Dear all, I have been lurking here for a long time, looking for reassurance about my son. He's currently in Reception, aged 5 in May, and seems absolutely allergic to reading and writing. This is new for us, because our older daughters always just sort of got on with it, although they may have found going through the reading levels boring. He, on the other hand, just doesn't seem able to take it in. He knows his phonic alphabet, and can blend simple three letter words like b-e-d, always sounding it out however many times these words are repeated. Anything more complicated baffles or panics him. His teacher asked us to try and get him to learn some sight words. We spent a long time on "the" and "and", and practising them daily. His memory can't seem to retain it. He still can't produce them on sight - he will sound out a-n-d and the is a problem. He shows zero interest in reading, never, for example, pointing letters out on cereal packets etc. He will never write except when forced to by at school, when it's basically incomprehensible. He is on level 1plus for reading books. The rest of the class is also learning numbers 11-20, he finds these almost impossible to learn. Not surprisingly getting him to do any practise at home is a real struggle. The teacher does not seem at all worried, despite him being very much at the lower end of the class.
I'd like to know whether we should be keeping our eyes out for potential learning disorders, or whether as a relatively young boy, this is totally normal? I'd particularly like to hear from people who have had a child like this or known one as they get older? And should I be practising more with him (we struggle painfully and resentfully through a few very simple "cat on the mat" sentences a day) or should I back off and let him go his own way? Any advice gratefully received.