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?

Do you have training in reading interventions or teaching phonics?
If you have time to spare then volunteer to hear readers at school. I’m sure they’d be grateful. However, unless you have specific training then you are unlikely to be helpful to this particular child. School are unlikely to allow you to come in to just work with this one child. Even with a dbs they may not allow you work in a separate space. Wanting to help is lovely but you need to be more general in what you are offering.

OP I can see your concern comes from the right place, but some children have dyslexia or other difficulties that mean learning to read takes a long time or never happens. The teacher isn't going to be able to share what intervention this child is having or whether she is receiving any intervention. That is confidential information. I work with some adults who have received interventions at school and still struggle to read. You are kind to offer to help, but that doesn't give you the right to chose who you help or know which child is having what help for what reason.

None of your business and I’m aghast that you thought it remotely appropriate to talk to a member of staff.

Not only is it none of your business, it’s also not as rare as you think. I teach secondary and we have kids who have been through the English primary school system with a reading age of 5 on entering KS3.

Are you sure your concern is not rooted in thinking that this child’s lack of literacy could impact on your own dc?

This is wild. Its even worse the TA discussed with you. Your heart is probably in the right place but your perspective is judgemental. I think the best way forward is to be kind, teach your child to be kind, but stay in your own lane. Im certain the child, their family and the school have it covered.

I think you need to keep a very open mind op. What you may see as helping might in some cases be really detrimental.
One of my children has definitely spent some time behind academically at school. This was part of a strategic plan to reduce all demands on them. They had more than enough on their plate juggling a very difficult overwhelming environment and audhd. To of increased their reading focus at that time at school or at home would of meant too much pressure and then school refusal. It would of been so detrimental to their learning progress it would of stop it all together. Now that my child is starting to feel more comfortable in school reading is falling in to place naturally and most importantly in a enjoyable way! My child is actually far ahead in a lot of skills that I see adults struggle with! Just because a child isn't hitting milestones in a way you might be used to op doesn't mean they aren't progressing. It just may look a little different. Ofcourse no one here is going to be able to know the true picture for this little girl you've seen a snapshot of.

I think you'd be better off approaching school and asking how you could support the school or if they had any suggestions of how you could support this child anonymously. Although still very difficult and they aren't necessarily going to give you any information.

Please take a moment to think how judged the parents might feel if you was to approach them or the school mentioned your concerns. They may well be welcoming of support but it needs a serious well thought out plan to approach. There could be a thousand things you aren't aware of op.

While I appreciate the sentiment OP, as the parent of a Y3 child who cannot read, I would be downright furious if those comments were made about my child, my parenting or about what was or wasn't happening in school.

While I appreciate you want to help, this isn't your place. I am aware of the issues surrounding lack of support/funding etc for SEND children, and the level of push often needed for the right support to be put in place (or indeed any support at all).

You say the family have a lot going on, so they're not advocating for their child, but you cannot possibly know this.

We must look like pure chaos to an outsider, we're late on a morning at least once a week due to school avoidance issues. I'm often 5 minutes late for pickup if my bus from work is cancelled and I need to get the next one. My daughter has explosive meltdowns, trying to communicate with her during these just escalates the situation. All people see is me often late, always with a child 'kicking off' with me doing nothing other than getting her from A to B.

What's actually happening is coordinated and consistent responses between myself and the school where we coregulate as best we can uo until she has to physically move between home and school, make the transition/transport as quick as possible to get her into a controlled environment where she can continue focused regulation activities. She has access to a sensory space and safe adults at home and school, she goes straight into those on arrival, and has as long as she needs there to regulate before a soft transition into class or until she chooses what she wants to do after school.

She had an EHCP, and the interventions/services involved run into double figures. I do not look like I am remotely in control of anything to an outsider. Most days I cry after dropping her off, because it goes against instinct to walk away from your crying child. Yet I am across absolutely everything. School do not share with other parents, and I have only shared with two other parents, only one from the school my children are at. There are a multitude of things going on in the background that nobody sees, and we're slowly making progress. Meltdowns outside of the travelling time to and from school are rare now. But it's the public ones that are yet to improve. To the outsider, I don't do anything, and things aren't improving. But that simply isn't the case.

I appreciate that you mean well, and I really don't mean this post to sound unpleasant, but acting like you can swoop in and fix everything with a bit of volunteer phonics after being in the vicinity of this child for one reading session is not okay, and likely not correct.

My younger child couldn’t read fluently until y6/7 and still has a reading age of about 7-8. We worked on it daily and both parents have humanities degrees, I have a masters. Our other child read at 4yo and we have a house full of books. Younger one is so dyslexic/dyspraxic that none of this helped - we did feel very judged by other parents!

100% this. First post nails it.

I hear you. I wonder if you could tell the teacher you’d be happy to do some reading with the children, mentioning no names.

In your original post, you ask for "any thoughts?" ... but seem annoyed by people (many of whom have experience of working in school, or who have children who have struggled with reading)... offering their thoughts.
It is obvious you are coming from a good place, and want to help, but that doesn't take away from some of the very valid points that have been made.
If you want to volunteer in school to see readers, this is great. We have several parents in our school who do this.. the school decide which year group, and have a list of children to work through. In the case of our school, this would probably not include some of the children who are having specific interventions. It would also not include phonics interventions... for which the TAs and teachers have training, and work to specific targets.
I am surprised that the teacher or TA shared the information that she did with you.. although a school is a community, there will be information that should not be shared with other parents, however caring their intentions may be.
Schools are stretched and funding is appalling and volunteering to help with general reading with children or to do activities like gardening, sewing etc is a fantastic way of contributing to children's wellbeing in schools. However, things like phonics interventions and targeted reading interventions with specific children are the job of a TA... and at a time when Teaching Assistants are underpaid and cut from many schools, I think there is an issue with letting parents volunteer to do work, which should be done by Teaching Assistants who have received training and who are fighting to have their roles recognised and fairly paid to reflect the vital support they provide.

Op I’m a teacher and there are children in ks2 who are massively behind with their reading. Sometimes we have children who can barely read. Let me tell you we have done years and years of support - 1:1 reading daily, volunteers who come in given reading sessions with specific children, small group interventions, games involving phonics, tailored interventions to support specific children, working with parents to encourage learning at home, reward charts for reading at home, the list goes on.

A teacher will mention a child to another teacher and they know how much was done to support them previously because it has been passed on and often other staff have seen children receiving extra support.

There are children who have left my class who haven’t made the progress I wish they had but my time has got to be given to all 30 to ensure they all make progress. I promise you I have worked so hard to help them and they’ve made progress but not enough to catch up.

If you offered me your help I’d use you to support lower ability children who struggle but not the most complex children because we’re more than likely already doing a lot to support them and it’s the children on the lower end of middle that often miss out.

@Rainallnight well done for questioning this. It’s absolutely not right and it absolutely happens a lot more than people realise - the reasons are numerous and it’s unlikely to be the teacher’s fault but rather resources/poor adhesion to phonics programs as well as lack of enrichment at home.

99% of students should be reading by the end of year two.

Fact is our schools are in crisis - unable to retain good staff and too busy spaffing money on fads and PR to reinvent the wheel and compete with each other to get bums in seats than actually focus on the boring old pedagogy.

these pupils get written off time and time again and it’s chalked up to their background or some sen they get labelled with way down the line because frankly they’re so behind on everything… I’ve seen it and I’ve seen them arriving in secondary school still illiterate where the resources available are even less adapted to what they need.

people saying leave well alone people don’t realise what a state our system is in.

😪