Please tell me DS will just "get" reading

[PeterParkerSays]

DS is in Reception and an August baby, so one of the youngest in the year.

I admit that this concern has been caused by the mother of DS' friend saying how she was surprised the her DS has just jumped up their reading scheme from level 9 to 16, having started on level 2 in September, but DS is just toddling along with level 2 books - he's only had books with words in since Christmas, has no interest in reading, says he doesn't know what words say, makes no attempt to read, and just doesn't "get it".

I think I naively thought that DS would jump at the chance to read because we've read to him loads from being a small baby, and he loves being read to, but he just has no interest in reading at all.

If you had a child who couldn't read when they started Reception, when did they start making notable progress? Also, if we try to push this with him, are we just going to put him off reading altogether? I don't know whether to just carry on with him as we are, and wait for it to click, or to try more intensively to get him to read.

I know that he's only 4, and won't get to 18 still on his level 2 books, but I'm just concerned that other children seem to be showing progress in their reading level and he's not.

So is your school somehow different from other schools?

There are other schools who reach all their children to read.

How old is your ds and what is his school doing about it?

My DS is an older teenager and they are providing adaptations to enable him to access all the opportunities they offer.

So in your school not one child with a additional need is unable to read? Where is this wonderful school I may very well start using it.

Many dyslexic children as they get older develop the coping strategies required to learn to read,once they have developed them it can be a very quick process. Some times the strategy may just be as simple as age and emotional maturity.

I know several adults who left school with the reading skills of the average toddler who then in a different environment engaged with the process of reading and mastered it quite quickly some of them had dyslexia that was considered significant enough for them to get a statement with no real problem

Every child leaves our school able to read, yes. Reading difficulties are identified early and acted upon immediately - sometimes children are diagnosed as dyslexic much later by Dyslexia Action (our LEA won't diagnose) but by then the problems have been worked on for years. Two twins with dyslexia left last year with test results of a 5C and a 4A. Three children in my Y5 class have diagnoses of dyslexia, one very recent - they read at a 3A, 4B and 5B atm.

So you have no learning disabled children who have disabilities that mean they can't read?

Or no children who have other needs or issues that contribute towards adult literacy issues?

Not even 1

Do you workin a selective independent?

No, needsasock

I think what the most passionate reading teachers are saying is not that they work in selective education, but that if you're a top class and fantastic teacher, just as they are, you can overcome any barrier to reading with good phonics instruction. (And by implication, if you can't overcome any barrier, then you need to work a bit harder on phonics.)

None that can't read by the time they leave us in y6, no, and not a selective independent - relatively deprived area with higher than average pupil premium,

We have children with sen, but we don't see that as a reason for them not to be able to learn to read, usually.

NeedsAsockamnesty Fri 04-Apr-14 09:10:23

A child who has a formal dx of dyslexia is dyslexic regardless of the choices he/she makes

A child who has a diagnosis of dyslexia because they have chosen not to learn to read makes a mockery of children who have genuine difficulties learning!

No child leaves the school where I teach unable to read either!

including those with a diagnosis of dyslexia

Do children get that diagnosis just because they choose not to read?

My understanding is that its based on rather more than that. Obviously my understanding is just based on having several children go through the assesment process and attending several training events at a dyslexia special school.

Feenie. I'm gobsmacked,I have never met or spoken to any teacher ever (and I have spent years and years interacting with lots of them) that was not aware of at least one child each year who didn't learn to read.

Loads of HE kids get pulled out of schools due to lack of confidence with the quality of education most of those can't read until they have been HE for a while.

Do children get that diagnosis just because they choose not to read?

They can do ... dyslexia is a catch all label meaning a child has problems with words, it doesn't distinguish the reason for the difficulty .

No child has left my school unable to read in over a decade

Not according to dyslexia action.

try reading more widely

I have looked into several charitable dyslexia support and information services, quite a few assessment centres, several reports like the rose (and others),DOE publications,and shit loads of special school info resources.

What else would you surggest I read?

Sorry suggest

What's wrong with using the definition of Dyslexia Action? Why would she want to take the definition of a group possibly less well informed and less committed who, perhaps, wish to publish inaccurate information?

she could try The Yale Dyslexia centre or the British Dyslexia Association or someone more informed or even someone unlikely to profit from providing a diagnosis

Perhaps you could link to the bit on the BDA website that says dyslexia is a catch all label that could be dx by a child refusing to read

I can't appear to find it

If that is the case then that would mean that all children who either struggle with or cannot read must have dyslexia.

My son cannot read but he does not have dyslexia

My son can read very fluently and was diagnosed with dyslexia ...

So why do you think that dyslexia is a catch all label?

Perhaps you could link to the bit on the BDA website that says dyslexia is a catch all label that could be dx by a child refusing to read

Of course you won't. The BDA, however well intentioned it is, has an interest in the promotion of 'dyslexia'. They need it to look like well defined condition with with lots of clear 'symptoms'.

But, the fact is that it isn't a well defined condition and that there is a wide variety of 'interpretations' of dyslexia.

Perhaps you should get a copy of Prof. Julian Elliot's book, 'The Dyslexia Debate', which has just been published. He has spent many years researching the concept.

There is a mumsnet 'debate' thread on this which was started today: tinyurl.com/qbso63q

Thanks, maizie, I hadn't seen this.

However, in our book, we recommend an approach, supported by research, which involves the provision of help to all children who need support for reading difficulties, as soon as these first emerge.

Agree so much with that - that last bit is crucial.

Try comparing definitions from a variety of sources - including the BDA and you will see there is no consensus as to what dyslexia is or indeed if it even exists.

Dyslexia research defines it as

Developmental dyslexia is specific difficulty with learning to read, spell or write (or any combination of these) in someone who is normally intelligent and receives adequate teaching.

which would rule out our 16 year old HE child