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 🙁

Does he like pokemon? If so there is a great series which may interest him, agree with audio books and if you can bare it subtitles on the TV.

When was his last comprehensive eye test?

Does he like Minecraft? My yr 2 reluctant reader has been enthusiastically, and quite successfully, reading the "guide to" Minecraft books which are well above his reading level, because it's something that interests him. We give him post it note page markers (the little arrow ones) and he marks any words he wants help with, then we help him work out the words.

It hasn't helped with his handwriting or spelling, which are also an issue, but his vocabulary is noticeably better since he started.

Some kids just hate reading/find it hard. My youngest is absolutely flying in Year 2 but my eldest found is super hard and still does now even though he’s 10. He just doesn’t like reading! Not always dyslexia kids are all different.

I’m jus pointing out the don’t grasp rhyming words as an indicator to dyslexia. The more they practice the better. Reading to them, audio books, practice is all good.

My DD1 was similar, I don't think she could really read until she was just turned 8. She was slow to start with, then I think I pushed a bit too hard and it became an issue that 'she couldn't read/hated reading etc'.

I kept getting a variety of books out of the library to peak her interest. And stopped forcing the reading homework, which was making her hate reading.

The first books she loved were Dr Seuss, then she found a series she loved at age 7 (was nearly 8) (Judy Moody) and after that she became a book worm and was quickly onto Percy Jackson, Harry Potter etc

I did always encourage and provide many different books to keep the interest going. There are some great reading suggest lists online and I would request them all from the library. Something that makes them laugh is good. The Elephant and Piggie books were a big hit when mine were younger.

I found this a good resource.
imaginationsoup.net

OTOH DD2 was a strong reader from much earlier so it's very much an individual thing and every child is different.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions which I’m looking into.

I spoke to the teacher yesterday and DS has been assessed again by the Senco this week. His teacher said while they cannot diagnose dyslexia, it is definitely looking like that is the reason for his slow progress in reading, and therefore, writing.

I know dyslexia is well-known these days and support is available but I just feel so sad that this may cause him so much extra hard work and frustration in school and beyond. However, we will of course keep a positive attitude and do what we can to help
him progress. No family history of dyslexia either.

Someone asked about eye & ear tests - these are up to date and all is fine.

If the sight and hearing tests are fine, then I’d definitely go with ToebyToe over the summer. Especially if the school are saying it looks like dyslexia.

The trick is to do it little and often. Given that it sounds like you are already reading lots to him and he enjoys being read to I suspect you will find that if you can sort out the underlying reading difficulty he might find a love of reading.

My DD is dyslexic and struggled to learn to read at the same pace as her peers. She’s now in year 6 and is absolutely flying. She has just done her SATS and apart from the spelling bit she has done very well. Dyslexic children can take longer to learn but if he loves stories he will make up for it when the boring Mechanics have been cracked.

Sounds like school are on it and you’re doing all the right things.

Him starting to get frustrated with different reading and writing from peers need to be addressed. Firstly point out that plenty of very very successful people couldn’t read fluently until well past 7, he’s struggling with decoding words, he has no issues with understanding, decoding can absolutely be sorted, it just might be that it takes him a bit longer and takes a bit more effort than his peers. Dyslexia cuts across abilities and intelligence has no relation to spelling ability at all.

You could just carry on, lots of children make big leaps in phonics aged 8 or 9. Or if he’s up for it you could start on Read Write Inc or Toe by Toe. Both are excellent, but really quite dull, they do require some buy in and what you don’t want to do is put him off reading or make it a big battle.

My son is dyslexic and we were having huge battles with any writing in year 4, literally an hour of crying before he would do 10 mins work. We got him a tutor to support and the difference was amazing, he’s never going to choose to write, but he now has the confidence to sit down and get it done. I wasn’t keen on getting a tutor before, but I’m fully converted to the benefits now.

I am an SEN teacher and I’ve had kids arrive in year 7 unable to read much at all and leave with good GCSEs. I’ve even seen a couple become avid readers by year 9.

@wonderstuff yes he’s started this week in particular to get quite upset that his reading level is low compared to most of his class, and that his writing is too. He loves to write though which is good, however what he writes isn’t always legible. This is what is a big red flag to his teacher because she says he can verbally tell you exactly how he wants to structure the start, middle and end to a story but what he actually writes can, at times, be all over the place.

Sadly too his classmates have been making sneering comments about his writing and reading level for a few months now and it’s really knocking his confidence. I did mention this to the teacher but I guess she can only address this if she catches a pupil saying something. He’s been quite tearful about it a lot so we do need to continue concentrating on building his confidence and pointing out that everyone learns at different rates etc.

He passed the Year 1 phonics screening with 33/40, so this confuses me even further about him possibly having dyslexia vs just been a bit slow to learn to read and write.

I’ll have a look at Toe by Toe and Read Write Inc too.

I don’t know much about the phonics screen, I’ve always been secondary based. It may not be particularly helpful, dyslexia really is a cluster of issues, reading and spelling English is particularly complicated, read recently that there are 1200 ways of spelling the phonemes in English, it’s not straightforward at all.

I’d disagree that the teacher can only act if she hears others being mean. I explicitly teach my students that if they aren’t being kind or supportive they need to keep opinions to themselves. There’s also something there around seeing what’s good and celebrating that, there will be loads your son is good at and that needs to be picked up, it’s not all about reading and writing.

Just adding my two pence. Him reading at home to you needs to be daily in addition to you reading to him. Go back and find out precisely which sounds he struggles with and go hard on learning those. Use phonetically decidable books each and every day. The more he reads to you the better he will get. Time in school with 1:1 will be helpful but what you do at home will make the most difference.

I know you said you can't stand Captain Underpants but they honestly were what made reading click and be fun for ds. He went from being a reluctant reader to a very enthusiastic and capable reader.

Part of your daily session can incorporate writing. Write the sounds on a board. Write words containing those sounds. Go back to basic letter formation first. A key component of every phonics session in a school should be writing - it goes hand in hand with reading.