Phonics mock - please help!

[KevinTheKoala]

My year 1 child had her phonics mock test today, she scored 1. 1 out of 40, the average for this stage is 20 and she only scored 1. I read to her every single night, have done since she was a baby, I read through her school books, she plays phonics games like teach my monster to read, we practice at home I don't know what more I can do and just feel like I'm failing her. Her behaviour isn't great and I've been trying to talk to her teachers about this but not getting much feedback at the moment, last year I was told 'wait and see she might just not be ready for school yet' (she's one of the eldest in the class!) and this year it's 'give her a chance to settle in' which are sensible options I know but when her behaviour is the same at home and things clearly are not improving how long do we have to wait and see for? How much further behind will she fall before finally someone realises and then she can't catch up!

My 5 year old has sound cards and has to sound out the letters but he is having trouble blending the words. The teacher said don't worry just regular practice. Maybe try the jolly phonics songs on you tube. If not then find some games to play and use the phonics. Maybe useful asking the teacher for a dyslexia assessment

@KevinTheKoala

She is extremely active, she generally does not like sitting down for any length of time apart from a few things (some games on her tablet, her dollhouse or lego which she will play with endlessly if allowed). I do think it is more of a concentration issue than ability because she does manage to read some words independently when we get a good day and she's focusing. The school haven't said anything to me but I have some suspicions that she may have ADHD but I seem to be the only person in the family who thinks this.

DS 10 was exactly like this and he has ADHD. CAMHS wouldn't diagnose him until he was 7 though.

Please ask your class teacher to put her under the Senco for her concentration. It's ok to say you suspect she has ADHD, even if they don't think she does. The Senco will do their bit and let you know if referrals are needed. They can support and arrange all sorts of help. It's a good thing to get them involved ASAP. Lots of kids go under them and some have long term issues and some just need some help with something short term. But kids especially girls can cope (mask) and behave very differently at school. Home is their relaxation place, so it's hard to "teach" them there.

5 minute mum has a school book called "time for school" and it has loads of ideas for 5 minute little games to make learning fun.

I do suspect that they will give it until half term for settling ( a change in teaching style from
Year R to year 1) My DS finds blending hard as he's learned words by sight. I didn't teach him this and he often guesses instead of sounding out, he's in year 1. His reading level is pretty average, so they all find their own way in the end .

I highly recommend these free courses for any parent wanting to help their child https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/ https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write-part-2/

You say she has Biff and Chip books are they phonic books or the older levelled readers?

Alphablocks (cbeebies) really helped my DD.

@Norestformrz

You say she has Biff and Chip books are they phonic books or the older levelled readers?

That's a good point. The old Biff&Chip didn't follow the phonics stages. There are newer ones (Floppy Phonics?) now. If the at home reading books don't follow the phonics stage she is at it is probably intensely frustrating.

The school is able to make adjustments for children who seem overwhelmed by doing a whole test all at once. They could also cut up the words and let the children draw on the sound buttons underneath. We have done this for a few children and it did seem to help. Try her with the test but only presenting one word at a time. I have seen children go from very low scores in September to passing in June.

I was about to recommend the udemy courses but mrz has already done it.
I’d second the idea about concentration and perhaps try to practice it with just the first few words and see if it is better that way. However, if you think she has a problem with blending then it may well be the problem isn’t concentration.

Getting her hearing checked out would be a start. If that is fine then lots of practice at blending both orally and with shorter words is likely the answer. Little and often rather than in longer chunks esp if you know she has concentration issues already. Better to do 1-2 words a couple of times a day than try to struggle though with whole books at a time if she is struggling.

It's September so this assessment will be so they can target groups of children who need help with certain sounds, have difficulty blending etc. Ask the teacher how you can help. Hopefully the books that come home match the scheme they use for phonics. Don't panic!

There are 8 (ish) CVC words at the beginning of the screening, think mad, pin etc. If she is struggling with CVC words still I’d want a lot of phonics intervention from the school.

Write letters on her Lego bricks and use them to make real and nonsense words to practice sounding and blending

Also in case she’s better with you than school, you can find the past papers online, they can be cut up into flash cards rather than using the big book. You could do it with her, it may have just been a bad day?

@MamaTutu2

There are 8 (ish) CVC words at the beginning of the screening, think mad, pin etc. If she is struggling with CVC words still I’d want a lot of phonics intervention from the school.

This is the other reason I’d only do the first few. If she can’t do these at all then she doesn’t really stand a chance with the rest of the words and you are just setting her up to fail.

@SweetBabyCheeses99

Phonics is not reading. We all learnt to read without it and we’re doing ok. Can she read?

No one has ever suggested that phonics is reading but without phonics learning to read and spell becomes much more difficult. Even as adults we use phonics automatically without realising. Learning a million words one at a time would take many lifetimes even if our brains were wired to do that. Brain research has shown that beginner readers who focus on phonics, instead of trying to learn whole words, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading. Words learned through the letter-sound instruction elicited neural activity biased toward the left side of the brain, which encompasses visual and language regions. In contrast, words learned via whole-word association showed activity biased toward right hemisphere processing.

@eddiemairswife

Just read to her. Point out the odd word and see if she can recognise it elsewhere on the page. Millions of us learnt to read without the dreaded phonics.

Unfortunately millions failed to learn to read and write because of an experiment called "whole language" which thought that exposure to reading would result in being able to read. It works for less than 5% of the population.

From a broader perspective than just the phonics, I think you should request a meeting with the school sendco and ask what support can be put into place for your child at school and at home.

@KevinTheKoala

She knows the individual sounds I think it is the blending that is the problem.

If you say /m//a//t/ would she be able to "hear" mat ? Try it with words where you can hold onto the first sound as this makes it easier to hear. So words beginning with f, h, l, m, n, r, s, v, z. F-u-n / h-u-g/ l-e-g/ m-a-n/ n-e-t/ r-a-n/ s-I-p/ v-e-t/ z-I-p If she can hear them then you can try her with written words. These are the easiest word structure.

@SweetBabyCheeses99

Phonics is not reading. We all learnt to read without it and we’re doing ok. Can she read?

To add to the comments above. If the child could read she'd be scoring 40/40 on the phonics screening test, since all they do is give them words (read or made up) and ask them to read them. (And before you complain about made up words, part of reading to to be able to make a stab at reading words you haven't seen written before.)

@Clarkey86
That’s not reading using phonics - that’s orthographic processing, a visual skill.

This might be going slightly against the grain here but to me I would continue doing what you are doing and let her take the test nd potentially get a low score. The idea of the test is for teachers to see what a child can and can't do. If she needs help then getting a low score on the phonics test is one way of highlighting that to the teachers. You can then ask "so what is the plan to help DD with her reading?" And not be fobbed off with the give her time to settle in type responses.

@KevinTheKoala

The trouble is it takes about 30 minutes to get through one biff and chip book with her because she loses focus and struggles to pay attention for very long, so trying to get three of those in as well as everything else would be real struggle. When we read together she seems to manage OK apart from the distractions and so the score today was a bit of a shock, I knew she wasn't going to get a high score but I thought it would be more than 1.

I’m a Y1 teacher. I would say, if it’s taking half an hour to read a book with lots of distraction as well, don’t try and read the whole book in one sitting. It becomes an unproductive and unenjoyable pursuit. Try 2-3 pages a night, depending on her concentration. You could ask her to read the odd word or sentence in bedtime stories as well, if there are parts she would be able to decode/ trick words she might recognise.

If blending is an issue, speak to the school and ask what they’re doing to support her and what you can do to support her at home. The school should already have support in place for her, perhaps an intervention session where they work on blending skills.

It might also be worth asking if the SENCO could visit the classroom to observe her and see if they think there is anything to be concerned about regarding her concentration and ability to focus.

@Hellocatshome

This might be going slightly against the grain here but to me I would continue doing what you are doing and let her take the test nd potentially get a low score. The idea of the test is for teachers to see what a child can and can't do. If she needs help then getting a low score on the phonics test is one way of highlighting that to the teachers. You can then ask "so what is the plan to help DD with her reading?" And not be fobbed off with the give her time to settle in type responses.

The teachers should have already picked up any issues before the test. The test isn’t a diagnostic tool for teachers. Teachers will already know what sounds children know and whether they can blend by the time the administer the screening. The OP definitely needs to speak to teachers about her concerns before the phonics screening which isn’t until June! I wouldn’t advise waiting almost the entire academic year before raising concerns.

The OP definitely needs to speak to teachers about her concerns before the phonics screening which isn’t until June! I wouldn’t advise waiting almost the entire academic year before raising concerns.

I didnt realise the test wasn't until June. In that case I would definitely request a meeting with the teachers now and ask what their plan of action is with regards your DDs phonics score.

I did bring up my concerns last year, I was told that they would give her a settling in period until November and if there were no improvements then we could discuss further intervention but do you think it would be worth bringing it up earlier then? November still seems like it's a while off and I'd rather she had the support as early as possible.