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Should I worry about my 5 yo?

28 replies

angelicanto · 02/11/2018 15:44

He is in reception, the oldest in the year as he has a Sept birthday. After a first half term of phonics he is showing no interest in reading whatsoever....unlike his older brother who could read bits and pieces before he started school and would sit and draw and write. Ds2 loves stories and being read to but his teacher says they have done 15 sounds so far and he only knows 9 of them and he isn't great at blending eg when I was trying to get him to sound out m-i-l-k the other day he was saying "kick" . It's worrying me as I am an English teacher for gods sake, he has a houseful of books and I see the I'll effects of poor literacy everyday in older children in my job. He's just not getting it atm. Any advice??

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
SleepWarrior · 02/11/2018 15:49

I don't know. One of mine didn't really find it remotely interesting until they were 6 and a bit, and even then it was only in small doses. They loved books though, so I just focussed on fostering that and making sure the idea of books being fun wasn't spoiled for them. No problem with reading ultimately and they are not ahead compared to peers.

BugPlaster · 02/11/2018 15:59

My son is the younger end of reception and also not very interested in reading. He finds blending hard. I just keep up the praise for him trying and keep reading to him. We practice phonics a bit at home but they are young and they work on it every day at school - I don't want him getting annoyed /frustrated.
I heard that before they are 7, so much of the reading work is just bringing them all up to a workable level. So in that sense, he has a couple of years to grasp the basics.

eddiemairswife · 02/11/2018 16:26

It appears that phonics is the best way to get most children reading, but my children (all adults) learnt by 'look and say', as I did.

Norestformrz · 02/11/2018 16:39

"when I was trying to get him to sound out m-i-l-k the other day he was saying "kick" " As soon as you introduce adjacent consonants you introduce another level of difficulty. For a beginner reader who only knows a few sound /letter correspondences I'd advice sticking to cvc and vc words. Once he is blending and segmenting cvc words confidently you can introduce ccvc and cvcc words. I'd also check whether he's able to orally blend words when you say the sounds because it could be he's guessing words starting with the last sound he has heard.

Howmanysleepstilchristmas · 02/11/2018 16:54

Give it time! Of my 4dc, only the youngest has been interested in reading at that age. The others found it really stressful so I backed off and just read to them, occasionally asking them to read a cvc word. Like your son, they all loved being read to. By year 2 they were all on target (or ahead), even the one who had phonic booster sessions in y1. The oldest 3 are now 11,13 and 6 and love reading. The 6yo, who was having booster sessions this time last year, is reading the Animals of Farthing Wood series. I think some children feel pressured and back off from reading, others just take longer for it to click. Certainly with mine there was little I could do to help without them resenting books, and I think a love of books is important. Your dc isn’t far behind my youngest btw (he’s August born and so in year 1- 1 month older than your son). He’s on target now for year1 but was at the stage your ds is now 6 months ago (start of summer term)

sevens7 · 02/11/2018 17:16

The better you at talking the easier it is to learn to read. Boys tend to talk less, watch too much tv and play too many computer games. (all non-talking activities) Reading to them helps understanding language at a certain level and talking or doing language takes them to another level.
Reading out loud is forced talking, it forces the brain to hear itself make mistakes. When I got my boys to read out loud 12/10/6 to read out loud i had to pay them. (talking was a physical effort for them) Their grades went from Es-Bs GCSE.
Only the 6 year old loves reading (10 GCSEs A-C) partly because he was naturally more articulate.

angelicanto · 02/11/2018 17:21

He loves talking though, he never shuts up!! His vocabulary is very wide. If I am reading a book that he loves and change a word for whatever reason (usually to speed things up before bed ) he tells me. He knows a new book off by heart after a couple of reads and just loves being read to.

I will bear in mind the cvcc thing and stick to cvc for now, thanks for that tip!

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MrsPussinBoots · 02/11/2018 17:26

Have you tried games/apps like the Teach your Monster to Read app? It's fantastic and my DD really enjoyed playing it. It introduces the phonics 1 at a time and then goes on to words as they progress.

Norestformrz · 02/11/2018 17:38

I'd recommend this free course for parents who want to help their child with reading and writing https://www.udemy.com/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/

angelicanto · 02/11/2018 19:27

Ok I'll take a look at those thank you

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ittooshallpass · 02/11/2018 23:47

Some children just don't get phonics and blending. My DD was/ is an avid reader but failed phonics tests. Just keep reading to him, making sure he can see the words and I'm sure he'll be fine.

Norestformrz · 03/11/2018 05:15

Being an avid reader doesn't mean a child has the skills to tackle unfamiliar words I'm afraid. The Phonics Screening Check is there to identify those children who are at risk of later reading failure because they lack these essential skills. If a child is unable to accurately read 40 very simple words they need support.

angelicanto · 03/11/2018 09:18

Having been through it with ds1 two years ago, i do understand the role of the phonics test and I totally get it as a check to see who needs extra support. I'm just hoping I can support ds2 before then and at the minute it's hard as he isn't really showing much interest.

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MrsPworkingmummy · 03/11/2018 09:24

Hi OP, I'm an English teacher too and also worried about my dd, who is now in Y2. I've just been phonics trained (phases 2-5) as our school is changing from a secondary to a primary and the trainer said the worst thing that schools do is teach phonics too quickly. To properly embed the phonics system, it should take around 3 years. Also, she said phonics only works for around 50% of children. The rest will pick it up through learning whole high frequency words from sight and building up sentences from there. Don't rush, don't stress and continue to read a wide range of interesting texts.

LittleCandle · 03/11/2018 09:27

DD2 couldn't - and still can't - blend words. She is very dyslexic. She didn't read for pleasure until she was in her teens. She has just graduated with a merit in a difficult Masters degree, so being a bit behind in the early years is not necessarily a picture of what is to come.

ReverseTheFerret · 03/11/2018 09:38

It's still early days. DD1 was at a really shit school for her reception year and they had only just started doing phonics input at this point in the year when she was there (they just let them settle in for the first half term... don't get me started on that place) and she's now one of the 2-3 kids that are the strongest readers in her class.

Childrenofthesun · 03/11/2018 09:48

Milk is a CVCC word - consonant vowel consonant consonant, so quite tricky for beginner readers to hear the adjacent consonants. Stick to CVC words like cat, tin etc.

Half a term in is still very early. Do lots of blending work, eg you say c-a-t, can he recognise it as cat? I used to do this with my DC on car journeys.

Otherwise, just keep reading stories to him to ensure he gets pleasure from books.

Also, she said phonics only works for around 50% of children.

Rubbish, extensive studies show effective phonics teaching gets 99% of children reading. 80% would have learned to read using other methods but where phonics is so important is with the 20% who used to get left behind.

Ceara · 03/11/2018 09:49

DS (also winter-born) is similar. He was all over numbers before he started school in September, but letters - nope. He showed initial interest in phonics when term began, and fell in love with "Geraldine the Giraffe" at school (Google Mr Thorne does Phonics on YouTube if you haven't come across it), but half a term in it's still not really gelling and his enthusiasm is waning. He came home upset this week because they had been put into "reading groups" at school and he is in a different group from his little friends.

Like you, we have books everywhere at home. Like your son, DS is articulate and very talkative, has a great vocabulary, and will listen to stories or chapter books for as long as an adult is prepared to sit reading to him.

We are putting absolutely no pressure on him and doing our utmost to maintain the joy in books and reading. We are answering comments like "I don't know the letters" or "I'm not very good at reading" with "You don't know them YET". We are emphasising that some things take time to learn and reminding him that he's done things before that took a lot of perseverance, like learning to walk, and then to talk!

We have bought the Dandelion Launchers series of decodable books to give extra practice at something that's within his reach. He can have a crack at them and feel a sense of achievement (unlike many of the school reading books at, supposedly, the initial book band level). He does pick up a "read it yourself" book as he calls them, from the Dandelion Launchers series, every few days and there is progress, but it's slow. DS enjoys the Nessy Letters and Nessy Phonics apps which give lots of multisensory practice with the letter sounds.

We are also continuing with all the basics we were going at preschool age, like lots of "I Spy" games to tune into the sounds in words. Maybe back up a bit and play with pre-reading skills and listening for sounds?

FWIW we are aware that DS is at familial risk of dyslexia as both DH and BIL are quite profoundly dyslexic and there's supposed to be a 50/50 risk of it being passed on. It's too early to tell whether DS does have an underlying difficulty, or whether reading is something which is just going to click with him later on, or take longer than average to pick up. A dyslexia screening test is standard at the end of Yr R (separately from the Yr 1 phonics screening) in all local schools around here. Worth keeping an eye on if reading continues not to gel with your son over the next term or two?

LonelyandTiredandLow · 03/11/2018 10:05

That sounds like my dd who had huge trouble blending - they had her in extra phonics groups. In y2 the teacher suggested she may be dyslexic - I hadn't even considered it as she has always been mid-range in the reading levels for her year. However her writing shows how she is hearing/mispronouncing words quite badly. Have done a hearing test and there isn't anything wrong there. Without sounding snobbish I speak clearly so it's hard to understand where the mix-up of letters. She had the test a little early and they said that if she hadn't been in her extra phonic group since reception she would have shown up as far worse on the dyslexic scale. I have a lot to be thankful for with the school, as they saw her issues from day 1 and really worked to keep her at the expected level. She now gets dyslexia help twice a week in Y3 and it seems to be boosting her confidence in English (still her least fave subject!).

Norestformrz · 03/11/2018 12:34

"I've just been phonics trained (phases 2-5) as our school is changing from a secondary to a primary and the trainer said the worst thing that schools do is teach phonics too quickly. To properly embed the phonics system, it should take around 3 years. Also, she said phonics only works for around 50% of children. " I'd suggest she gets some quality phonics training because she's clearly incompetent clueless. I'd point her towards the work of Stanislas Dehaene Reading in the Brain and Mark Seidenberg Language at the Speed of Sight as a starting point.

Norestformrz · 03/11/2018 12:42

"The rest will pick it up through learning whole high frequency words from sight and building up sentences from there." Absolutely shocking that people are still peddling this nonsense given decades of evidence.
Learning one word by sight means the child can read one word. Teach them to decode the same word and that knowledge can be applied to hundreds of other words.

Feenie · 03/11/2018 13:12

Also, she said phonics only works for around 50% of children.

Oh my god. How can someone that misinformed be responsible for training teachers? That's appalling - and it that's representative of your sessions then I'm afraid you haven't been 'phonics trained' - quite the opposite.

angelicanto · 03/11/2018 13:24

In am fully supportive of the phonics approach and didn't want to start a debate!

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Feenie · 03/11/2018 13:25

But an actual phonics trainer isn't! Baffling. Confused

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