Reading at the end of y2 - how can I help?

[Dramateacher1]

Hi,

My 7 year old son has just finished y2. He finished the year on gold books and got working at expected on his school report even though he got 21/40 (scaled score 97 ) on his SAT reading paper which is under expectations. school has not raised any concerns over the year.

He still hates reading and still has problems with fluency and has to sound out quite a few words. He struggles with punctuation and understanding what he’s just read as it takes him ages to read the sentence.

He reads to me or my husband every night and we read to him every night. He sees us reading all the time.

He will not pick up a book himself to read despite us having loads in the house and ones that he has picked out/is interested in. We have been to the library since birth. I understand the school books can be boring so I’ve tried to get him to read others to us, but he won’t. He loves having stories read to him, but will not read himself through choice snd it is a battle to get him to read each night.

I’m not sure what else to try to 1. Improve his reading and 2. Encourage a love of reading. I really do not want him to fall behind, which I can see happening and I have to admit I’m getting frustrated with what I see as a lack of progress (doing my upmost to hide this frustration from him)

any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Will he read comics? My DS is a year younger and it was comics that really made him fall in love with reading (he always loved being read to). He went from struggling with phase 2 phonics to reading fluently within a couple of months. Dog Man, Narwhal and Jellyfish, Bumble & Snug etc

I have seen the Dog Man comic books so I’ll give them a go - thank you

I read with children that age through the bookmark charity (reading support). Dog man is well liked. I was told any reading is good so have used kids cookbooks and got them to read the instructions whilst pretending to make the pizza/muffin/cookies/pancakes (basically whatever they like).
One child didn't like stories but we read lists of facts, another was fascinated by the dictionary and we used it in word games. Kids newspaper was another idea that worked a bit.
Lots of word games..word search, story starter cards, how many words begin with a letter can you and they think of. My readers like varied activities, 10 mins of one thing at a time is enough, aim is to keep it fun and engaging.
I also found reading to them but substituting a silly word now and then encouraged them to read along with me and laugh when I got it wrong.
They will get there, just keep doing what you are doing.

Would you be able to get some time with a literacy specialist for an assessment - this would probably would mean finding private support if the school isn’t concerned ? We have been working with one via school during y1, and it had been really helpful to pinpoint the specific blocks or knowledge gaps that were keeping my dd from progressing. They did a full assessment which included phonics screening, but also looked at processing speed which was lower than expected. They then met once a week for 1:1 time, and also provided some light homework (written and Nessy app). The going has been slow at times, but steady, and we are gradually closing the gap vs. expectations. Having the extra insight into her strengths and weaknesses as a reader has also been really helpful, as it provided some clear action areas for the weaknesses, but also showed us all that she is great at some aspects of reading.

motivation will depend on your child, but essentially it is about leaning into their likes. This dd grudgingly reads most books (and we have done all of the things you mentioned too - we are huge readers and have always celebrated books and included them in our daily routine!) but will more happily read maps, so we find maps wherever we can. She will happily read speech bubbles in books, so have her do that when I read. She’s also a bit competitive with her twin (who is flying with reading), and we are doing a summer reading challenge where they get 1p per page read regardless of number of words, so sister reads harder books but can still compete on page count. she willingly reads at least one book a day, but some days 3-4 in order to improve her page count vs. her sister. Maybe not reading for the love of it, but reading voluntarily. Some of these books are super easy (Elephant and Piggie books are brilliant comic style, and my girls find them quite funny), but any reading that I don’t have to coerce is a victory.

Some of the things which have worked with my DD are reading favourite board books and picture books for a quick win, audiobooks, filming her reading (sometimes sent to family or teacher, sometimes for her to watch), reading in silly places like the top of the climbing frame, in the bath etc. My best line when she says she hates reading and doesn't want to do it is to say, "That's a shame, because you're so good at it!". 😊
Our local librarians have been brilliant too, they chat with her about all sorts and are great at finding books on her school topics, recommending things they think she'd like and ordering books in.

Try flash cards if he's doesn't know 100 high frequency words... And go back a step to build him up again.
Things like speed reading spirals etc.

DS last summer enjoyed reading the Peter and Jane stories levels 1-4. The stories use the same words repeatedly and throw an occasional new one in. He was doing well with his phonics but was struggling a bit with the red words and still sounding out slowly.
We also read signs, leaflets, posters and anything else we can see when we are out and about I have also worked hard showing him that reading is a useful skill and it gives you opportunities. Once he became more confident he wanted to read stories

Thank you all for some really good suggestions

I am a Y2 teacher. Children v often struggle and battle with reading until gold and then they start to fly.

You are doing everything right and there is nothing wrong with your son.

never ever miss a reading session with him. In the holidays I would make him read to me for 15 m then he read silently to himself for 15m. And normal you read bedtime story.

Read high quality texts to him ( look up some lists) but let him read anything to himself. Try to steer him to series books where the vocabulary is repeated which helps massively.

have lots of discussion in all reading sessions about what is happening. Don’t make it all questions, you model what you are thinking. Oh I’m feeling nervous because I think the car will crash. I can tell Bobby is a nervous character because he is reluctantly joining in the game.

I would print off y2 sats papers and do them together. Do one where you talk it all through and then get him to do one on his own and you mark together.

keep going.

I can highly recommend a Beano subscription! It's just gone up to £33 a quarter. This led to DS reading short Dennis the Menace chapter books.

Other fun reading my DC enjoyed included Whizz Bang Pop! and National Geographic for kids.

If its fun, it's a sneaky way of getting them reading!

My daughter has just finished year one and struggled a bit with motivation at the beginning of the year. We found that non fiction worked much better - she's much more interested in books about space or bugs or lions than any storytelling right now. Since we worked that out she's coming on much better.

Bunny v Monkey human invasion is a cartoon book, like a comic in book form. What's really good for refusenik readers is that it's a collection of stories only a couple of pages long. Has your son been tested for dyslexia?

Thanks for some good advice and ideas. I’m going to use the holidays to try these out.

Sometimes reading is just ‘not their thing’. You are doing all you can without putting pressure on him. You reading to him, him listening to audio books will help him so much.

Out of my DC’s, neither were readers. Reading was stressful ( I was an early years teacher!) so pressure was lifted, doing what you are doing around interest and adult support.
One, by the age of nine loved books and reading, became a ‘Harry Potter’ child, reads now into adulthood.
Another child didn't read, despite car books, football books, seeing stage plays etc etc….
He did have a couple of preferred authors (including Michael Morpurgo) but he is just not a reader. Even as an adult he will never choose or read a book but he does use the internet to find out and read information with a purpose to him.

Both passed their 11+, both with 4 A levels at A* - nothing of detriment.

Thank you @SydneyJKL audio books is a good idea I’ve not thought of.
I think because I’m a big reader and always have been I thought he would be too! Also have to admit I’m worried about how well he’ll do in school if he can’t get the basics right. He’s away with his grandparents for 3 days now, so a bit of a break for us both then we go again!

I found it hopeless to offer what I thought were appropriate/fun chapter books before my son was ready - he was overwhelmed by them and had convinced himself he couldn't do it. Like others, I just tried to encourage any reading at all (I let him get very babyish picture books out of the library for a while) and eventually he got into Tom Gates - now he's absolutely obsessed 😳

Those kind of books ("big kid" chapter books with a high ratio of pictures to text) are a Godsend!

Great thread - it sounds like you are doing a really good job, and what a lot of helpful comments!

One thought: have you had his eyes tested recently?

DS used to hate reading. Like you, we tried everything but nothing worked. But one day, he found Horrid Henry. I must say they're not my favourite books but they certainly got him to read and read the whole series within a couple of weeks. Then he moved onto 13 Storey Treehouse series, then to David Walliams. He is a voracious reader now.

I think it's all about finding the right books for him. Hope he finds one along the way.

I found Top Trumps to be a good way to engage with reading/finding words/basic maths.

You have to sacrifice. He should be reading to you outloud every single day for 30 min.

I am doing that process for the second time now 😫. This time he ( year 5) is reading to me in his second language. Equally difficult. But with English we started this method when he was 3. By the end of Reception he was on black books and was a free reader.

It really works

P.S. for reading comprehension check Read Theory. Makes miracles if used every day