end of yr r, 1 & 2 but is now where he should be. My colleagues son got a nc level 1 for reading in his yr 2 SATS (below expectation) but a level 5 in yr 6 (above expectation) so don't worry too much yet, just carry on supporting him

I know that teachers have different views on things, but I wouldn't even have given your child a reading book if he is unable to blend. All the teacher has done is knock your child's confidence and make him think reading is difficult. I also think he doesn't need the Senco - not being able to blend at this stage in Reception is not hugely unusual and therefore not a SEN. What we would provide as a standard intervention in our Reception class is daily support in a small group (or 1:1 if he is the only one) to support him with blending. Not with a book, but with individual words to start with - then building to sentences and book pages. Basically, don't get a panic on. He's not that unusual, he will have been set back by his glue ear (especially in whole class situations) but still seems to be a motivated little lad, so I'm sure things will fall into place.

something you could try to help him with blending is to write letters on pieces of paper and then put them together to make up the words. OR if trying to break words down, write the word out and then cut it into the phonic sounds so he can see how it breaks down into sections. It might help him visualise how it works but be more like a game too.

Thank you for all your suggestions I spoke to him yesterday and he said he doesn't like it because sometimes he gets it wrong and he just wants to play. So I think I will wait and see how it goes as my gut feeling is its a confidence thing.

Hi - retired TA (male) here :

Yes, as others have said, I wouldn't worry too much at this stage. It could well be his hearing difficulties have - and may still be - undermining his confidence, so that he hardly knows what is expected of him. I'll try to copy a post I have used before that MAY be of some use :

QUOTE :

There used to be a kit of cards and letter blocks called "Soundworks", but it's probably discontinued now.

The theory was that, for some kids, it is easier to SPELL words than READ them, which is a later stage.

It started with three-letter words, with a vowel in the middle - "a" glued onto a board.

The child then looked at the individual letter blocks, and was asked to make the word "c a t". Then ask, how do we change "c a t" into "h a t", which letter do we need to change? Then change "hat" into "ham" (with an emphasis on the "mmmm" sound).

The order sounds were learnt in was similar to today's phonics teaching : s m p t (can't remember them all off hand, but you can look that up on-line.)

This approach was used with our SEN Yr2 children who had been unable to make progress with more conventional methods of learning to read. It is rather time-consuming, and ideally needs resources to be made, but it does work very well.

UNQUOTE

So, if you can find or make suitable letters, and a card with "a" glued in the middle, he may enjoy building the words himself. Use letters that are occurring in words in the books he is bringing home, and go on to make cards for the other vowels if it seems to work with "a".

However, in your case I wouldn't put too much effort in at this stage, particularly if everything else is progressing satisfactorily, but maybe bear it in mind if it seems relevant in the future.

thats great you now know what the answer is.

none of us like to make mistakes do we but it is something we have to realise happens sometimes. perhaps you could make a few silly mistakes with things when he is around, I don't mean with reading particularly but just in general and then say something like 'oh mummy got that wrong didn't she, oh well it doesn't matter' and move on. subconsciously he will hopefully pick up that it is ok to make mistakes sometimes and be more confident about giving it a try.