HELP: DS (reception) struggling with non-phonetic words

[Hamandcheese]

DS started reception full-time. They use Jolly phonics, which he is familiar with from use at home and preschool over the last two years (including that we used the pictures as part of his speech therapy). He can blend basic phonetic words reasonably well.

He gets sets of 'reading words' home each week, and gets the next set when he's mastered the previous.
First five words all phonetic or nearly (e.g. big). He read them no trouble at all.

Next four not phonetic (me, my, all, the). we've been over them daily. He has 'got' my and all. Reads 'the' as two sylables (th - e) but sort-of gets it in the end. Refuses to accept that 'me' can read anything other than me with short e (as in 'men'). I tell him it says 'mee'. he disagrees. I tell him there's an 'e' missing, that it's 'tricky' etc. But he will not accept it. He got the same words again this week. I don't see how I am going to persuade him that 'me' says 'mee' this week when he wouldn't believe me last week. Any tips?

He has Asperger's Syndrome, and I wonder whether this is an example of his literal / direct nature? I dn't want to get stuck on these words all term. Argh - I could cry for him sometimes.

teach him that letters have sounds and names, and you say e's letter name sometimes (in "me", for instance)

dd is still struggling remembering the first 45 HFW in Year 1

sounds like he's doing amazingly well, btw

ds1 loved the fridge magnets. A year ago, in recpetion, he would not sit down for long enough to learn his words but would happily bob next to the fridge and make up little sentences.

Any chance they may help?

yes, dd really likes those fridge magnet sight words too, Popsy

big wilkos stores sell them. Also sold online, though I cant rememvber the cheap place to get them from

Hamandcheese. I have taught (and still teach) many children with aspergers who are very 'rule bound' so think you are possibly right in what you are saying about the rules of reading.

Would he accept, for example, 'The rule for the word 'me' is that the 'e' makes an 'ee' sounds'??

we've got the magnetic words (I like them), but just because it's written on a magnet doesn't mean that he'll accept that 'e' in me says EE.

Oh gosh. Racking my brain to think of how I would get around this. FWIW he does sound as though he is doing extremely well- way better than my ds1 this time last year who is now a FAB reader, aged just turned 5 in Year 1

Popsycal - so I'd try to teach 'me' as a sight word with a 'rule' of its very own? I was thinking of saying "when the TA shows you this word, just say 'ME' whatever you think says, then she'll give you some different words..."

Would he accept 'some words follow the rules. But some words are very sneaky and have their own special rules. 'Me' is 'm' and the 'e' sounds like 'ee'. It is so special that it has its own rules'

could you have a 'nice words; naughty words' section on your fridge for the words that obey the rules and those who make up their own???

Popsycal - he is pretty bright / able alongside his significant SEN (according to objective assessment), but he's actually not much older than your ds1 as my DS1 is old in his year - very nearly 5 - and we've done a lot of letter / sound work as part of his speech therapy and because we are naturally intellectual & pushy parents at heart .

We do need to (a) get over this problem, esp as it will re-occur with every non-phonetic word, and (b) move onto the next set of words before he or I get too fed up with these.

When he 'knows' he's right there's no persuading him (takes after me really, I know I'm always right, and if everyone else thinks something different then they jsut haven't seen sense yet ).

x-posted

I like the 'naughty words' idea. I can imagine he might 'buy into' that.

He sounds lovely .

It might be useful to also post your question in the special needs section. I am coming to this as the mum of a 5 year old (who just 'got' reading last Christmas and never looked back) and as a Key Stage 2 teacher.... so I may not be the best person to offer advice.

I will keep thinking though

x post again

you could make up little pictures:

'Haha. I am the naughty word 'me'. I trick everyone but my 'e' says 'ee''

I don't think it's anything to do with his Asperger's - I think it's because he's only 5! Reading doesn't click for most children til year 1 or 2 - don't worry!

BTW - I think that this "keep slogging til you get it right" attitude is wholly wrong for Reception children - I think if he can't get it, he should be given some different words and go back to the ones he finds difficult in a week or two. Why not suggest this to hei teacher?

I think that in part it is to do with age but I also think that aspergers may confuse him, especially since we learn the 'rules' of reading then blatantly ignore them for many words

I will ask for some different words and to have these back again later if we still get stuck.

He can read 'men' by sounding out and blending (or any other CVC word, and many longer ones if no two-letter-sounds, which still throw him a bit), so I think the problem with 'mE' is about 'rules' rather than 'reading' per se.

Thanks for help - will post over in SEN.

I'm sorry - for some reason I thought you hadn't got any replies so I leapt in with both feet, not realizing that people who actually know what they are talking about had already answered you! I always get very animated when I think people are worrying (or being worried by teachers) unnecessarily about whether or not their child is where he/she "should" be on some mythical continuum. Ignore me - I've got off my hobby horse now!

Sorry if it's too late, but would it help to teach him at the same time all the little words that have the same letter/sound correspondence as 'me'? He could then learn 'she', 'he', 'me', 'be' and 'the' (before a vowel it is a long 'ee', as in 'the elephant') together and see that there is a rule, but it applies to a special group of short words.

'My' is part of another group of short words in which the 'y' is pronounced 'ie' - fly, dry, by, cry, fry, pry, ply, shy, sty, spy etc.

'All' also forms a neat group - tall, ball, wall, fall etc.

So perhaps if he likes rules you would do better to avoid the random sight word groupings from school and teach him each word as part of a new set of rules. In fact, he might prefer learning all spelling alternatives for the same sound at the same time. So when he learns 'my' (and 'fly', 'dry', etc), show him 'ie' as in 'pie', 'igh' as in 'night' and 'i-e' as in 'pipe'. The Ruth Miskin ReadWrite books are excellent at introducing all the sound-symbol correspondences and The Book People were doing an offer on them.

Hope this is helpful.

Look at

www.starfall.com/n/skills/the-lonely-vowel/load.htm?f

You will need to explain to him the long vowels sounds

ai, ee, ie, oa, ue

and the short vowel sounds

a,e,i,o,u

when e and o are at the end of words they often make the long vowel sound instead of the short vowel sound.

he, she, we, me,
go, no, so,

Ok there are are exception like
the, to,

singersgirl and reallytired: that's very helpful, thanks. I hadn't even thought of the 'matching' words - I can make him a sheet of the rhyming words (we've done this together with dog / frog / log etc) and I think that'll help both with the 'me / my' and with the others that match.

And I hadn't really considered the long / short vowel correspondance and the 'end of wrods' rule is a useful one. Will go and look for the Ruth Miskin books.

seeker - I know where you're coming from thanks for reminding me not to worry too soon.