Year 2 - very little progress in reading

[Dreamsofus]

DS(7) has made very little progress with reading for months now. He moved to Green book level in about February and is still stuck on it. He has supported 1-to-1 reading x 3 per week and also brings home a second book that the school call a Sharing Book; it’s a similar level but is for parents to read to DC and then they attempt to read it, but no pressure to do so.

About 6 weeks ago the teacher asked the Senco to assess him for dyslexia traits but we are still waiting for an update. I’ve asked for an update twice but as the Senco is p/t it’s taking longer to get a reply.

Im getting quite worried now; I just want to know what we are dealing with here - possible dyslexia or he’s just presumably a bit slow to read.

It doesn’t help that a friend just told me her 7yo is just starting the third Harry Potter book, and now my 6yo (Y1) nephew is now on a higher book band than DS 🙁

How is he when you read with him at home, e.g. reading for pleasure together/bedtime stories etc?

FWIW my 6.5yr old (Y1) is an advanced reader (extremely fluent) but there's no way he read something like HP on his own - he just doesn't have the attention span/patience. He doesn't even really read short chapter books on his own, but will read them with me, a few pages a night. He'll sometimes read picture books on his own, unprompted, but not very often.

@Laquila he loves being read to and always has. We read chapter books to him now. He has zero interest in reading for pleasure though and will never do more than his school reading book, which is a great shame.

I was an advanced reader in primary and would read so much that it actually annoyed my parents 🙄

That's great that he loves being read to. In my experience, that will usually mean that he'll enjoy reading for pleasure sooner or later, it just hasn't happened yet!

What happens when you read a chapter book with him and say "You do this bit and I'll do the next page"? Do you have any chapter books with pictures? They're a good gateway drug!

I would explore comics we had phoenix on order for a while (no adverts or toys) and their associated comic books were funny and edgy. It's getting them to read what they enjoy. If it's cars, dinosaurs or Pokémon it doesn't matter just find what they like.

I was still reading chapter books for years after they could read as extended curiosity. My DH read all Dahl books with voices and then on to Harry Potter. Get them to love the stories

My daughter is the same. What has interested her is audio books and she listens to them for hours and hours.

She is being monitored for dyslexia but is too young for assessment yet.

Find something that he really likes and let him go from there. Also carry on with home reading as much as possible and as much as he will tolerate. I don't push it if upset sets in as that is the fastest way to put them off reading for life!

How's his phonics? Can he sound out words OK?
How often do you get him to read to you?

Agree regarding audio books. My DD turned out to have dyslexia, but audio books helped her access constructs and vocabulary during ages 6-12 that she wouldn't have had the stamina to read.

If he's remotely interested in magical beasts or quests then the series Beast Quest by Adam Blake is insanely popular for a reason! Libraries always have them and there are literally 100+.

@Laquila We need to start consistently saying I’ll read this page then you read the next, as we don’t really do this.

He has a few chapter books with pictures such as Dog Man, Investi-Gators, Toto the Ninja Cat, Marv & the Dino Attack, Captain Underpants (I can’t stand the latter but he likes them!). He also has some more books which we haven’t read yet like Mr Gum, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Boy Who Grew Dragons, Roald Dahl etc. He loves choosing books at the library so I will also seek out some comic books.

@TeenPlusCat his phonics has been poor but it is greatly improved. His Common Exception Word test list was a shocking result though a couple of months ago. His blending is much better, and his teacher can’t quite see why he is struggling overall; hence asking the Senco to see him.

As a result of being behind in reading his writing isn’t the best either. His teacher says he knows what to write, can plan a story from beginning, the middle and the end, but what he writes down doesn’t flow and isn’t always coherent.

Part of the worst of all this though is that he is realising he is behind most of his classmates and some of them have made unkind comments about his reading level and his writing. He is getting upset by it, and I can only see it getting worse once they move to Y3 and onwards.

He is definitely partly delayed because he flatly refused to learn to read in Reception and most of Year 1.

@Laquila i will have a book for the Beast books thanks

Ds7 in yr2 has only just moved from green book band to orange last week. He has struggled with reading from the Start. He has had a lot of additional reading support at school along with phonics sessions that have helped a lot. We have consistently read at home, but had to find stuff he wanted to read, and went for books with a dyslexia friendly font. Not compare him or become frustrated when he was less than keen to read the school books either. I began to read chapter books to him which he loved, Charlotte’s Web, Faraway Tree etc and he has found a love of reading but it doesn’t come easy. His sister is in yr1 and just moved to white so very different abilities. His youngest sister is in reception and not to far behind him which is a source of frustration. Dyslexia was mentioned in Reception however his current class teacher feels he is just a slow reader and is getting there and will get there. I do have to keep the reading up over the holidays or he goes backwards quickly so a holiday challenge maybe worth while with rewards.

I'd have a blitz over the summer.

Do some phonics daily or as much as you can (we bought the RWInc cards and made a postbox, posting in cards DD could do).
Do reading daily, always encouraging sounding out, no guessing.

Do whatever you need to do to bribe/reward.

You can make a tremendous difference over the summer, and if you don't then at least you have tried and you will have more evidence for the school.

Have you tried the app 'Teach your monster to read'?

Does your local library do the summer reading challenge? That may encourage him too.

@GettingEnoughMoonshine yes we have used that App a while ago but he got bored with it very quickly unfortunately.

He does listen to audio books occasionally and really likes them, particularly for the car, it I’ll see if I can get a few more for variety and to listen to more at home.

@GettingEnoughMoonshine yes they do have a summer reading challenge. I’ll look into it as previously I thought it was for more competent readers.

Oxford owl have audio books online a lot are free and phonics games
Look at Nessy - recommended by psychologists and they have an assessment tool you can try

the lack of writing is a dyslexic trait as is -

Time keeping
Short term memory issues
Fine motor skills
Reading
spelling

have you had his eyes and ears checked?

The school dyslexia test just shows traits and isn’t a diagnosis - they count do this in schools.

I would say you're doing all the right things but a couple of points:

please try not to compare children (other parents will try and get you to do this but resist as much as possible). It's obvious to say but sometimes is worth re-hearing, children have different strengths and develop at different rates. My older son has just got a good degree at a decent uni. When he was in year one, his teacher said she was worried about his writing. He was in the supported reading group at junior school. The main thing was that he never really got phonics, so it took him a lot longer to learn all the words as he had to learn each one individually.

My other son just picked up phonics immediately and was reading fluently by the end of infant school. The point is that they are different but end up roughly in the same place.

With my older boy I tried to be relaxed about it and make reading fun (a bit like with food, making it stressful just makes it worse). He loved being read to, so I ditched Biff and Chip at home and just got him to read the odd easier sentence from more interesting books. I played audio books to him at bed time or in the car, just to engender a love of books. Oh, and lots of rhymes and fun poetry to get him used to the rhythm of words.

You could try doing Toe by toe with him over the summer. It takes 20 minutes a day so it’s a big commitment, you might have to use some bribery, but it works. I’m a TA in KS1 and would love to have the time to do it with our struggling readers because I’ve seen it make an amazing difference when parents have done it at home for their children.

I would try to get him interested in information books , doesn’t matter if they are about cars, dinosaurs, football, atomic fission or hat making. Firstly there is no way he or you or any passing relatives or friends can compare them to books with reading levels from school, secondly if it something he is really keen on he will be motivated to read, to work out new words and persevere. By all means carry on with reading chapter books and other fiction, but I have known a number of kids, admittedly a bit older than yours whose private reading stash was extraordinary, I had a year four who read every book he could find about mountain climbing, and another one who read cookery books for bed time reading. Ok they aren’t going to learn about character development, description, and inference but they will learn how to read for information!

There should be a variety of books at the library. Even at our small local library there are books for the very first readers. Perhaps one of two he can easily read but mostly things a little (but not a lot) challenging for him.
Perhaps for the more challenging he can write down the words he is struggling with to look back on to try and remember, or you can use them for some sight words activities.

Have you tried reading eggs too?

Or perhaps a tutor over the summer? The further behind he gets, the harder it will be . He will loose confidence and interest, becoming quite resistant as time goes on.,,so I'd try to support him sooner rather than later.

Oh, and lots of rhymes and fun poetry to get him used to the rhythm of words

A lot of dyslexic children struggle with this.

I would also dispel the myth that dyslexia are under achievers Most dyslexics are tested in university - a lot of dyslexics are able to achieve a degree ~ nearly all dyslexics can read and write perfectly well.

If the don’t then that’s ok too.

Had the same with my son, he's dyslexic and now gets help. He just got into a super academic secondary school so don't worry too much.

@GettingEnoughMoonshine I’ll have a look at Reading Eggs. I mentioned a tutor to his teacher but she said that the trouble with that is, depending on the child and the tutor methods, you can put a child off learning at this age. She said she wouldn’t recommend it just yet.

@ClocksGoingBackwards I’ll look into Toe by Toe, thanks

@Spabreak thanks, it helps to hear that the issues DC can have now won’t necessarily cause long term problems. I think parents can be terrible for comparing and/or boasting about their children and inferring that if your DC is struggling then they are a bit slow compared to their child who is reading Harry Potter at 7!

Incidentally, I went to the library today and purposely looked for a HP book and I do struggle to see how the average 7yo not only manages to read it but actually has the ability to understand exactly what they are reading. I would have thought a child would have to be very advanced to do this with HP at 7.

I used to think my DS may have dyslexia he was SO slow to learn to read despite being an autumn baby he had to go to phonics boosters groups he just did not get it and even in year 2 he was so behind with reading I felt like he would never get it - I used to see what other people's younger children were reading and feel so jealous! In the last 7 days at the end of year 3 he has literally just sat down and read the Christmasaurus on his own in his head for fun. I would never have believed this possible even 1 week ago. He has hated reading since reception but it literally just suddenly clicked with him so never give up hope!

There's an awful lot of competitive parenting. And no, the majority of seven year olds wouldn't have understood all of HP. They might still enjoy the story telling but not understand all the underlying meanings in the books. The more you can keep aloof from all that nonsense the less anxious you'll feel. Of course, you want to get your child the best support they can have, though.

@Threetulips I wasn't sure whether you're saying it's a good thing or bad thing to read poetry to dyslexic children because they struggle with the rhythm of the words?