Not allowed to read none school books anymore?

[NoBooksMore]

DC is Year 4, still on the Reading Scheme due to dyslexia.

If a child reads 3x a week at home in Years 2 and above they get a house point on Friday.

Teachers in Years 2 and 3 both told me to let DC read whatever they wanted, a page from Harry Potter or whatever even if it was a bit advanced for them because we didn’t want to take the element of choice away or to make DC feel lesser than their peers. Year 3 teacher felt it would also be good as due to the dyslexia DC has a speech issue so it improved vocabulary. We’ve taken to taking it in turns, I read a page then them etc. it works and I just wrote it in and the teacher awarded the house point on Friday.

Year 4 teacher has just replied to an email I sent asking about this after DC told me they got told off for me writing “none school books” in the reading diary. They’ve confirmed this and told me not to let DC read anything other than school books or very simple first readers like Julia Donaldson until they were a free reader.

I don’t understand, am I doing something wrong and harming my DC? I get that reading a book that’s too hard can be damaging but I’m there helping them with words and explaining them and they just want to be like their friends who’re all mostly free readers now.

DC has a reading age of around Year 2 level so they could easily leave primary not as a free reader.

So teachers, is it worth battling the teacher over this given that both Year 2 and 3 teachers (2 diff teachers btw) thought it was ok? We find the ORT books dull and repetitive, DC doesn't enjoy them so then refuses to read, this way at least they're reading something and motivated to give it ago.

Read anything that keeps their interest. If they never try to read anything other than reading scheme books, they're never going to enjoy it.

(I remember seeing shelves full of sci fi books in the house of a couple with grown-up children. I asked who the sci fi fan was. It turned out to be the wife, but she had got into sci fi after doing vast quantities of shared reading with their extremely dyslexic son - that was what he liked.)

If a beginner piano player were presented with a complete score of Beethoven, and someone to help them press the keys, would that help them to love piano practice or make them hate it?

Your teacher feels that your child's progress is being held back because they are not a fluent decoder, so reading independently is a chore for them. They've made a professional judgement that what your child needs to make progress is to build up their confidence in actually reading the words, so that they can read and become absorbed in books themselves. And I agree with other posters, that there are more interesting books than ORT at early levels.

But reading a page of Harry Potter will lead to them (possibly) liking books, hating reading, and continuing to struggle. I know incredibly few children who love reading (actually sitting alone with a book, rather than being read to) who cannot decode automatically and without thought. Just like I know very few people who enjoying playing the piano but can't read music.

Your teacher has both made a (very sensible) professional judgement; and set some homework which will help your child progress. They have qualifications in teaching reading. If nothing else, it doesn't sound like the strategy worked in Y2 and Y3. Flag the lack of interest in ORT and ask if they have anything else, but you need to support them.

Thought I'd update:

Had a phone conversation with the teacher and we've reached a compromise.

DCs on a temporary reading scheme as they're waiting for a new scheme which they think DC (and other children still on the scheme) will find more interesting but we just have to wait.

Compromise:

I read 4 pages at a time 3x a week of the school ORT book and write this into the record.

I can then carry on doing what I was doing with DC and keep a seperate log of it that the teacher still wants to see and have in the reading folder - apparantly when the new scheme arrives they will then match the books we've chosen (so harry potter or ronald dahl etc) to DCs interests and get them a similar themed book on the new scheme.

I'm happy with that as DC still gets to improve their reading and can still read what they want.

That sounds like a great compromise.