reading and spelling age, I don't understand

[elliejjtiny]

DS is 6 years 1 month and in year 1. He has some health issues and mild learning difficulties. His school report came back with a reading age of 6 years 6 months and a spelling age of 7.

But he has only just on level 4 of oxford reading tree books. The teacher ticked the "working towards expected standard" box for most subjects and "working at the expected standards" for a couple of the less academic subjects. He scored 29 in his phonics screening check which is higher than we expected.

I'm just a bit confused as his reading and spelling age don't seem to match the rest of his report.

With those scores I would say he doesn't have learning difficulties

@elliejjtiny I would not worry too much about the reading and spelling ages so much depends on the actual assessment e.g single word spelling is easier than spelling in continuous text. The teacher assessment will be more reliable and from what you say, he is making progress.

Do you mean he got working towards for reading too? If not, maybe his reading and spelling is better than other subjects?

The levels that children are expected to reach these dats are much higher than they used to be.

The SPAG for example they do in Y2 used to be things they didn't begin to look at until Y4, let alone test them on.

If the goalposts hadn't changed your child would quite possibly be at the 'expected' level. It's the education system that's gone wrong.

Be proud, you've good a good little reader and speller,

Oh and reading tests and assessments aren't the same as just straight reading. It includes comprehension, inference etc. Your child will be assessed on the information gathered from reading too.

Reading and spelling age isn’t a standard feature for all schools I don’t think. We’ve never had it on a report

surely reading ages are just about word knowledge, he knows words, and can spell them, but because he can't actually decode yet (from the phonics screening) he's not actually yet at the standard.

The fact he has a memory to read and spell despite that is a good thing, but it's not what allows the expected.

Y1 is also of course a year when a school can make up any requirements they like to report on, so it could just be there expected is high.

If you are worried that it doesn't seem to match what you know of him you could check with his teacher that the reading spelling scores are actually his. Last year my DDs teacher sent us another child's scores and we only realised because she has been reading fluently for years but got 'below expected' on her reading score.

Reading and spelling age tests are a complete waste of time. Focus on the teacher's judgment (below expected/at expected) because that is what counts. As he scored 29 on the phonics screening, he didn't pass and that also corresponds with the teacher's judgement in reading.

We still have to complete reading age tests and put them on reports. It really annoys me because they mean absolutely nothing, show no indication of fluency or comprehension and tend to either stress parents or make them feel like their child is amazing at reading and the teacher was wrong. In my Y2 class this year, I've got a large number who have a reading age of greater than 10yrs. This doesn't mean they have the ability of a 10yr old. The test is just ridiculous and extremely out of date.

soontobe60 sorry, i cannot let your comment pass where you assume that kids attaining expected level cannot have learning difficulties. My DS at primary achieved expected levels throughout, sometimes above expected level. Because of that his class teacher took the attitude that "he can't be dyslexic, he's at expected levels". He is, confirmed by a private assessment and subsequent assessments at his secondary school. He learnt many compensating strategies to deal with this at primary. He should have been at above expected level for nearly everything, if it wasn't for his dyslexia. Therefore, this is a learning difficulty for him, as it is something he has to deal with in order to reach his potential. I'm sorry OP for having to raise this in your post, as I post elsewhere on Mumsnet about my frustrations with bright dyslexic kids being missed. However, every time I encounter people with opinions such as soontobe60 i need to correct them

Changemyname18

Totally agree and would add - children reach their ceiling at different ages, so ‘cope’ in years 1/2/3 bit struggle in year 4 onwards etc

Thankyou everyone. I've attached an example of his writing just to show you. It took a while to find as in his writing books at school the ta does a lot of the writing for him. His reading, spelling, writing were all working towards, it was art, re and technology that was expected.

I will ignore the reading and spelling ages then as without those his report makes a lot more sense.

@Changemyname18 no problem, I completely understand. I am dyspraxic myself which was largely missed because I was at the expected levels. This is partly why I am determined to make sure ds gets any help going, because I know what it's like to struggle at school.