Child stalling with reading - what can I do to help?

[MizzyDazzy]

My year 1 son (5yo) seems to have really hit a wall last few months with reading, he’s not making any progress (sometimes feels like we are going backwards!).

He is blue level / ORT 4, which he has been since November. I read with his class so I know this was about average in the class at the time. However, nearly everyone has now moved on to green or above, meaning he is in the bottom 7 of 30.

I know he read with the teacher two weeks ago when she moved most people up and I don’t disagree with her decision not to move him. I think the problem is his pace and he still sounds out longer words - I believe they are looking for more sight reading at this point.

We read with him every day without fail, I do flash card phonic sounds and a phonics game with him 2-3 days a week and a dedicated phonics activity book 1 day. He spells really well in his writing (or at least way better than his sister did at this age).

He is the same level reading as his sister was at this point, although we didn’t read with her or do as much supportive phonics work at home, and she is dyslexic. So I guess that is playing on my mind that he could be too.

What more can I do to support him and get him progressing again?

Do you read to him and get him to retell the familiar story as you go along? This will help him understand the pace and intonation. Something like the Gruffalo is great for this. Don't make him read it himself demonstrate in a fun way how it should be done.

Read to him as much as you can. Get a variety of books for him to enjoy - comic books, non-fiction, whatever takes his fancy. My DD was struggling to progress and I think she was just bored with 'easy' stories, once I got her a variety of comic books which she found much more interesting to read I couldn't stop her and she was soon a free reader. She now loves reading and reads above her age, still loves a graphic novel/comic book on occasion!

My daughter in year 1 absolutely hates the reading books from school. They are boring and have no story..... She is on read write ink blue books.
However she will happily read a lot of picture books from home- we started on elephant and piggy which she found funny, and then went through the rabbit and bear books (about poo and she loved them)..... Now she will read most stuff- however she still hates the school reading books- she reads them once and then can read something she wants too.....

My advice would be go to your local library and see what other books they have for early readers with a better story and see what he would like to read....

We read two books to him every day without fail, have done so since he was a baby. He can recite his favourite books from memory.

Thanks - would other books be too tricky for him to read at this stage?

we read two books to him everyday and sometimes I say oh you could read this bit but he won’t - he prefers us to do it. He has normally already read to us though so I think he just wants to enjoy the story not “work”.

@Appleandcidergravy I just worry other books will be too tricky for him - what level is / was your daughter when you started trying other books.

Are the two books that you read every night, read with him also reading out loud? If so, I would introduce more of just you reading TO him. Just pick stories and books of subjects he would like - it doesn’t matter if it’s too complicated for him to actually read. He doesn’t even need to be looking at the text. You reading and modeling the cadence/rhythm/pace will be more enriching than him reading his favourite books on repeat, which he has memorised anyway. Obviously still have him read his books and practice his phonics, but maybe mix it up.

Pick something that's slightly above his ability but that he really wants to read. Motivation is a huge factor here. If he's bored shitless with the level of books he us in, interest in learning will wane.

Stick post its on everything. Door. Cupboard. Hoover. Sink. Literally everything. You want him to recognise the shape of individual words.

Do 'Look, Cover, Write, Check' for spellings. Helps with whole word recognition.

Have subtitles on the TV too, so he sees words as they're said.

I taught all my kids to read like this, before school started as I think phonics only is shit. I didn't bring phonics in until later when I was teaching them to decode variations of words.

Like they knew the word Occasion so when they came across the word Occasionally, we used to sound it out and use context to understand what it meant. But I taught them to recognise whole words first. It seems to have worked as 2 out of the 3 are well ahead in reading level and the other is in line with the rest of the class.

Yes this is what I meant. Also, reading a book together filling in the difficult bits so you can move on swiftly.

My son struggled until I found something he was motivated to read on his own. Comic style was super helpful - Bunny vs monkey and similar. He was into marvel and Star Wars at the time and I found the step 1 series really great - he was interested which kept him trying. He also really liked those character books that’s one character on a page with info -the lego Star Wars one was a massive hit.

so whatever he is into I’d look for books for that. They have those step 1/2/3 books for loads of topics. It’s much easier once they see the fun of it n

How long do you keep his school reading books for? Out school change 3 times per week but if dd can't read one fluently then I ask to keep it until she can sight read it.
For trickier bits, I also get her to readit once in her sounding out voice and then donit again with expression once she's worked out the words.

OP you are doing everything you can, any more and you're more likely to put him off!

You might find it suddenly all clicks and he jumps in progress. On the other hand neurodiversity tend to run in families so there is a good chance he is dyslexic too - 40-50% chance if you have a sibling according to Google AI.

He reads one phonics book to us every night and then we read two books to him, of his choice. Or if he picks a longer book we will really a chapter.

We have read two things to him every single night since he was a baby.

He doesn’t read his very books on repeat, what I meant is he has some books we’ve read to him so many times since he was a baby he probably knows them off by heart.

So I think we’re doing what you’re suggesting?

Interesting thank you - I also think phonics is really limited (my daughter is dyslexic so it was useless to her). And clearly now they want him to be sight reading but he is clinging on to the only thing he’s been taught!

As well as reading with him, read a longer book to him. Something with a couple of chapters that you can read at bedtime over the course of a week.

Also try some factual books. If he's interested in cars or dinosaurs for example, find a children's encyclopedia type book. If he knows reading is a way of finding out information about stuff he's interested in, it may encourage him. My son wasn't interested in reading stories but devoured children's factual books on animals, tanks, and cars!

You do a lot already, so I don't think it's anything you're missing
I'd not add more work / reading as this could make him pull back
I agree with the others Re adding extra bits to the day (like the post it notes), but I'd not do more 'sit and learn' at his age.

You’ve also made me think with the looks, cover, spell suggestion - his spelling actually blows my mind (I am comparing to his dyslexic sister for whom spelling is a major challenge) but he just remembers how things are spelt so easily - even if they are entirely irregular. He can spell words she still gets wrong, either in writing or verbally, so I think he probably is more of a whole word learner if that makes sense.

We already do both of these things - he always picks what we read to him and we have 100s of books - but thanks for suggestions

What books do you read to him? We’ve recently started reading chapter books to our 5yo (he loved Charlie and the chocolate factory, George’s marvellous medicine and esio trot). We also recently read The Wizard of Oz to him and I was surprised that he was able to follow what was going on. It made me think we’d been doing him a disservice by only reading picture books to him before. And his interest in books/ reading does seem to have improved (although this may be coincidental).

Thanks we do read chapter books, and have read these books to him. I should have said, we either read a whole picture book or a chapter of a novel / fact book. He always picks what we read.

When this happened with Ds I would read the whole book to him first, following the text, lots of fun voices for characters etc, and then get him to read it to me.

Of course it was partially memory, but jogged by seeing the words and text.

It gave him confidence and enjoyment of reading, alongside the slow 'technical' skills of interpreting phonics. And took away the anxiety of not knowing or getting it wrong.

This might sound odd but have you had his eyes tested?
DS’s reading progression halted at the same age, just wasn’t as fluent as it had been. Turned out he needed glasses. He grew out of his vision issue and no longer needs them but it really helped with his reading ability. He still doesn’t enjoy it, sadly.

We do EasyRead with DD1, it’s not cheap but the change in her reading ability has been remarkable in a very short space of time. She finds traditional phonics very frustrating but she has excelled with ER. She seems to find the pictorial approach much better for her learning style.

It sounds like you are doing everything! If you do end up going to the library/ Vinted, I suggest the Julia Donaldson Songbird books. They are book banded so easy to get the right one and have better stories than a lots of the early reading books.

My son stalled at about the same stage. He was sounding out confidently but needed to sound out. I still moved him up the book bands as he could read the books, just not fluently. At orange it suddenly clicked and he was fluent, it had just taken him a bit more time than I’d expected. My guess is that it will suddenly click for your son and he will jump up the book bands.