ELS -Does anyone elses dc have to do this?

[Beauregard]

dd1(6)struggled with her reading and writing whilst in reception and i raised this as a concern as she is so bright and quick to learn new skills.My concerns were brushed off and now she is so far behind in yr 1 that she has to have this ELS.So she has come home with a printed photo of herself and a book which we have to read with her.The worksheet is nothing but patronising eg "Read book with her and get her to point to pictures and words"(have been doing so for years)and the best line is "Using the photo of your dd help her to make a picture frame using the card from a cereal box and stick dried pasta on it to decorate"(the child is constantly arts and crafting)
ffs how does that help her to read???

gggrrrrrrr @ this stuff
my ds1 did els (but more to do with 'story' books with no words ) then on to "wave3" then[now] erm cant remember the name of it. We are pretty sure he is dyslexic, he is 7 now and we are trying to get him on the local uni assessment as he's old enough.
Can you nag for a proper assessment and see if an IEP would be more use to her?

What is IEP ?

individual education plan. there's another thread on this around somewhere tonight i think. Anyway, it's just a means for the class teacher to identify the child's needs and (more importantly) how they are going to be addressed. This shows what 1:1 input they think is needed, small group work and class work - each for what amounts and which subjects. Awww I'm not explaining this too well. DS1's is on literacy [obv]. It gives him targets to work to - like recognising initial sounds / two-letter chunks, writing x type work with support, reading blabla style of books, copying whatever as part of class work and so on. He has an extra session every couple of days doing something they call multi-skills which is brain gym type stuff, all standing on one leg and waving your arm in figure of 8's - it really does work as his co-ordination and transfer is really improving. All this lot is written down, SENCO (teacher in the school who is their special needs co-ordinator - though not only statemented children get their attention) puts her pennyworth in, parents and teachers sign it. This is reviewed every 6 months in dses school. Records and stuff like this are needed to prove that the school is doing 'their bit' if you are ever likely to need to take it further like Ed Psychologist, which is where we are at now.
will try explaining again if this make not a blardy bit of sense, i have been at the veeeennnoooo

pfnm, you're pefectly correct -it won't help him one iota. ELS was supposed to have changed to bring it in line with the Rose report. Unfortunately, it hasn't been altered very much and still contains a great deal of whole-language style content and 'busy-work'

You'll find a list of all the useless and harmful content of intervention programmmes here: www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_18.htm

-along with research details of what actually works. I suggest you wave it under your headteacher's nose and demand that they provide your child with a properly researched intervention programme

fantastic link, mav - thank you. just spent about half an hour over there. now i really must go to bed

zzzzz

I would not trust a school to teach a child to read. Maverick's website is fanastic.

The most common reason for a bright child from a good home not being able to read is aint been taught. There are several schemes a parent can follow. I suggest you teach her to read during the summer holidays.

If she has used Jolly phonics then you might be better using Ruth Misken. You can get Ruth Misken reading materials from Amazon. I also suggest getting some decodable books like jelly and bean

If you spend 10 minutes a day of the summer holiday doing phonics with her following Ruth Misken#s instructions you will be amazed at the improvement.

Ruth Miskin

ReallyTired on Sun 13-Apr-08 18:08:12
"I would not trust a school to teach a child to read."
What are schools for then and why did I spend four years studying phonics ?

Why is that 20% of children who leave primary school are functionally literate. They might have a level 3 in literacy, but they do not have the literacy skills to cope with a mainstream secondary school classroom.

A lot of schools still use whole word methods to teach reading, even though the Rose Report and research recommends using pure synthetic phonics intially. If you just look at the OP first message, you really have to question what the teacher is thinking instructing the parent to craft activites with the little girl.

Some children will pick up reading whatever method you use. Other children need more help. With the best will in the world a reception teacher does not have time to give struggling help the one to one necessary to get them reading.

It does not require a degree to teach one child to read. It requires a reasonably educated adult prepared to put in a lot of blood sweat and tears. It is possible for a determined parent to make a difference. It is much easier to teach one child to read than 30. A lot of a teaching degree is managing a class of 30 kids with varying needs and coping with behaviour management.

With the best will in the world a teacher with 30 kids can not put in this level of work for every child who needs it. My son is partially deaf and the extra help he gets at school is limited even though he has an IEP. A Parent has far more time than a teacher.

Thanks for all the replies and for the useful links ReallyTired,i shall endevour to have a good read through at some point (too tired right now ironically)
I am very ignorant i must admit as to what ELS actually is so not really armed to approach the teacher at the moment and does it mean if a child is put on it that they must have some real learning problems? ie suspected Dyslexia etc?
dd1 has always been bright and much wiser than her years and has been read to/with since she was a baby so her literacy problems has come as a surprise to us.We try and spend as much time as we can reading etc with her (maybe it is not enough?,we both work dp mornings and me evenings)

Reading to your child improves their language, but it doesn't actually teach the nuts and bolts of how to decode. Your energies in reading to your child are not wasted, once she has learnt to decode words then all that reading you have done will help her comprehension.

An analogy is that your daughter might have been a passenger in a car, but does that mean she knows how to drive a car.

My son is partially deaf and I taught him to read using the jolly phonics handbook before he started school. I am glad that I did because his hearing has got worse and he is finding spelling hard. I am sure that if I had not taught him he would be a non reader.

Jolly Phonics is misused widely in schools. Teachers pick and a choose a bit of one method and a bit of another. Jolly phonics also recommmends practising blending with word boxes before attempting to read books. many teacher want to throw books at children as soon as they can.

If your daughter has already has heard of Inky the Mouse then she might not take too well to jolly phonics at home. She might be better with a different scheme.

Other good websites are
reading reform website
and Debbie Heplewaite's syntheticphonics

ReallyTired surely it should be a partnership?
Yes the figures are 20% of children with literacy problems exactly the same figure as it was 60 years ago when phonics was the main teaching method. Phonics isn't new just repackaged it's been around for over 100 years but like everything went out of fashion.
I am not saying phonics isn't the most effective way to learn decoding skills but please don't mistrust schools and teachers who are subject to the whims of government and were subject to the National Literacy Strategy.

"many teacher want to throw books at children as soon as they can."

Many teachers feel under pressure from parents to give children books before they are ready.

"Yes the figures are 20% of children with literacy problems exactly the same figure as it was 60 years ago when phonics was the main teaching method"

I don't think its fair to make a comparison. In the past class sizes were huge. I have a photograph of my grandmother at the age of six in a mixed ablity class with 49 children in it. Some of them were too poor to wear proper shoes.

Teachers have it very easy compared to the early 20 century, yet the rates of illiteracy are just the same. Class sizes are smaller, teachers are better trained, there are computers and more money spent on schools. So why has there been no improvement in the number of children who fail to read?

"don't mistrust schools and teachers who are subject to the whims of government and were subject to the National Literacy Strategy. "

The old national literacy strategy, whims of government and the lack of freedom of teachers is why I do not trust schools.

They promote synthetic phonics one minute and then promote reading recovery (which uses a lot of look say) the next. There is no logic in governant policy.

Teachers do try their best, but some children need a lot of one to one attention to learn how to read. A parent is in a better position to give that one to one attention.

gigglewitch - how do you go about getting a child on the local uni assessment?

I've got a contact in there via one of my optician friends they have said that they'll do their version of dyslexia screening with him, and fiddle around with different coloured lenses and overlays etc - them being optical people and all that. Have no idea if it is going to get us an 'answer' as such, but it's worth a go.

I urge caution, gigglewitch.

lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2003/12/irlen_lenses_sc.html

In addition, Professor Vellutino has said, 'There are a lot of abnormalities of the eyes that normal readers have as well, so tinted lenses and overlays have no foundation as a bona fide treatment for reading problems in any research that I'm aware of'.

Dyslexia is not an 'eye problem', it is a 'teaching problem (dysdidaxia)'

The original ELS was DIRE. That's why the DCSF attempted to revise it.

Read Dr. Bonnie Macmillan's careful evaluation of the old ELS programme, first: www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=93 then, check how many 'no no's' the revised ELS still contains: www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy/63469/

If a school is using ELS it's very likely that the 'wave one' synthetic phonics programme is being used incorrectly.

If your child brings home whole-word books to read such as Oxford Reading Tree (Biff and Chip), along with lists of words to memorise by sight for spelling tests, then it is highly likely to be a 'mixture of methods' school:

www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/main_method_2.htm

I would agree with maverick parents are often sold expensive coloured lenses which have little if any effect.

taking it all with suitable cynicism
I'm a sen teacher so have my eyes open as it were
thanks for the hints tho

Some of you seem to have a very negative opinion of what goes on in schools.
I'm with mrz that the only pressure I have to give a child a book too early is from the parents!!
I teach year One currently and every single child in my class of 23 (bar one SEN child) can read, and I mean really read. We used ELS (Extra Literacy Support) many years ago and the targeted children actually benefitted a great deal. However, my understanding was that this is now out-dated as all children should be doing 20 minutes Phonics daily which is, in my experience, more beneficial.
The new Letters and Sounds programme has had a huge impact on my kids, they enjoy it and their reading has improved immensely.

My DS didn't bring home a book until after Easter in reception. He is now a great independent (and obsessive) reader in Y2 and has been from part way through Y1. I must admit to fretting quietly about why he wasn't getting a reading book. But I am not the sort to rush into school. DS's friend (July birthday, started reception January) was struggling with literacy and did the ELS programme and it helped him hugely. Things like decorating the photo frame are to get the children involved in what they are doing.

gigglewick and I'm a SENCO but I think coloured glasses are an unnecessary expense and if parents really believe that this will help and want to try it out then overlays are a much cheaper option.

Can I just butt in on this really interesting thread (sorry if you saw my previous thread on this) would you worry if your DS, who was due to start reception in September, was put into to the Y1 class as there was no room in the 4+ unit and he was one of the oldest?