DS(5) refusing to do home reading books (Year 1)

[fromheretonowhere]

DS(5) has started bringing home reading books again and he’s already refusing to try and read them properly. We had this issue before lockdown when he was in Reception and as a consequence he’s still on the Pink band.

He can recognise and sound out letters, usually quite easily, but flatly refuses to try and blend. I’m not sure if he doesn’t understand how to blend or lacks the confidence to try. I’ve tried to demonstrate how to blend but he just gets stroppy and angry.

Before I contact his teacher, does anyone have any tips please for encouraging him to just try? His Reception teacher wasn’t much help unfortunately and just said keep trying, plus they had him in a daily small reading group session with a TA.

He absolutely loves being read to and we have always read a minimum of 4 books per night to him, plus songs. The school has an online reading programme for the kids to use themselves to learn to read but he won’t use it. I asked at the beginning of the year if this goes on when will they consider a learning issue or dyslexia and was told not for a few years yet

He does exceptionally well in maths and we’ve been told he is advanced, and he is doing well in all other areas, so it’s not like he’s falling behind in everything.

@MillieEpple They sound great! Thanks so much!

@fromheretonowhere - my other son found the whole idea of levels and marbles and rankings ridiculously pressured and simply refused. I read to him lots, did the phonics games and then we found 'real books' and did things like a line each. If you google 'real books reading level' you can get suggestions that are for each book band. i also found saying 'is there any word on this page you'd like me to read or tell you now' quite helpful as sometimes thered be one word he'd skimmed and paniced at. The other is just saying read it in you head and asking them to tell you what happened. Might be a little way off that, but you could see with something he knows like the gruffolo.

Are the Dr Seuss books still around. They are great fun to read aloud.

My youngest was a bit like this but it was a case of ,You read it Mummy because it takes too much effort for me to do it. I basically insisted by setting time in our routine and saying that I would read to her after she read hers. She loved being read to. The reading scheme books at the start are very short too. I strongly recommend Songbirds books They are fun and engaging. She reads extremely well now so she was always capable. It was not about difficulty in my case. She would have just rather not done the work.

Oh this was so my grandson ( I parent him). a very young Y1 - late July birthday. He could read cvc words before reception but made practically no progress during reception. I am a teacher myself so I made him read every night but it was a nightmare. He refused, tantrummed, turned somersaults on the sofa whilst reading. Looked everywhere but at the book. During lockdown I eventually gave up as he was being so oppositional. He hated reception which was very phonics driven and not much child centred play. His teacher was a bit of a dinosaur. Fast forward to now and it has suddenly clicked. He has made more progress in the last 2 weeks than in the whole of reception. I think it's because he now has a good sight vocabulary and doesn't have to sound out every word which enables him to read for meaning with unfamiliar words. He is flying through blue book band. Don't get me wrong, he is still doing the sofa somersaults and moaning when it is time to read but he can do it and that has amazed both him and me. so it will happen!

Op have you seen the project x : alien adventure series?
The have gadgets and aliens and are far far more interesting than biff and bloody chip. Currently free to read online via the Oxford Owl my ds(5) looks forward to them.

Don’t let him see you are anxious about it. Choose a variety of books with repetitive text and let him choose from the selection and read that. He is already reading his school book at school and probably bored being made to read over again. Make reading enjoyable not a task. He will read when he is ready. Make it into a game and read one of the repeated words wrongly and see if he picks up on it. Pick out six words beginning with a certain letter. He is reading at school and home needs to be more about his interests. If he likes dogs get books with dogs in etc. It is early to say he is dyslexic he may just feel pressured at school or home . Make reading relaxing and fun.

We live in Canada and my son has just started Grade 1 (6 1/2 years old) and they will start formally learning to read later this year (in French as he is in Immersion) - but we did decide to teach him to read in English at home earlier (in part because I am from the UK and to me reading seems to start really late here). Our son really didn't get phonics at all when I tried initially (ORT Level 1+) and even though we didn't push it and he was enthusiastic to try he did not get far. We probably started reasonably seriously when he was about 5 1/2 years old although I had made some ad hoc attempts during the prior year.

What I did was change tack and write my own paragraph long silly stories using words he did know (names of family members, home town/school, all the bus destinations that he recognized by sight etc.) and basic joining words. I expanded this approach with more sight words and then went back to books. I think this helped him realize that he actually could read. Once we were over the hump he has zoomed through Biff, Chip & Kipper & Songbirds and reads at about ORT Level 7. I know many people on here don't like Biff & Chip but he seems to enjoy them and they are so much better than any of the levelled readers I have seen here. I would love to be able to find an equivalent in French.

Keep going and try the ‘read a line each’ approach. Remember it’s not just decoding words but comprehension. Ask questions, both literal and inferred.

I agree with the PP who mentioned oral blending. Do it in everyday conversation like 'ok get into the c-ar and we can go to sc-oo-l' Once he gets used to hearing words broken down phonetically and can do this himself (it was called robot talking at my DSs school) it will make a massive difference!

I haven’t rtft but I have a 6yo who is a bit like this. He categorically will not read any school book, so we read anything and everything. Mostly non fiction, but not always. He’s a July baby, and I think at the start of year 1 he hadn’t quite cracked reading but did at some point over the autumn term. Now he can read but is mostly unwilling to read fiction. When we moved in someone had left a bunch of wildlife factfiles (I remember them from being a child) and reading one of those before bed is a favourite.

I also second the reading alternate words and turning it into a game.

My 5 year old refuses to read to. I’ve stopped trying. I want him to love stories not be put off.

Strangely, now I’ve stopped asking him to read, he’s reading to me voluntarily. Some nights just a page or a few words he knows. Some nights the whole book.

It’ll come. Just remove the pressure and expose him to lots of words in day to day life.

I never made my child read to me, I read to them . It’s my bonding time with them. I do however point a word and they tell me what it is.

Both are advanced readers because I Let them relax and enjoy the book.

Have you tried any reading apps. My 5yr old loves Teach your monster to read made by Usbourne publications.

@anna114young and @Isawthathaggis Yes! The project x alien adventures stories are brilliant. Highly, highly recommended.