I'm sure this has been done to death but reading and writing in year 1.

[Phoenixwoman]

Just want an idea of what is 'normal'. Have done a quick advanced search but not coming up with much.

Dc1 is starting year 1 and I feel is struggling in both areas though may be completely wrong.

Reading - she reads a word and then has completely forgot it even if it is repeated on the next page. She doesn't seem to just read a word, she needs to sound it out first.

Writing - lots of backwards letters. Lots of writing but most of it unrecognisable. It's not that neat but neither me or dh have neat handwriting so not too concerned. She loves to write and we encourage and help but she seems to forget and revert back to the original mistakes. This includes mistakes in letters in her name which she writes out a lot.

Just wondered if this would be within the spectrum of 'normal'.

Year 1 teacher here. There is a huge range of 'normal' in year 1, and it is a year where you generally see big development, which often comes in spurts IYSWIM. So a lot of children make big jumps and then plateau off a bit...and then make another big jump later in the year.

In my school, what you have described would be towards the lower end of average for the start of year one. But schools are all different, and mine apears to attract a lot of high achievers! In her name, is she making the same mistakes all the time, or different ones? The first would imply that she has got it stuck in her head incorrectly, the second would indicate that she's just not retaining it.

Sounding out is completely normal at this age. Backwards letters are also normal, especially bs, ps, ds etc.

Don't worry at this stage, you will probably find that there will be a point in the year when things seem to 'click' for her, and she finds it easier. Speak to her teacher after a few weeks if you are still concerned - not straight away as the teacher won't have had time to get her head around the individual children for a bit!

What did her reception report say? If the teacher had been concerned she was falling behind or needed support she should have mentioned something.

Most importantly, at this age you want to encourage her to enjoy reading and writing. Try not to let her feel worried about it, or develop an 'I can't do it' attitude. She will learn best if she is happy and confident.

Hope that helps!

Exactly like DD2 at the moment (who had a good report for reception) and exactly like DD1 at the same point. Both Autumn babies too. Year 1 was a huge year for DD1 in terms of progress, she was reading chapter books for pleasure by the summer holidays although Year 2 was the more significant year for writing and spelling.

Hi Nutella, thanks for all of the advice.

Her report said on target for literacy, nothing more specific. We mentioned our concerns at parents evening (don't see her at pick ups as work) and she seemed very unconcerned. She's a teacher with many years experience and figured she's seen it all so was happy to leave it there.

My concerns are that she isn't retaining things, though the mistakes in her name are the same her name only has a few letters and some of those are wrote the same forward and backwards so would never be a problem iyswim. She definitely struggles with a, b, d, p, e though she picked up her phonics pretty quickly and tends to remember most letter sounds when reading. She's a left-hander is that makes any difference.

I don't think we could discourage her if we tried, she absolutely loved writing, loves to practise, it just doesn't sink in and stick.

Thanks Flora, that's good to hear. Looking forward to reading more with her.

DD has just finished year one. Was sounding words out a lot and reversing lots of letters at the beginning of year one, especially d b. By the end of yr one she very rarely reverses letters and does the sounding out in her head massive progress in year one.

Thanks MoaningMinge, hoping to see lots of progress and I assume a lot more work this year.

Hi -

Keep an eye on any consistent, on-going mistakes, but as others have said, these are pretty well standard problems in YrR, Yr1 for many children. Left handed can make writing a bit more difficult, but not seriously so. How is she on numeracy, counting objects etc? 'Encourage' but don't 'push'; share conversations, describing objects, places, walks, etc and share books as much as you can.

She, and you, would probably find the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary interesting and useful. It presents words according to their initial SOUND and not necessarily initial letter. You can view sample pages on Amazon, and it is only £5.66. I bought a copy just out of interest, and a lot of parents are using it:

www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Phonics-Spelling-Dictionary-Reading/dp/019273413X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373490750&sr=8-1&keywords=Phonics+dictionary#reader_019273413X