Reading; in reception, can't blend

[superzero]

DS2 started reception in September. He can correctly sound out most of the letters and enjoys writing them but when it comes to blending has no idea.Seems not to be able to work out that man ends with "N", map ends with "P" etc etc. His vocabulary is good but his speech and pronunciation is slightly babyish for a 4 year old. I have an older child who had no such problems and just "got " reading and phonics straight away so I suppose my expectations were high. Can anyone reassure me whether this is normal and whether there is anything fun that I can do to help him without making it an issue?

My advice to the OP would be to speak to her child's teacher but to always follow her instincts as she knows her child best.

So why didn't you just say that and add your advice rather than come on here to attack others?

You've clearly, unfortunately had a bad experience; however at age four, eight weeks into reception its too early to start worrying.

Because as a parent and SENCO I know how dangerous the "it's too soon" advice is ...

And your qualification for making that statement?

So at age four, eight weeks into reception, we should start panicking??
You'd be a busy SENCO. Also, as a SENCO, I'm surprised you listened to platitudes in Year 5 if you had serious concerns.

Yes I'm a parent and teacher too. However, at age four, eight weeks into school I'd not be concerned about a child who couldn't yet blend.

Who has suggested panicking? Yes I'm a busy SENCO but I'd rather be busy as fail a child, much better to rule out a problem than ignore a possible issue.
You're good at making assumptions eleven ..I wasn't a SENCO or even a teacher when my son was in reception but I am a SENCO and taught reception for almost two decades and eight weeks into the first isn't too early to identify issues.

No, its not. If there's evidence. However, a child at age four, eight weeks into school who cannot blend is not a concern. Do you honestly evaluate every single child who cannot blend at that age??

What should the OP do? Demand an SEN assessment? Hearing test? One to one support? Panic? Or wait a while?

If a parent was concerned I would take their concerns seriously yes. there are lots of reasons why a child might find blending difficult and its often a fairly simple process to rule these out (or in)

IIRC I think Sue Lloyd has suggested 3-4 weeks into reception as being the point that they identified the children that were at risk of falling behind and may need some extra help in addition to the everyday whole class phonics teaching.

That's not to say that all of those identified have an issue that will need to be helped with the Senco in future. They may just need a bit more practice than the others to help them catch up. Which I would imagine could be managed by the class teacher or TA during a normal reception day.

read with him for fun and if it makes you feel better take your finger under the words as you read. Do't sound out and blend - leave that to the school. Most important word here is FUN.

Ok then make your suggestions to the OP.

Other than the suggestions on the first page, I might suggest a hearing test would be useful in this case.

It's possible that the speech/pronunciation issues and his inability to hear the ending sounds in words might be linked to a hearing issue. Some children are remarkably good at hiding their inability to hear properly.

Otherwise she could try oral blending activities using larger chunks such as syllables or compound words eg foot-ball, sand-castle.

OP here,did not realise that this had fuelled such a response.I have very briefly discussed it with his teacher but she has no concerns.The possibility of a hearing problem has crossed my mind before this but has been excluded.I was really looking for advice about how I can help him without worrying or discouraging him and there is plenty now,thank you very much everyone.