Reception child not meeting phonics targets, how concerned should I be?

[phonicsorswim]

My reception ds had his second parents’ evening yesterday and he isn’t quite where he needs to be in terms of phonics and reading. I’m a little unclear about what exactly the issues are. He is able to read and blend basic words fairly easily and can recognise some digraphs although he still needs to practice.

I guess maybe the problem is consistency. I’ve noticed when I read with him he starts off well and then attention wanders and he just shouts whatever word comes to mind - it’s frustrating as this evening he spelled out and the end correctly blended ‘picks’ twice then the third time it appeared he just couldn’t seem to get it and kept saying has and fast which clearly are nothing like picks!

I am just fretting a bit that he’s really behind. Can any reception teachers reassure me?

DS could barely talk when he started Reception, so reading was not a priority, speech therapy was. He certainly could not read the word 'pick' at this point last year. He could barely do the basics, so he ended his reception year technically 'behind'.

A year later, he's in year 1 and his teacher said he smashed the practice phonics assessment they did recently. He was one of the higher scorers (she told me that because I didn't expect such a high score and was visibly shocked- all teachers have been amazing with DS' speech journey since preschool, so they share my shock and awe). I can't say I'm doing anything special with him. I'm probably exercising more patience than your average parent because he hates getting a word wrong. After getting him to try again, I need to be patient and wait for him to move onto the next word after any corrections. Sigh. It's getting better though. He's starting to bounce back quicker and this will soon be a non issue.

Give it time. It's too early. Same with reading. Despite reading to him daily, my eldest was in reading intervention classes in Year 1 due to being behind targets. 5 years later he's one of 6 working at greater depth for reading (in the same class).

@Mischance i am asking for advice on something quite specific and I’m sure you have a really good point but it isn’t what I’m asking about. If we could maybe move on? I’m not planning on stopping reading to him and as I was typing this my Waterstones order for Easter arrived 😅

Thanks, all. I’ll keep practicing and try to fit it in at a better time of day. My main worry is not so much him being a bit behind but more that this then becomes a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy with children losing confidence. So good readers become better readers as they are confident and enjoy it but the reverse is true with not so confident readers.

That’s really encouraging @VariousPears , thanks for that. I’m glad he’s doing so well now

Firstly, don’t panic. We all appreciate kids develop at slightly different speeds until they get to school and then we start hearing ‘behind’ and panic. I’d try to up practising first before worrying anything bigger is going on. Reading isn’t always the easiest option post school as they are so tired! Here are some other ways to practise - you’ll need to buy/make some phonics cards!

• lay the sounds of the table and get him to splat (high five) the one you call out.
• lay a word out and get him to sound out each sound, then use a toy car to ‘zoom’ over them and blend the word together
• pop the sound cards on the floor and get him to jump on the one you call out
• put sound cards on the wall of your stairs and he shouts the sound as he steps on the step. You can even put the sound on handprint shapes so he can high five them too!
• if you have a magnetic fishing game, put paper clips on the sound cards and he can pick up the ones you call out.

Basically, lots of practise with the sounds will help him spot them reading and the car game will help him blend. These are just a few ways of practising phonics without just sitting and reading! Let me know if more would help x

He won't develop any attention span unless you are willing for him to get a bit bored sometimes.

Thanks @PinkBobby . I really appreciate that.

@CeleriacRoot , he is five, he does understand that sometimes boredom is part of life such as when we’re waiting in a queue or at the dentist or having a haircut. The point here isn’t ’I don’t want my ds to be bored’, it’s that when he’s bored his attention wanders and then he just shouts out random words or letters that bear no resemblance to the ones in front of him. So the whole process then takes forever. It’s better to do it at a different time but it’s hard finding a time that works.

Please don't worry. If he can blend CVC when he concentrates and recognises some digraphs he's not a million miles off. He has another term to keep honing those skills.

I imagine his teacher hasn't marked him on track, currently, as his guessing suggests he's not quite secure with the blending yet. He can do it, but not consistently yet (which is still very normal at this stage of the year). Only half of my Reception class are currently 'on track' for expected in Word Reading, but I know most of them will get there as they're at a similar stage in their development to your son. The blending is just starting to click, but they're not total confident with it yet).

Continued practise will get him there. Keep reading every night with him and his teachers will keep working on it in school. If he was in my Reception class, I'd be confident of him being expected for Word Reading by the end of June, when the judgement against the Early Learning Goal is made, from the information you've given.

How many sight words does he know? Work on this too, as it will help to develop his fluency. They are expected to know some common exception words too, so if he doesn't know many yet that might be another reason why he has currently been judged as not on track for the Early Learning Goal.

Spring 2 and the Summer term are generally where the most accelerated progress occurs in Reception, especially in reading and writing, so please don't worry. I've known so many children over the years who still haven't 'clicked' with Reading by the Easter holidays go on to achieve the Early Learning Goal in June. Once it clicks, their progress is generally quite rapid.

Have him read his reader to you in the morning before school and also at night after school and a snack.

Nothing is as good as the child, themselves, doing extra practise. Be patient and kind. They are never to feel that they are causing you boredom.

Adding to what a PP has said finding ways to cement that knowledge without him feeling it’s a chore is key.

We use a lot of bingo type games and similar just to get children practising recall of the digraphs. When they recognise them it will help massively with the reading side of things.

Thanks @BoleynMemories13 . At a guess maybe twenty sight words?

Is, and, I, into, they, the, to, of, no, my, all, my, there are more.

Oh that's plenty to meet the Early Learning Goal (although obviously the more they know the more fluent they become, so keep plugging away with it). He, she, we, me, be are easy wins once they pick up the rhyming pattern.

Thanks - prioritise those this holiday then!

I feel we’ve made a good start; I read with him this morning but I stopped when I could see his attention was starting to wander. (And the two year old came crashing in!) we then read a book before lunch which we tend to do when he’s home and got him to identify tricky words rather than passively listening. And I’ll save the passive stuff for bedtime 👍🏻

Most phonics schemes have Reception children finishing the phase 3 digraphs at this stage. That includes vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, er, ur, ear, air, oi, ow, as well as consonent digraphs, th, ch, sh, ng. Whilst there is no need to panic as there will be some consolidiation later, I suggest you pick up a pack of Little Wandle or Read Write Inc cards to practise at home (depeding on scheme followed by the school). If he is struggling with the concept of two graphemes making one phoneme, show how mixing red and yellow colours makes orange etc to help him understand that two knowns can make something new when mixed together. You can quite easily find the tricky words for each phase too to sypport him with his learning.

My first child was an early reader, before reception and he is August born. He was well above average in ks1, average in ks2. My second (8) didn’t remember the letters couldn’t blend words until six and now he’s average in his class. These difficulties made him resilient and hard working. My third is a bit behind at the moment. He can’t pay attention and finds it boring and difficult.

I’m not worried. Kids develop at different paces and they catch up with the right support and being an early reader doesn’t make a difference when they all are learned reading fluently.

For us, what works is keeping it simple and consistent. Just a few minutes a day, making it relaxed and even a bit fun. It doesn’t have to be school books, anything they enjoy reading is enough even just simple words written on a paper. there is a lot of fun ideas on the internet.

Little and often makes the difference. And love of learning, establishing routine early on is more important.

Children learn to decode at different rates - for some it seems effortless, for others (like mine) it takes more practice - these are some of the things that helped us:

If you are struggling with a regular reading routine, then that is the first thing to focus on - having a regular daily time where he reads to you (if you aim for daily then it doesn’t matter if you miss a day). I found it helped having a solid routine where my DC read the words they were confident with & sounded out the ones that they weren’t, which I made as low key as possible. It was along the lines of you read to me then I read [a picture / story book] to you. If he is reluctant to sound out, then you can sound out together. It’s worth checking to see if your school uses a reading scheme with actions (like Jolly Phonics & ReadWriteInc) as you can do the actions together when you sound out which makes it more fun.

You are aiming for him to read confidently & feel successful - if he can only manage a short passage then stop before he gets bored & build it up later when his confidence grows. It’s worth checking that the book is at the right level as he shouldn’t be sounding out all the words (there is an optimum amount of sounding out (decoding) but I can’t remember what that is off hand). It’s also worth trying to notice how often words are reused between the reading books. Some schemes do this (so words you meet in one book are recycled in the next) but others not so much. If the reading scheme isn’t recycling words then he will have to sound out more.

It’s also worth finding out about the scheme the school uses so you understand the sequence they will introduce words. They may have information on their website for parents. One really helpful thing is watching a video clip of correct phonic punctuation (it’s really easy to put an “uh” sound (schwa vowel) on the end of some consonants, which makes them harder to blend).

There are also lots of phonics threads on MN, where some very kind expert posters have shared lots of info (I found these invaluable). I do think it’s helpful to know the scheme the school works with, but it’s also useful to have a more general knowledge of phonics as all the schemes are aiming to do the same thing.

School may also be able to suggest fun activities that you can do to support him alongside reading - one suggestion from our school that I used a lot was sounding out words when talking to them eg “Do you want a d-r-I-n-k”). Others have been suggested on this thread too. (I’m fairly certain that our school’s list was made up of activities from the original Letters and Sounds from 2007 that you can find on the government’s website). If you aren’t clear what the issues are then it is probably worth talking to school again so that you are clearer on their concerns and what they want to do.

Good luck (& lots of sympathy)!

How well does he sit still?

I helped out with reception for a while. There was a kid who just wasn't interested in reading. It totally depended on his mood as to what he did.

Some days, or after a bit of bargaining he would concentrate long enough to show he could do it if he wanted to put his mind to it.

Most days though, he'd rather wander off and just didn't even try. He'd just make up anything and giggle. He was a bloody nightmare. It was clear he wasn't stupid and could do it - he just didn't want to on demand.

He was frustrating because he could do it occasionally if he tried. He just didn't want to.

He really really wasn't ready. And tbh I think one of the major issues was that the books for phonics are just so dull and shit.

On days you got his attention he would engage. The phonics books just weren't engaging. They were a chore. They are bloody awful books.

So I would absolutely stress finding books which are engaging and reading though with your son - and remembering how utterly dry and unengaging the phonics books are. I think there are certain kids they really don't suit and you have to find an alternative way into getting them wanting to read and finding reading fun forgetting about the formalities. Get the right book and they will engage more and eventually get it.

I think the issue with the testing comes down to this - it can be hard to tell who is struggling and who isn't engaging purely from the screening. It only tells you part of the story. If you have a child who does engage and is seeming to try but struggling that's an entirely different prospect to one who just doesn't want to sit with you and try and read. I think the kids that try but don't progress at all are more concerning than the ones who just aren't interested.

I recommend the 'My Bum' books for reception kids that won't engage. There's nothing like a fart jokes to get attention!

DS wasn't as bad as this, but he certainly wasn't the best reader in reception. We got him into books with comic books cos he hated everything they had in school. Even the none phonics books. Dogman helped him a huge amount and I know it was a game changer for a few of his peers in yr1/yr2. There's quite a few more options for younger kids now too than there were even a couple of years ago. Taking DS to a bookshop and letting him pick something suitable himself was also something that helped because it almost made him invested in the book from the start. (Library didn't work for us unfortunately - various reasons including not liking the look of the books in the library but finding the book shop ones interesting - the 'good' library books never seemed to be available so if he couldn't get what he wanted he sulked.)

I don't think it's a disaster but keep on top of it and keep trying. I found that having the kids read to me was interesting. They'd struggle and not get it until one day it just clicked and suddenly they were off and there was a lightbulb moment. That moment is fab btw. Especially if they have struggled.

My child seemed confused by blending and I also was confused by it. Anyway early on she was behind, she was very interested in reading and books but I always felt like the phonics system didn’t fit with her. But regardless I read to her a lot and she now has a very high reading level at 13 and is exceptionally good academically in general.

My son had no interest in books at all but reading slightly rude books about poo and bums kept his attention on it.

If he can blend words and a few consonant digraphs at the moment I wouldn’t be too worried. It’ll just take time and practice.

I also wouldn’t worry too much about not being able to recognise ‘picks’ or any other word the third time he comes across it. A few children might be able to but it’s a bit much to expect most children to be able to read every new word by ‘sight’ after only meeting it a couple of times. As his blending gets better he’ll get quicker and more fluent and this should become less of an issue.

Just saying the first word that comes into his head is the thing I would watch. You want to make sure blending is his first (and only tbh) approach to reading any unfamiliar word. It may be he’s fine at the start but gets tired and starts to do this. If that’s the case I’d just stop. Better to read half well than the whole book but pick up bad habits. If you think it’s not tiredness turn it into a game. He gets a point for sentences read correctly. You get one if he just randomly guesses words.

Don’t forget that reading can be done anywhere. It doesn’t have to be a book. You can get him to read out CVC words in the environment, practice with magnetic letter, the ones you can get for the bath, post it notes with letters /digraphs written on. The key thing is just lots of practice. Some children just need more than others.

I just want to reassure you that one of my children was really quite slow to learn to read. He is now a voracious reader. For him it didn’t ‘click’ until mid year 2. Best thing I did was focus on reading stories at home so that his motivation didn’t wane. I intentionally didn’t do loads of phonic practice etc as I’ve seen as a teacher that can actually put lots of children off reading entirely.

Here are some tips that I used when I did a toddler and reception child (and baby! So have had the distraction thing twice!).

Go for little and often - don’t have to read the whole book in one go.
Keep it silly - even at this age encourage him to put on voices/laugh at the pictures.
Use vocab lists along with sound mats. We ticked off the soundmats as they became secure. They loved being allowed to tick!
read everywhere! Write them notes - encourage them to write you notes. Joke books are great!

Good luck - it sounds like you’re doing a great job already.

@RedToothBrush thanks - it’s true, they aren’t exciting. He isn’t quite that bad: he wouldn’t walk off, but there’s no denying he’s a wriggler and while his body doesn’t wander his mind certainly does!

I discovered last night he’s quite confident with ‘oo’ (was able to decode ‘poo’ quite confidently 😂) but needs practice with ‘Oi.’ I think I do need to work out exactly where the gaps are and practice lots.

Thanks all, this has been a really helpful thread.

I also had a two year old when my DC1 was in Reception and found in the morning over breakfast to be the best time to practise reading as, like your DS, mine was tired by the time his sister was asleep and trying to have him read with her there at bedtime was a nightmare as she just kept interrupting with random sounds! He will be fresh in the morning and may find it easier to concentrate, plus two year old can be given porridge / toast etc to keep them quiet!

Talk to school about which graphemes he is struggling with. We regularly check with the children and then send home which ones we feel they would benefit from practicing more.

Do you know which phonics scheme they use?

Yes - Little Wandle.

My dd couldn’t manage phonics at all . By this time last year she didn’t know one sound and the school suggested repeating reception. Now she’s doing amazingly well.