Y1 phonics

[Getdownfromtherethisinstant]

DS is six, reasonably intelligent - he is around average in most things, perhaps a bit above in maths. I know he has a phonics test this term and I'm pretty unconcerned but I've noticed he is struggling to read longer words - not the sounding out but the putting together of sounds. Eg if he read the word 'exploding' he would guess it first based on some of the letters - he might say 'excited' or plodding'. Then when I get him to sound it out he'll get the sounds right 'ex-pl-o-d-ing' and when I ask him put it together he'll say something like explodderating, ie he'll add in extra sounds etc. Is this fairly common? Is it just a case of practicing or is there anything else I can do to help him? TIA!

Speak to his teacher. Ds2 hates spelling words out and always adds bits or guesses. In yr1 I spoke to his teacher and she wasn't bothered as she knew he could read. At the end of year 2 he is still doing it at parents evening his teacher said she wasn't concerned as he was hitting all his targets

I will jimblejambles thanks. It's a tricky one as I'm not concerned as such but if it is a target he's not going to hit I want help him.

I assume you know the 'test' also includes 'non-words' that could be from an alien world, so not 'real' words at all. These are usually the ones people worry about, because a child's natural desire is to try and turn them into a recognisable word.

I think the official reasoning is that if Phonics knowledge is truly secure, they will be able to sound it out, whether or not it is a real word. It could, for instance, be a scientific term, a foreign town, a newly discovered creature, and a child still needs to be able to read it.

This will probably help clarify Phonics for children and parents:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’.

As a Year 1 teacher I'm astounded by the teacher's attitude. It does matter ... We all need to be able to read accurately without adding bits or resorting to guessing. Too many children/adults are left unable to read at the level of an average 8 year old simply because teachers say it doesn't matter!

OP encourage him to build the words syllable by syllable before putting the syllables together to read the whole word.

The purpose of the check is to identify children who aren't able to read words accurately. The pseudo words are a standard assessment used by Ed Psychs to screen for possible reading difficulties.

I think a lot of teachers would tell you it's fine and not to worry. Especially if they are hitting all their targets. Personally I would see it as an issue. It might not hold him back now, but could become an issue later on when the books he's trying to read have a wider, more complex vocabulary.

I'm not totally sure of the best way to tackle it though. You might neex mrz or maizie to advise on that.

Should have refreshed the page before I posted.

mrsz I've not spoken to the teacher yet so unsure what her attitude is - unless you're referring to jimblejambles' comment? Yes the alien words is the bit I think he'll have trouble with as he tends to try and sight read words - if they're words he doesn't know he'll have no chance! He also reverses sounds, eg he might corrected sound out the word 'watered ' but then put it together as 'tawered'. I will have a look at that book.

Yes I was referring to jimblejambles post

I don't think the book will be helpful in the situation you describe.
He needs to be encouraged to look closely at the words and read them left to right. If he says tawered for watered draw his attention back to the word ... say if this word was tawered then this sound would be /t/ (point to first sound /w/) is it? Don't let him guess and if he misreads keep encouraging him to really look at the word.

This is a bit tongue in cheek but has a serious message www.illinoisloop.org/anon_thankyouwl.html

Thank you mrsz - I don't let him guess but it's his first instinct so we need to overcome that! I will have a look at that link, thank you.

Progressive blending!

Instead of sounding out the word from behginning to end and then trying to remember all the sounds in the correct order to blend them (which, when you think about it, can be quite a challenge for some children, especially if their teacher hasn't been very rigorous about insisting on sounding out & blending for all unfamiliar words), sound out and blend 'progressively through the word. For example, word is 'happy':

1. child sounds out all through the word (just to check that they're are recognising the graphemes correctly)
2. go back the begining and sound out & blend the first two sounds /h/, /a/-> /ha/,
3. when these are secure add the next sound /ha/+ /p/ -> /hap/, 4)then add the next sound/hap/+ /ee/ -> happy.

Doesn't take as long to do as to explain!

With multisyllable words do them a syllable at a time, as mrz suggested, make sure each syllable is absolutely secure before adding the next.

For persistent guessing try covering up the word and exposing it one 'sound' at a time.

I'm afraid it is absurd to suggest that children do badly on the 'non-words' in the phonics check 'because they are expecting them to be real words and to make sense'. What 6 y old is so familiar with the common English lexicon of some 250,000 words that they can unerringly identify 'non-words' when they encounter them? Trying to turn an unfamiliar word into a familiar one is the hallmark of a struggling, or badly taught, reader.

Both DDs did that at a certain time. Whenever they did, I'd cover most of the word and we'd start sounding out letter by letter, then add the next syllable, etc. DD2 still does this when we encounters a longer/unfamiliar word.

I think it's perfectly normal. He just needs time and practice.
Good luck!

I'm afraid it isn't "normal" if children have been taught to decode

Sometimes the 'size' of the word visually stumps them. You can cover, even read chunks of words - the stem words that make up the whole word separately. For instance ed words want first ed next then get them to read as a whole. Also for instance words like ungraceful. Stem word grace. Prefix in. Suffix ful. Encouraged as thee way to improve reading from 8 up. A massive study in Hillingdon had fantastic results. Never too young I think. I saw a word on the phonics screen that was essentially alltrin. Which is essentially two words, three syllables together but I don't know if they said all for the first word if they would get it right. Just saw a child practising in passing in the school library.

Thank you all. I've spoken to a couple of mums so far, one who goes in to hear reading and it seems relatively common for then to guess initially but less common to have the issues with blending the sounds. I think the issue is that DS is attempting to learn by simply memorising words - and as that's how I was taught in the early 80's (I never did phonics) that sort of makes more sense to me. He couldn't sound out 'leaves' yesterday - I was a bit stumped given the irregularity of 'ea' and the Fact that it has an e at the end that doesn't work like a split digraph. In the end we looked at the picture for clues and he worked it out. And then today he remembered the word straight off. I'm a bit torn - I don't want to have the 'it never did me any harm' attitude but it does seem that he's learning more like I did rather than relying on phonics and I was an avid reader as a child. That said I have taken on board all the advice and will continue to encourage him to sound out. Hopefully it will all come together if we put the effort in!

Guessing isn't common unless it's a strategy they have been taught.

isn't irregular .... It's a spelling that represents different sounds just can represent different sounds. If your son hasn't been taught that he will struggle.

To read leaves he needs to know that the spelling can be /ee/ in leaves or /ai/ in speak or /e/ in head ... And he needs to know to try the alternatives

Sorry I didn't mean irregular, I meant there are different ways it can sound, bad wording on my part. They are taught to look at the picture and then read the words - perhaps that's where the guessing comes in? Although he tends to guess based on the letters rather than the context. Several other parents have said the same thing though so perhaps there is an issue with how they're being taught.

If there are lots of children in the class doing it, then it's how they are being taught.

I think you have two issues here. The first is with his ability to blend. But he also seems to have some significant gaps in his phonics knowledge. This compounds the issue because if he doesn't know the letter/sound correspondances in a new word, then he has no option but to guess.

There is definitely a problem with teaching if children are being taught to look at the pictures then read the words.

Can I ask what reading scheme the school uses?

He was getting lots of Oxford Reading Tree Biff Chip and Kipper books but now seems to be getting other stuff - his current book is Story world's. Why is that a problem mrsz? I'm clearly no expert (!) but it seems sensible to use the pictures as clues?

Because at some point he is going to stop reading books with pictures in them. Which is going to remove the option of using them and if that's his only or main strategy he's going to be stuck. At that point he will have to either learn to read properly or miss out the words that he can't read, which might start to affect his comprehension as the vocabulary in books increases in complexity.

Yes I see. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be pig headed and I know I'm coming across as a bit defensive. This was something I thought was a small issue and it now appears to possibly be a bigger problem which is worrying me. I've been doing a lot with him this past week and taking more note of what he is and isn't doing. I think his phonics have slipped this year - his knowledge was stronger in reception although the blending still didn't come easily. Today he struggled to read 'bacon'. He pronounced it 'backon' and no amount of prompting or hinting got him try changing the a sou d and yet I know he would've done that before.