Year 3 child can’t read - so concerned

[Rainallnight]

To cut a long story short, I went to a WBD reading session in DS’s Year 3 class and discovered one of his classmates can’t read.

I asked the class teacher if the girl was getting help, and she said yes, one TA ‘intervention’ session a week.

Is this what’s on offer to kids who are so far behind? Is this normal?

This little girl’s family really struggles in all sorts of ways and I know they won’t be pushing school for more support.

This child often misbehaves in class and I can kind of see why now - none of the work is going to be accessible to her if she can’t read.

I’d like to offer to help, maybe by volunteering to do some phonics with her each week but I’m sort of aghast that there’s so little on offer.

Any thoughts?

This is massively not your business and I can't believe you questioned the teacher about another child. How embarassing.

You’re being very over the top. The school are aware and have measures in place. Offering to go into school yourself to help this child would be insulting to all and is overstepping the mark

Of course the school aren't going to go into the ins and outs of it with you, she's nothing to do with you!

These responses are very sad. All you can do is ask, our local elementary has volunteers who help listen and read with children. I’ve done many years as a parent volunteer at my kids primary and secondary, just by letting staff know I’m available.

There are a lot of assumptions being made here, OP. Above all else, you’re not privy to all the ins and outs of this girl’s life and learning, so it’s really not your place to make a judgement. I say this as an Assistant Headteacher with a specialism in early reading - there are lots of reasons why a child might take longer to learn to read than others. You focus on your child, and let the teachers focus on her.

Our school asks for volunteers to help with reading. You could definitely offer to do that. I imagine the school won't let you do more specialist intervention to one particular child though.

It sounds as if your heart is in the right place op, but I think you need to accept that you are not privy to all of the info here and that the teacher/school is best placed to help her. Your input wouldn't make or break her reading skills. That said, your instinct to help is a good thing, volunteering to spend some time with the class reading in general would be a lovely and can be very rewarding. I wouldn't mention this girl specifically at all, be prepared to be turned down (lots of reasons for this), and accept any set up which the teacher decides works best for the class.

Please do offer to volunteer with reading, but I doubt they will allow you to work with the girl. If anything at our school we won't allow you to volunteer with your child s year group

They can’t tell you what they are doing to support this girl. You have no idea what is going on and although your heart is hopefully in the right place you are really over stepping.

I’m unapologetic about asking. This is a member of our school community who is clearly drowning. It’s a very overstretched London school in a deprived area and no one gets anything without advocacy (I know this from my own children’s experiences).

I’m not here for an AIBU style debate but interested to know if anyone has anything to say on the substantive issue.

Many schools lack the sport to help SEN dc. I do a lot of volunteer work at my dc school and I see it with a dc in the class. The dc obviously needs extra support, disruptive in class etc. The way the school now copes is letting the dc go off to the side to do something quiet, not paying attention to whatever activity is going on. So basically dc is put to the side to play, look at a book etc during every single time I have been there. I assume must be the same for any school lesson, as the teacher cannot teach the entire class while dealing w this dc who has special needs. Instead of the entire class falling behind, it is the dc who will, as they cannot be catered to. When really the dc needs more support, not just placed to the side while everyone gets on with their day.

I'm sure your concern comes from a good place OP, but you put the teacher in a very difficult position by enquiring about the attainment and support of a child who is not your own. The reason for the vague answer is because, as well intending as I'm sure you are, it really isn't your place to be asking. She is not your child. The level of support they are putting in place for her is none of your business. I mean that in the nicest possible way, as I appreciate you are simply concerned and mean well, but think how you would feel if the school discussed your own child's abilities and what they are doing to support them with another parent. Can you see why that's not appropriate?

By all means offer to volunteer to help at the school in general, if you have the time and inclination to do so. I'm sure they'll really appreciate it. You won't be able to do intense 1-1 work with this one child though. They would ask you to support in general, with lots of different children (and unlikely ones in your own child's class).

I'm sure the school are providing a lot more support to this child than the teacher let on to you if she genuinely can't read at all, but it wouldn't be appropriate for them to discuss this with you so a vague "she is receiving support" is the only response you'll get. It's very sad that not all children have the same support network at home as your child clearly does, but it's up to the school to support those children (of which there will sadly be many, which is why your offer to volunteer would be much appreciated and hopefully you'll find it very rewarding). You won't be aware of what the exact level of support looks like for each child who is struggling, as they won't be able to discuss it with you (and rightly so).

It's lovely that there are people out there who, like yourself, are willing to help children who might not be as fortunate as their own. By all means channel that desire to help by offering your general support, but don't overstep by enquiring about individual children and asking what the school are doing to help them as you may put them in a position where they have to turn your support away if you get 'too close' to certain children.

I hope you are able to take my comments in the way they were intended. I do believe you mean very well but you need to be careful about how you approach matters involving other children who are not your own. The school need to safeguard their privacy.

Hi OP. I work as a TA and my job is early reading intervention. I was previously a primary school teacher and I'm really passionate about teaching reading.

Sadly, this probably comes down to resources. In the school I work at, I have 3 children in year 3 who see me because they can't read. Two have learning needs that have meant there are significant barriers to learning to read and the other has missed a significant amount of school. I also have a child in year 4 and one in year 5 who is arguably even further behind. It is really concerning, you are right.

Unfortunately, I don't even see these children every day because I'm continually redeployed to support children with difficult and dangerous behaviour.

I don't know what your school is like, but resources, including staff, are so stretched that schools know the support being offered isn't enough for some children but there's nothing they can do.

Volunteering is a wonderful idea and you should definitely offer. Even coming in to help by hearing readers would I'm sure help a lot. Perhaps this could free up staff to provide more targeted support.

I say do a general offer to volunteer to hear readers. As an ex primary teacher I would have many parents/ grandparents come in and hear children read and it was great. I now teach one to one and its shocking how many teenagers can't read. They also say how some of their behaviour was linked to this as they couldnt access work or were ashamed and they misbehaved to mask it.
Teachers are so stretched now its impossible for them to give them targeted support they need.

My dd was in this position, except she came from a household with means, I enrolled her in weekly tutoring with a dyslexia programme and helped her myself, she was 12 before her skills got to average for age and from that point she soared in ability (she’s got a masters). 1:1 is what this girl needs but the right intervention for her situation, definitely something you could discretely speak to school about. School didn’t really offer my dd much at all, we paid for her help.

I certainly wouldn't have started questioning the teacher about a stranger's child's educational abilities.

I can see you are coming from the right place...But how would you feel if another parent went to teacher pointing out something your child was behind in, and leaping in to offer them one to one support?

I'd imagine you'd feel they'd overstepped massively.

It can be complicated.

some kids have disabilities or learning difficulties that mean learning to read is hugely delayed or never really happens at all,

the teacher will not have been happy to share this information with you.

if the child has, for example, a severe brain injury then the teacher is not going to tell you and it isn’t the right thing to do to give them lots of intervention to try to catch them up with everyone else as it may not be possible.

you can offer to volunteer generally of course.

None of your business. If you want to volunteer to help with reading go for it but do what the school asks you to do.

OP I think you have been very kind. As a secondary teacher, I see many pupils who reach secondary age without being able to read. I see them as being failed by the system and the replies here, sadly, confirm this. I think you would be kind to offer but might not get very far.

I volunteer with a charity called school readers so maybe see if school are aware of this
As for a year 3 being unable to read I'm actually on 4th year with this age and every year there is more than 1 in the class unable to read

As the parent of a child with SENDs - you need to fight for everything. And i mean everything. Schools have no resources, so what little there is goes to the kids who’s parents fight for it.
The only reason she gets the intervention session is likely because she misbehaves. If she wouldn’t, she would get absolutely nothing.

Volunteering to read is a great thing to do but they are unlikely to give you that particular child and often will want you to work with an unconnected year group. I do half a day a week at my children’s primary school (they have all moved on now) with a group of Yr1 children. I tend to have the same 10 children for a year (with a bit of swapping about as they reassess who needs help). You are quite right to say it’s a big problem if they go up to KS2 unable to read as it affects how they access everything else. Teachers just don’t have the time to read 1-2-1 with every child frequently. It may well be that there is a specific learning difficulty with the child you noticed that needs more specialist intervention than a well meaning parent. Take it as a sign from the universe to get involved and help where you can!

I did this when my DC were about 7 and 8. I went into school to listen to children read and discovered that one lad was really struggling. I worked 2 days a week so offered to go in before the end of the school day to hear him read. It was agreed that I would do this and asked to work with another boy in the class too. I know nothing about teaching reading, though I am a retired academic. I loved doing it and the boys also enjoyed it. After a few weeks I was asked to take on another child.
I do think that the extra time reading was helpful. I did it because, like the OP, I want to help these children have a better time in school. One of my DC struggled with reading and I did everything that I could think of to help them too.

This is what years and years of chronic underfunding does!

This would have been shocking 10 years ago. But sadly, all too normal now. No money to pay TAs for intervention. No funding for SEN support. No external services with capacity. Teacher's pushed to their limits with no capacity to do anymore than their already (multiple) full plates.

I teach in a school with excellent SATS results despite high levels of deprivation and it's really not remarkable to have a handful of Y3 children who can't read. Even with interventions most days, some children really do struggle with reading at this age.