Child can hear sounds in words, but can't blend to read-help?!

[Shinyandnew1]

My DS is in Y1 and is new to the school. He has been put on the SEN register at his school as he is working way below the expected level for maths and literacy. I'm trying to help him at home, but would really appreciate some ideas for fun activities!

If I say a word to him-eg cat, he can tell me the sounds he can hear, but he can't put this into practice and blend the word when he sees it written down. He knows all his single letter sounds and some digraphs (school follows Jolly Phonics), but doesn't seem able to apply what he knows.

What can I try next? His teacher isn't being great at the moment as she's off ill and there are lots of supplies. It's not her fault, but I can anyone give me any tips? I'll put this on the SEN board as well-I didn't know where was best to ask it?

What is the problem with getting him to practice listening to the sounds in words for a while? It's not going to do any harm?

He can already hear the sounds in the words as the OP confirmed

No disrespect to the OP but we don't know that he can consistently and accurately hear the sounds in a word - including blends, and confidently segment and blend a variety of sounds and words. I suspect that he cannot.

If he can aurally blend the sounds in cvc /vcc wirds the next step wiuld be for him to say the sounds and then blend the word once he can do that then a future step would be to blend ccvc/cvcc words (wouldn't refer to adjacent consonants as blends in UK phonics teaching)