Extra help with reading for 7 year old?

[Shufflebumnessie]

DS is 7 years old and in Year 3. He has always struggled academically with all subjects but he seems to have an absolute mental block when it comes to reading. He is so far behind the majority of his peers and progress is very slow.
He's recently been working in a small group with the hand writing lead at school and the difference that's made is phenomenal. At the beginning of Year 3 he couldn't join up his writing, now he can and it's neat, perfectly legible etc.

I'm now wondering if I should try and get him some 1:1 or small group extra help for his reading. Does such a thing exist?

He had meningitis a few years ago and I really feel that's caused a number of issues (coordination, speech etc) including academic ability.

He reads daily, we have loads of books at home (fiction, non fiction, variety of genres) but he just hates reading. I guess because he finds it so hard.

He's falling further and further behind and I'm worried. I know he'll get there eventually but I can't help but wonder if he could read with more confidence if other subjects might make more sense to him.

Thank you if you're still reading after all that! What I really want to know is, are there tutors who can help specifically with reading? If so, how do I go about finding one? Thanks

Absolutely if you can afford it. Some extra tutorage would really help him. They can focus on the bits he finds particularly hard and he can ask any questions without fear of his classmates teasing him. I'd choose someone with some experience with special needs though as these tend to be more patient than the sat specialists.

How much are you doing at home daily?
The more you can do the more benefit.
Even if that is alternating lines or pages etc.
Is her still on book bands?
If so something like project alien or reading chest.
If he's on bands still maybe tead books a few bands higher as often schools dont move them often enough.

Have you considered testing for Dyslexia? Could be the meningitis which affected him could just be Dyslexia, that's a quite good dyslexiagold.co.uk/DyslexiaScreeningTest screening test for just getting an idea.

Hi. We have a one to one Tutor for our seven year old (year three). He’s at a reading level that is around the expected level in year 1.

I took a while to decide to go for it. I worried it was putting too much pressure on him. In the end though I went for it as the gap between him and others in his class was getting bigger and bigger each term.

For us it helps that it’s not us! We were getting into reading battles with lots of tears. I avoided tutor websites (many seemed to use Uni students but not necessarily teacher training students). I wanted someone who was experienced enough to advise us on strategies and help identify any underlying issues if there were reasons why he was struggling.

After asking everyone I know, posting on Facebook etc, we found a friend of a friend who is a retired teacher. It costs us £20 a weekly session but we’ll worth it. His confidence has improved and she is so patient and encouraging. Much as I tried I found it really frustrating when little one was so stuck. I imagine we will be retaining the tutor for the long term but it’s the only way I can see that he will catch up. Having that 1:1 focus has also helped with his ability to concentrate.

Thank you all for the replies, for making suggestions and sharing experience.
He reads most days after school (unless he's shattered), we have a variety of books (school reading scheme, fiction, non-fiction etc). I've even bought a few Lego comics in the hope they might inspire him.
Not had him tested for Dyslexia but ut has crossed my mind.
I'd love to do more learning at home with him but I think it really needs to be a tutor as he'll focus better. Plus, I have to split my attention between him and his sister.
I'm going to try and find recommendations this week.
Thanks again.

I'd get him assessed so you know where his strengths and weaknesses lie.
The one thing that has helped my dyslexic DD's reading is daily paired reading with me. We sit together and I put my arm around her (which she likes as it's a cuddle) and we read out loud together. If she wants to take over alone she taps my hand and I shut up, and she taps my hand again when she wants help. I don't leave her to struggle long with any words as I want her to make progress through the text and not be disheartened. And we only do a very short session each day - 5 minutes is not unusual and we'd never exceed 20 minutes / which often leaves her wanting more and reduces the "chore" element of reading. Her reading age is now more or less consistent with her actual age which is fab, although she still hates to read and won't do it of her own volition...

Sorry - that should say we'd never exceed 10 minutes (not 20).

Shuffelbumnessie, You could help him yourself by listening to him read for about 10 mins or so (or a page or two) helping him with words he gets stuck on, but making a note of them too, but no more than 7 to 10 at a time, then looking at just the words he finds tricky a couple of times together. They tend to be ones like 'once, through, although'. Most children's reading improves dramatically once they can sight-read the 100 or so most common ones of those. But perhaps you have already decided to look for a tutor instead? Parents can usually help much more than they realise, with basic phonics, but especially with common tricky words.

In our case the tutor was a last resort rather than a first one, with us doing the nightly reading, co-reading, using flash cards for the common words. I agree that there are lots of things parents can try but sometimes what works for most children doesn’t work for everyone. That’s why we went down the route of having a qualified teacher to support him outside of school. We still read/co-read every night for short periods too.

I completely agree that "what works for most children doesn’t work for everyone". I am just trying to demystify learning to read a bit. Parents make a much bigger difference to their children's reading progress than they or their children's teachers generally give them credit for. Every 10 mins that they spend listening to their child read makes a difference. Because English spelling is often weird, what most helps kids to improve is lots of practice.

Could you also speak to his class teacher and Senco and ask whether they have any reading interventions, 1 to 1 or small groups? Has he passed his phonics test for year 1? The rule seems to be that if a pupil fails the phonics test the school needs to put extra intervention in place.

I think it'd be more motivating for him if the books are interesting and funny? Have you tried letting him read the Dog Man series? My son loves Dog Man.