Worried about DS progress in year 2

[sarah573]

Can anyone with a DS/DD in year 2 give me some advice? I've been concerned for a while about DS2s progress, and having just been to parents evening don't feel very reassured!

DS2 is 7 next month so one of the oldest in his year. He is on stage 3 ORT (he was on stage 5 last year but seems to have been moved down), and reads the books resonably well but not fluently. His handwritting is awful. He is forming letters but badly and often round the wrong round. He won't/can't write more than a short sentence at a time and it is very hard to read what he has written.

The teacher seemed to think that his reading was nothing to worry about, and that his fine motor skills for his writing were poor, but that she would get him a grip for his pencil (which apparently will solve everything!).

It doesn't help that DS1 is ASD and VERY bright. It may just be that I am compairing him too much to what his brother could do at that age. DD has just started reception, and is catching him up fast.

I don't know if Im worrying about nothing, I just feel that he may need extra help, and the school are fobbing me off.

I teach Y2 and would be concerned about a child who was reading at ORT Stage 3, particularly if he had dropped back 2 stages. What's their justification for this? If ORT isn't working, then I would have switched him to a different scheme, probably a phonically decodable one, since a whole word scheme clearly isn't helping him.
The grip on his pencil should help his handwriting, but you are right to be concerned about letter formation - you could practise this at home. I wouldn't worry about how much he writes at the moment; his reading and letter formation need to come first.
Make another appointment - the school will be encouraged that you want to help your son move forward with this.

I would tend to agree that he is probably a bit behind what you would espect of the mythical 'average' child.

My dd(Yr 2 - 6 in June) is pretty much a free reader now, altho to be fair she has always been well ahead in reading.

Ds (Yr 1) is at around stage 6 / 7 and actually seems to be about average for his year (only from what I guess at looking at the books in the 'marked' boxes - there are as many 'above' his stage as 'below'!)

I agree with the previous poster - if he is going 'backwards' it may be that his grounding in phonics is not secure and he needs to do more work on that.

Writing seems to be more of an issue particularly for boys - I am quite worried about my ds becasue he also gets letters backwards and his spelling is pure phonetic - baby = beyb and was = wz! I need to have a chat with school about that, but so far they have not mentioned it as a problem so I may be suffereing from comparing him with dd whose writing has also been pretty good because of her good phonics grounding.

I think I would push the school a bit more, particularly with the reading.

I would be concerned about this response from the school. My DS (yr 2) also really struggled with his writing, but his year 1 teacher picked it up straight away. With her help we tackled a new letter each week - he learnt how to form it properly at school and then we practised through the week. We had sticker charts as well. He got loads better and his writing looks great now. he's still not particularly keen to write loads, but maybe that's just boys!

Don't really understand the whole ORT thing. Our school has colour bands and within that you have a selection of books you can choose to take home, though in each band there seem to be a range of levels??

Maybe make another appointment?

HTH

I'd also be concerned tbh . I think the weakest of readers in dd's class is stage 4/5 with the majority far more fluent, although many fo last years' free readers are back on the reading schemes for the moment. As to writing ds had problems with fine motor skills which affected his handrwriting amongst other things but it improved with extra small group sessions focussing on that. His spelling is still dodgy and he now (Year 5) has help with that. Have you spoken to the SENCO ?

I would ask to speak to the SENCO and ask for an IEP to be put into place. Even just a few minutes a day of extra help will make a big difference IME. My ds1 had similar difficulties in Yr2 (part of his ASD). Things that helped him were:

• a few minutes of 1:1 with the TA to work on specific letters. Instead of just writing on paper they used things like forming letters in sand. Ds1 was also allowed to do some on the interactive whiteboard thingy.

• rolling and squashing playdough to build up the strength in the muscles that are used for writing.

• using a sloped writing board.

My DS is also in Yr 2 and I have also just had parent's evening. DS is an August b'day though so just gone 6.

He is on Stage 5 ORT but is having trouble decoding words. I pointed it out to the teacher and she said she hasn't noticed as he does it ok with her but she will check.

Teacher is worried about his writing. I agree it is not good but I pointed out that I think his grip is wrong. She says she will get him a grip too! She suggested that he and some others have some extra writing practice as well as their normal homework. I am not keen as I feel the homework is enough but I know we need to do something. I wanted to practice over the summer but DS wasn't interested and I didn't push it. My nephew had similar issues and my BIL made him practice over the summer at the same age and it made a huge difference.

I would ask why your DS has gone back in the reading - it must be a bit demotivating for him. To DS's teacher's credit she was clear that she doesn't want to demotivate DS in any way. If it is that he hasn't grasped the phonics maybe buy some phonics books for him to help - Book People are usually good and I have just ordered some Ruth Miskin ones for DS.

I am just about to start a thread looking for fun ways to help with fine-muscle control and handwriting so watch out for that - I have noticed some suggestions here already - will dig out the play dough!

Ds1 is Y2 - he was 6 in June. He is a 'free' reader now, his handwriting is improving, this has been really helped by lots of drawing/colouring, also music which has increased his fine motor skills.

Ds1's school is doing a special project this year to help boys with their handwriting - they haven't started yet but Y2 will be a focus.

I think I would be concerned by your description - definitely worth a longer talk.