Could this be a big problem? (reading related)

[Readingwoes]

Dd is 7 and has just gone into y3, she is a very reluctant reader, she does not like reading and does not read for pleasure, but enjoys us reading to her.
We read her stage 13 reading books every night before bed and I'm ashamed to say tonight I lost my temper and shouted at dd as having the same conversation and having the same issues every evening is becoming wearing.
The problem is she is not reading what is on the page and therefore the story is not making any sense at all, she says she looks at the words and thinks they are other words instead, she add's letters in that are not there e.g she has just read ' I could help shilvering' instead of 'I couldn't help shivering' which obviously makes no sense, she also mixes up the order of words and frequently loses her place, I'm not sure if this is symptomatic of a problem or just down to lack of interest and concentration? Tonights book was one she read easily just under 12 months ago, I'm worried if this carries on her learing on the whole will be affected.

It's hard to say how big a problem it is without more information tbh. There are some obvious and simple solutions (which you've probably already tried so apologies for suggesting them if that's the case) ie she might need her eyes tested. She might always need to use a bookmark under the words to help her keep her place. She might be getting so stressed about reading that she's regressing (hence why she can't read something which she could read 12 months ago).
tbh the difference between 'couldn't' and 'could' is quite small so if she's rushing she could easily make that mistake.
If you're worried about dyslexia then go along to a local support group. Depending on where you live it's difficult to get a diagnosis at age 7, but you'll be able to talk to other parents and advisers which might help.
If she is just stressing about reading then what about letting her choose some new books or even magazines/comics (age-appropriate obvs).
If it's stressing you (which is understandable because you're concerned about her) then delegate reading duties to someone else for a while if possible and give yourself a little break.

Thanks for Your reply cottonwoolcandy
I don't know what to think about the whole situation, I had been thinking about booking her in for a eye test, I go from thinking it is lack of interest/effort to it being a real problem, if it was dyslexia would there be other symptoms also? she used to be quite far ahead with her reading and could read at 3 and started school reading books for a child 2 years older but since then things have really changed and she now seems to be struggling.I will definately delegate to dh tomorrow, I'm really mad at myself for losing my temper.

I think an eye test would be a good starting point. Does she have headaches? That could point to an eye problem or that she's having some type of migraine (they can make words jump about when reading).

It's unusual for someone to develop dyslexia (rather than being born with it iyswim?) unless she wasn't reading but memorising when she was younger?

Some children with dyslexia have problems with numbers; some have problems with letters; some have related conditions like dyspraxia which can affect co-ordination/balance, etc. So, I guess, if she is exhibiting any of those issues too then it might point to dyslexia.

I'm assuming that she's fine with the rest of her homework and otherwise happy at school? If not it might be a stress about something else that is just manifesting round reading time.

Don't be mad at yourself. We all get tired and stressed.

SOme children find it hard to read the black text on the white paper, as it 'glares' and the letters merge and can lead to misreading. A simple solution is to get a coloured plastic file (that you put papers in and put in a ring binder) and cover the page she is reading. You can get these in packs of 5 different colours so you can try each one and see if one has more effect than others. The effect may be dramatic. Definitely recommend an eye test too.
It is not unusual for a child's dyslexia to be masked at this age by high IQ and a reluctance to read.
What does the school say?

Thanks, She doesn't have headaches to my knowledge or if she does they are not severe enough for her to tell me about.
She has always been more of a sight reader but has always been able to segment and blend too.
Numbers and letters wise she is very good, she learned both at an early age and is very mathematically able, however her co ordination and balance are not great, she is clumsy and somewhat accident prone.
I may have a chat with her teacher and see how her reading is going in school and if they have noticed anything.

I would definitely check with the teacher - she may be reading fine at school.

My daughter is a bit younger and on similar level books, she has definitely got irlen syndrome or something like that or a dyslexia problem but is too young for formal dyslexia testing. she is extremely bright and we only found out by accident. She has coloured glasses which stop the letters being mixed up.

carelessness causes similar issues, if your daughter is reading too quickly, not really paying attention then she is glancing at the start of the word and guessing the rest. an easy way to check if it is that or actually the letters are appearing in the wrong order is to ask her to spell out the letters in the order she sees them. without glasses my daughter gets them wrong, with them she doesn't so we can clearly see there is something amiss there.

it could be a long sighted issue or some other eye problem so definitely get that checked out first.

could it also be if she read this book last year she is so bored she isn't really trying? perhaps the teacher could see if there is something else at the same level which is slightly different/non fiction for her to try instead?

what about her own books rather than school books, is there a problem when she reads those?

I have to say I haven't heard of children developing dyslexia, as in going backwards rather than always having problems (they can mask it at lower levels of reading by learning whole words which can then make it appear suddenly but if she has already read these books fine then this sounds different) HOWEVER having said that my daughter knew her left from right without any problems at all at 18 months old but hasn't a clue now at 6 which I find very bizarre. NOW she shows real dyslexia type symptoms but I KNOW she knew them when she was really tiny and I can't work out how she could lose the ability to know/remember something like that so perhaps it is possible. Either way it is perfectly possible that the same techniques used for dyslexia might well help her get over whatever the problem is.

My daughter is exactly the same, she makes up words and guesses what her books so, its so hard, shes only on stage 5 books though and struggles with them. Have you spoken to school about your concerns? I agree getting her eyes checked is a really good place to start as well as speaking to the teacher/senco

May be worth looking at this www.schoolvision.org.uk/

My DD is also 7, just started year 2, and she had problems with her reading from the last part of reception and into Year 1. She would transpose letters within words, miss off the first letters of words, etc. She complained that the paper was too bright and she was constantly losing her place. It drove me to distraction, so much so that on one occasion I had a right rant in her reading record book.

Anyway, we got her eyes tested and it turned out she needed glasses - it hadn't been an issue with the easier books as the text was larger, it only became a problem as she progressed through the scheme and the text got gradually smaller. It also transpired that she had tracking issues, so we bought a program for the PC which she used a few times and it did help. She could have done with using it more but it's really boring and she's really stubborn, so we took what we could get. It's still there and she can always go back to it when she has the maturity to understand the benefits.

Incidentally, she wasn't showing any of these issues at school, which called me in after my rant and told me to lower my expectations and not to write so much in her record book as they didn't have time to read it. It is probable that she had more energy at school and was working extra hard not to do things wrong, making her more tired at home which made our situation worse.

One other thing which improved the situation, other than the glasses and the tracking software, is to do her reading practice as soon as we get in from school, and we sit at the dining table. She's still an easily distracted and wriggly pest, but it bothers me less at this time of day (as I can sit with my cup of tea!) and being at the table means her wriggling impacts on me less. I've noticed that on the odd occasion we end up having to do her reading at bedtime she is much worse.

Hope some of this ramble is useful to you OP.

I don't know whether this might indicate a problem or not tbh.
Great idea to get her eyes tested.

A few thoughts on what else it might be:

New school year, perhaps she is feeling a bit rusty after the long break? Perhaps she is tired from getting used to school again.
Maybe she is bored with the books and can't be bothered?

I'd try reading earlier in the day (is there time for a few mins' reading in the morning?) or with more exciting books (stage 13 is pretty advanced, not sure our reading scheme books even went that high!) I'd also try doing just a few pages and see if that makes any difference. Then if you want to talk to her teacher you can tell her what you've already tried.

Hope you can get to the bottom of it.

I'm a tutor who has worked with a number of children with reading problems.

As others have said, it could be that she is used to reading silently and is reading very fast and so makes mistakes. Try "modelling" reading aloud to her at a clear slow pace and ask her to read at the same speed. If she can manage without mistakes then that is probably the problem.

On the other hand, misreading small words ( and , of, the) and reading what she "thinks" the sentence is going to day, plus looking at the first few letters of a word and "guessing" - eg reading diagonal for diagram, are in my experience, classic indicators that a child may have dyslexia.

It is possible for a mild to moderately dyslexic child to make good progress with the earlier stages of reading as they are essentially memorising the shape of whole words. This gets harder as reading gets complex and there are more words to memorise, some very similar.

What is her spelling like? If she was dyslexic I would expect this to be reflected in her spelling. She may learn very well for spelling tests but be unable to retain the spellings longer term.

Hi - I have come to this 'thread' rather late.

For a lot of children with reading or spelling difficulties, I have been suggesting parents get the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary. It lists words according to the initial SOUND and not just the LETTER as in 'ordinary' dictionaries. It is attractively presented, and has a lot of useful 'tips' about words and spelling. At something less than £7 from Amazon, it is an inexpensive way to try a different approach for children who are having difficulties with reading.

I am not saying it is the perfect solution for everyone, but it is probably worth trying. You can see sample pages from it HERE:

I was a TA and voluntary helper in primary schools for over twenty years, and some children can get a bit careless or over-confident in Yr3, when they think they have 'mastered' reading in Yrs1 & 2. Would she be more enthusiastic with non-fiction books, on topics that interest her?

I hope she makes progress, and I would be interested to hear how things turn out.

Ds1 did this - in terms of a massive drop in accuracy that came suddenly after his fluency and speed increased. I cured ds1 by telling him he needed to rrad me 5 perfect pages every night (actually I think we may have started with 1 perfect page) and when he'd done that we'd stop. After a couple of weeks his accuracy had come back up and he had slowed down.

We got his eyes tested first and I was fretting about dyslexia and behavioural optometrists but it was simply the case of ds1 not having the interest or patience to read his books at the speed necessary for him to comprehend and absorb.

I would also recommend reading earlier in the day, she may be too tired just before bed.

Yes, I would also recommend reading earlier in the day - not just before bed. It is not uncommon to misread little words as they develop fluency and, as has been mentioned, the print gets smaller and more dense. Perhaps ask her to read a little less in quantity but concentrate more on accuracy.

My DD (7) is a reluctant reader although she loves books and being read to. There are times when she is just not interested and when she is in the frame of mind her reading is awful but when she is focused its fine. As others have said reading as soon as possible after school works best or sometimes in the morning if we have a few minutes before we leave. Otherwise we are both tired and I have no patience and bedtime becomes a drama ending in tears.

Readingwoes
"she used to be quite far ahead with her reading and could read at 3 and started school reading books for a child 2 years older but since then things have really changed and she now seems to be struggling."

In that case I would lay off pushing her to read to u every night for a bit, remind her that she used to read so well not long ago and try to find out what has put her off it. Give her a cuddle and talk to her.

A bit of a Y3 regression is quite common.
I happen to think that this is because before then children are exposed predominantly to texts which are mostly phonic, with relatively few words with irregular spellings (said, friend, through...). By Y3 it's largely assumed that they have learned to read, but many words continue to stump some children and it can really put them off reading altogether.

My 8 yr old granddaughter is an excellent reader for her age, but stumbled over 'famished, amid, ravenous' last time she read to me - trying to be logical (faimishd, aimid, raivenous).

If those words were spelt 'fammished, amidd, ravvenous', if their spellings were a better guide to their pronunciation, as they really should be, no child would stumble over them. Not being able to read them properly at their first attempt is really mortifying for some children.

I would first of all try to find out from your daughter what's put her off reading.

Masha Bell

On the other hand, misreading small words ( and , of, the) and reading what she "thinks" the sentence is going to day, plus looking at the first few letters of a word and "guessing" - eg reading diagonal for diagram, are in my experience, classic indicators that a child may have dyslexia.

I'm afraid, educatingarti, that these 'symptoms' would tell me that the child has probably been badly taught! I wouldn't start scaring parents with 'dyslexia' until I'd made sure that their phonic knowledge was good and that they know how to decode and blend. In my experience (working with KS3 struggling readers) kids look at the first letters & guess the rest because they've never been taught to automatically decode and blend all through a word and/or don't have secure phonic knowledge.