how to get my DD to read from her reading books

[BramwellBrown]

She's year 1, on yellow reading books and struggles with them yet I make sure to include as much reading in day to day life as I can so she reads signs to me in town, labels, recipes when we are cooking together, sing from a hymn book etc and she only ever struggles with words if they are in a reading book, I've tried copying out pages of her reading book on to bits of paper and she can read it then, but not from the book, she has glasses and she can read much smaller print if its not in the book so its not she can't see it, I'm beginning to wonder if its a case of she won't read rather can't. Has anyone else's DC been similar?

Does she read single words better than sentences? If so it could be an eye tracking problem.

I've had major issues with my DD refusing to read. I wrote this thread a few weeks ago in desperation. I don't know if it was posting on here that had some magic effect, or whether being able to discuss my frustrations and worries made a difference to my approach, or putting some of the suggestions into practice, but a few days later DD decided to try reading and since then is suddenly asking me to do more and more reading with her.

Even school have noticed a huge difference and today she was moved up 4 levels from where she was at the beginning of this term.

This was the thread - lots of people gave me loads of great advice and ideas: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/a2276047-Bright-child-who-doesnt-want-to-learn

One thing that did make a big difference was finding books with real stories - and ones that she didn't know. Hansel & Gretel was what got her interest and she wanted to know what came next. The Biff/Chip/Kipper ones with getting trapped in castles etc didn't interest her at all, but fairy stories have.

Naive she's fine on sentences that aren't in the school reading books, I have irlen syndrome so did wonder about that.

elf, I think it might well be Biff and Chip style books that are the issue as before she started school we used to go to the library after playschool twice a week and she was reading books happily then and in reception it was ok as she was only expected to read 2/3 times a week so we could read other books most nights but since she's been in year 1 she has to read every night and write 2 sentences about the book and now suddenly insists she can't read.

Yes my DS. We stopped reading Biff and chip as DS was disengaged and resisted nightly reads. We started using library books instead and suddenly he discovered a love for reading and enthusiasm which didn't exist previously.

I would drop the sentence writing too. You can instead discuss the plot and get DD to dictate her thoughts while you write. Or not bother at all - after all she's only in infants and written homework's are hardly essential

to be honest if I had to write 2 sentences about whatever I read every day I would probably say I couldn't do it too.

one of my girls has coloured lenses and problems with contrast, light sensitivity etc that affect her reading but it sounds like your daughter CAN read and is choosing not to.

Is it worth asking the teacher if they have some other books? our school has a mix of different schemes and non scheme books and she might just want a bit more variety. although I do have to say my daughter had quite a lot of problems with the black on white of the scheme books especially Biff etc but was ok on books with less glaring backgrounds so it is still worth keeping an eye on the possibility of visual processing issues.

My dd2 went through a stage where she claimed she could not read, even though I knew she could she would not try. I bought her a sonic the hedgehog (her favourite character at the moment) joke book and she will happily read a few jokes out a night. Her teacher is happy with this as at least she is trying to read something.

She can't drop the sentence writing, if she doesn't do it at home she has to do it at school, they might have some other books though, I'll ask tomorrow.

Try a coloured overlay and see if she reads better through that. It might be the black on white. Could also be the font used some are harder to read if she has traces of dyslexia or something.

I think you could probably insist that she don't complete the two sentences at school or home as it's totally turning her off reading and making her hate what should be a positive experience. If they push her to complete her homework, take it up with the head. The only essential homework in year one is reading. You reading to her that is, although ideally she should be reading to you too. Yes you could make her do her writing homework but what would you really be achieving in the long run? Because long term writing two sentences regularly in infants won't elevate her GCSE grades.