Reading - ds is struggling

[rainbowshoes]

DS started in reception this September and is struggling with phonics.

The teacher has identified the problem areas as being unable to hear rhyme and unable to blend.

I know the general advice is not to worry and to read a lot with your child but I’ve always read a lot with him, which is why I’m a bit worried. Wondering if any reception teachers are around to give me pointers?

I used an app with DD called Teach Your Monster to Read (it's research-backed). I put it on my phone and used to whip it out whenever we were waiting somewhere. I also used Reading Eggs with her which I found reassuring as you can do tests to check their reading age (it's also quite gamified so you can get away with it not feeling like homework).

I also bought some Julia Donaldson beginner reader books and some factual ones (themed e.g. pets, rainforest, houses etc) as the bloody Biff and Chip books were so crap.

DD didn't turn into an enthusiastic reader sadly but at 12 is perfectly competent at it.

Also another tip I got from a teaching magazine was to read old fashioned stuff to them as the vocab, grammar structures etc are much better. Although sometimes the social attitudes and plot lines can be quite surprising... did have to draw the line at Just William!

DD (and I!) enjoyed the Magic Faraway Tree, various Roald Dahl, various E Nesbit, My Naughty Little Sister, Narnia, etc.

Thank you. I did actually look at the Julia Donaldson ones a few months ago but they looked a bit boring (sorry, Julia!) and so I thought he’d be fine if I just read lots with him! Perhaps not 🤦🏼‍♀️

@hopspot I’ll probably make myself sound really dopey here! But for example DS has learned two ‘tricky words’ - ‘I’ and ‘is’ and when we’re reading he points them out. I used to point to them and he’d say ‘I’ or ‘is’ but he’s started to find them himself now which is great. But I’ve realised how similar capital I and lower case l look and how to explain this … also variants of I such as I’ve and I’ll. I’ve tried to explain it’s just like I have and I will but I’m not sure I’ve done a very good job of explaining. Then yesterday he found o but in ‘soon’ so trying to explain that sound and the ee sound so that isn’t ‘eh’ but ‘ee.’ I guess I feel like there’s a lot to understand!

He does seem to be improving; I asked him if he could think of a word like car and he said ‘far’ yesterday; I nearly got run over in excitement. And he seems to recognise words on sight like he got ‘dig’ on a flash card but still can’t do cat. He managed to sound out six yesterday though … it does seem a bit random! Ds will also (like a lot of children) sometimes just say anything to answer you even if it makes no sense so I wonder if this is what’s driving it at school where if he stopped and thought he would know the right answer, so trying to encourage this.

That was an essay and a half, sorry. I always knew reception teachers worked hard; I have now decided they are all saints and deserve a knighthood!

Julia Donaldson's Songbirds 36 Books Read with Oxford Phonics Collection Set (Stage 1 - 4): Amazon.co.uk: 9780198411093: Books https://share.google/KiN6srkWQ4tXoANoH

It was these. Hopefully your school has better stuff. Believe me, these were way better than what ours had!

I don’t want to confuse him though, by doing different programs at school and at home (especially since I don’t totally understand them either!)

I completely understand! It’s a minefield! I teach it everyday and often get in a tangle!

The children will start with initial sounds and build to digraphs (two letters make one sound) They will also be reading at school only books that contain sounds they have been taught.

It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. The advice if a child comes across a word they don’t know is to just tell them it.

My advice is to find exactly where in the Little Wandle program they are up to. There is a document that maps the progression week by week. You can then support him with the sounds he has been taught and then explain that words containing other sounds (when you’re reading to him) he will be able to read soon.

When you’re reading to him, support him in finding those sounds he has been taught and the tricky words he has been taught in the book then read the rest to him. Make sure you’re not expecting him to read words containing sounds he’s not been taught.

I really don’t think you should worry as it’s early. But if you are not averse to a bit of screen time, there is an app called Teach Your Monster to Read which is brilliant for early phonics.

Thank you so much!

I’m not averse to screen time as such (although DS doesn’t really use phones or tablets) but I don’t want to confuse him with different programs.

Fair enough. Just read lots of good quality stuff to him then and leave the rest up to the school.

I think the main thing is for you and the child's dad to signal enjoyment of reading.

I never managed to get DD to actually enjoy it so focused a lot on functional reading: "What does the recipe say, how much flour do we need?" / "What does the label say - how hot does the iron need to be?" / "Oh where is the exit from this place?! Can you see a sign?" so at least they can see it's useful.

I’m a Reception teacher and the phonics lead in my school. I would see the rhyming and blending as two separate things. I have had some children in my classes who never seem to get rhyme but can blend and become fluent readers. Secondly, please do not worry yet. It is very early days for phonics. Some schools schemes make them rush into phonics as soon as the children start Reception and many are not ready. At this point only about half of my class can segment and blend but I’m not worried at this point. Do you know what phonics scheme is used?

As for it being a dyslexic trait I completely disagree at this age. There’s a very good reason why many local authorities won’t even consider testing for dyslexia before age 7.

Keep on immersing them in books. Feel free to message me if you’d like more advice.

Thank you, I really appreciate that. It is Little Wandle

DS knew all his phonics before he started primary school and couldn't blend until after Christmas. He was the first to become a free reader. I'd just keep going like you are and not worry at all.

I would start him blending with two letter words - 'at' is a good one for example. Once he recognises 'at' then you can make a game of how many letters can you put in front of 'at' to make words. C-at, b-at, m-at, s-at etc 'op' is another one with hop, top, mop, pop etc - and even if he's making up nonsense words like dop or nop it doesn't matter because he's getting the idea of blending (and the phonics tests use nonsense/alien words anyway). It might be easier for him to do an activity like this with magnetic letters so he can try out different first letters. These words also will all rhyme so you're also helping him with rhyming.

Ps unless he's already learning digraphs at school I'd leave them for another day! Just concentrate on CVC words for now and any tricky words that get sent home to learn.