Page 2 | Phonics & reading

TheCrochetingMummy · 2025-02-03T11:02:07+00:00

Morning everyone. After a bit of advice from other parents. My DS is in year 1 and he is really struggling with phonics and reading. He has a speech sound disorder which hasn’t helped, as he struggles to say the words sometimes as well. He is still reading at a phase 2 level (reception level when they first start) I’m just looking for ways to help him at home develop a bit more of a love of reading and make it more enjoyable for all of us. He just seems to really struggle with blending a word and decoding it to understand what the word is. he does speech and language sessions 3 times a week and I believe he is doing phonics catch up at school as well. I’m just looking for how to make it fun at home. We’ve tried turning phonics cards into a nerf gun target where he shoots the gun at a card and then says the sound and we’ve tried a dice game but he’s not into either as as soon as he realises it phonics he refuses to do it so not sure what else to do. He loves Lego if anyone has any ideas? if you have read this far thank you! I’m rambling a bit and at a bit of a loss.

ToDuk · 24/02/2025 19:16

It's unfortunate that there has been such a big push on phonics that many schools don't recognise that some children need different routes.

I have seen lots of deaf children struggle with phonics and then learn to read really well with a sight reading scheme. I know your child isn't deaf but it sounds like a similar impact.

Tryingtohelp12 · 24/02/2025 19:20

Possibly a different view here.

reception year- we really held back let child lead in the hope it would click for him, didn’t want to ‘force’ him to read, didn’t want to turn him off reading. Ended reception still not 100% on single letter sounds.

year 1 - realised he was never going to suddenly decide to do it, he was so resistant. Started year one on RWI red books. We made reading part of our daily routine. A non-negotiable in the same way brushing your teeth is, even if you don’t fancy it it has to be done. Moved up 5 reading groups in a year. Ended the year still behind but bridging the gap.

year 2- continued routine of daily reading. Progressed 2 book levels this year and almost completed reading scheme. Still resistant at times, particularly when first changes levels, he goes from super confident to finding books hard again. In a meeting with his teacher she highlighted the importance of at home reading… despite having phonics for 45 mins per day plus additional phonics interventions, in groups sizes of 12-20 there is actually limited opportunity for teachers to listen to reading by the time they have covered sounds. It really surprised me and I wished they had been this clear in reception!.

overall:

daily reading is non negotiable, but no longer than 10 mins (see how far we can get in 10mins, not letting him do it for so long that he gets frustrated
reminding him things are hard to learn, eg when you learn to ride your bike that was hard and look at how good you are at it now!
fill lots of other time with things they are good at to boost confidence
point out all the things you can do when you can read/write/spell (play computer games, drive, etc)
visably learn something new in front of him , make mistakes, try again etc.
praise effort

obviously leaving them to it works for some but it wouldn’t have worked for my son at all!

Soontobe60 · 24/02/2025 20:58

Tryingtohelp12 · 24/02/2025 19:20

Possibly a different view here.

reception year- we really held back let child lead in the hope it would click for him, didn’t want to ‘force’ him to read, didn’t want to turn him off reading. Ended reception still not 100% on single letter sounds.

year 1 - realised he was never going to suddenly decide to do it, he was so resistant. Started year one on RWI red books. We made reading part of our daily routine. A non-negotiable in the same way brushing your teeth is, even if you don’t fancy it it has to be done. Moved up 5 reading groups in a year. Ended the year still behind but bridging the gap.

year 2- continued routine of daily reading. Progressed 2 book levels this year and almost completed reading scheme. Still resistant at times, particularly when first changes levels, he goes from super confident to finding books hard again. In a meeting with his teacher she highlighted the importance of at home reading… despite having phonics for 45 mins per day plus additional phonics interventions, in groups sizes of 12-20 there is actually limited opportunity for teachers to listen to reading by the time they have covered sounds. It really surprised me and I wished they had been this clear in reception!.

overall:

daily reading is non negotiable, but no longer than 10 mins (see how far we can get in 10mins, not letting him do it for so long that he gets frustrated
reminding him things are hard to learn, eg when you learn to ride your bike that was hard and look at how good you are at it now!
fill lots of other time with things they are good at to boost confidence
point out all the things you can do when you can read/write/spell (play computer games, drive, etc)
visably learn something new in front of him , make mistakes, try again etc.
praise effort

obviously leaving them to it works for some but it wouldn’t have worked for my son at all!

You sound like a great and very sensible mum!

Original poster

TheCrochetingMummy · 24/02/2025 22:50

TheRoomWhereItHappened · 24/02/2025 19:01

I’m a SALT and speech sound disorders in kids are often phonological in nature, and they struggle to distinguish these sounds in a similar way to how they struggle to say them. I’d try getting him doing some simple sight words at home (partly to help his confidence when reading as he’ll start to recognise words). Some kids with SSDs aren’t able to learn to read phonetically and he may be one of them.
Unfortunately due to the way the system is set up primary schools aren’t meant to use any alternative reading strategies, even if a kid is still struggling with phonics in year 6. If he takes to sight words advocate for alternative strategies to phonics to be included in his EHCP or talk to SALT about what other strategies might work for him given his SSD.

Thank you for this. If you sound out a word to him, he can determine what it is, but if he sounds it out himself he just can’t make the connection. I do think he is beginning to recognise words on sight as he can read certain words without sounding them out but I’m not sure if he just remembering the word order in the book or not so if he saw the word out of context if he would still recognise it.
will have to try that at home.

OP posts:

Original poster

TheCrochetingMummy · 24/02/2025 22:53

Tryingtohelp12 · 24/02/2025 19:20

Possibly a different view here.

reception year- we really held back let child lead in the hope it would click for him, didn’t want to ‘force’ him to read, didn’t want to turn him off reading. Ended reception still not 100% on single letter sounds.

year 1 - realised he was never going to suddenly decide to do it, he was so resistant. Started year one on RWI red books. We made reading part of our daily routine. A non-negotiable in the same way brushing your teeth is, even if you don’t fancy it it has to be done. Moved up 5 reading groups in a year. Ended the year still behind but bridging the gap.

year 2- continued routine of daily reading. Progressed 2 book levels this year and almost completed reading scheme. Still resistant at times, particularly when first changes levels, he goes from super confident to finding books hard again. In a meeting with his teacher she highlighted the importance of at home reading… despite having phonics for 45 mins per day plus additional phonics interventions, in groups sizes of 12-20 there is actually limited opportunity for teachers to listen to reading by the time they have covered sounds. It really surprised me and I wished they had been this clear in reception!.

overall:

daily reading is non negotiable, but no longer than 10 mins (see how far we can get in 10mins, not letting him do it for so long that he gets frustrated
reminding him things are hard to learn, eg when you learn to ride your bike that was hard and look at how good you are at it now!
fill lots of other time with things they are good at to boost confidence
point out all the things you can do when you can read/write/spell (play computer games, drive, etc)
visably learn something new in front of him , make mistakes, try again etc.
praise effort

obviously leaving them to it works for some but it wouldn’t have worked for my son at all!

Thank you for this. We do try and get him to read his school book everyday even if it is just a couple of pages. We have some at home at the same level that he can choose if he doesn’t want to read the book school have given him and he will sometimes do that. It can just be such a battle sometimes!

OP posts:

Bunnycat101 · 25/02/2025 13:59

You have to be a bit careful not to coach to pass the phonics test in year 1. The kids that fail that seem to get good intervention in year 2 in our school but those who passed (but actually don’t really have a clue) just start to struggle a bit.

Have a look at the sound foundation and their resources. The spelling programme is starting to make a difference to one of mine who has really poor phonological awareness. They have reading resources too.