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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

DS2 (yr1) is a lovely bright child who can't read

10 replies

sameagain · 21/10/2008 22:02

Parents evening yesterday - didn't really learn anything I didn't already know, but made me think about it more.

Ds2's teacher described him as an enigma. He is apparently lovely to have in class, very happy, loads of friends, well behaved, doing well in numeracy,loves science, asks intelligent questions, can suggest what should be done next, interested in everything..... except reading and writing.

He does now (just) know all his letters, although he sometimes gets u & n and m & w muddled and can sound out phonetic words. He was given sight words to learn in reception, which I have practiced with him religiously everyday, but whilst he can get them all right by sounding them out, he cant look at and and say and, only a n d = and ifyswim. He also reads to me from a book and I read to him daily.

Teacher is concerned at lack of progress, esp in view of all the help he gets at home and has put him in SN group for reading, which is good news I suppose, if it gets him help. Anything else I should be doing?

BTW I played a forfeit game with him this afternoon and whilst he couldn't read the forfeits, he could look at them after the game and say I got that one - you got that one, so he is recognising words, but can't say what they are?

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mabanana · 21/10/2008 22:04

How was he taught to read at school?

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foofi · 21/10/2008 22:07

None of what you say sounds like much of a problem for a boy in Y1. Give it time!

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sameagain · 21/10/2008 22:16

The school use something called ERR, which is a mixture of phonetics and learning the most common keywords by sight.

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mabanana · 21/10/2008 22:17

You know what, I'd buy the full set of Jolly Phonics from Amazon and do it at home. It is the best way to teach reading, fun, simply and you can do it. I think all this sight reading is a disaster for many children.

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CarGirl · 21/10/2008 22:20

Could he be dyslexic??? I only say this because I know someone who as a child knew all the story books off by heart and it was only one day that she was given a brand new book that she got found out as not being able to read?

Could he be recognising the pattern of the words of the forfeits rather than reading the words?

Just a random thought tbh

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sameagain · 21/10/2008 22:24

That's what I thought CarGirl, but teacher says it's too early to be concerned on that score.

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mabanana · 21/10/2008 22:33

Seriously, try teh Jolly Phonics. He needs to go right back to basics. Do it instead of the sight words.

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ScummyMummy · 21/10/2008 22:33

I'm a believer in the sudden developmental "click" often being the key to acquiring skills, as long as kids get plenty of opportunities to have a go at stuff in a stress free way. I think the important thing here is not to panic and not to let him see you are worried. Keep praising and making it as fun as possible and keep letting him know what a clever and hardworking fabster he is. Try and keep his confidence up. The big danger here is him losing confidence, not failing to learn to read, imo. It might well click for him later in the year. As someone else said, it is not unknown for little boys particularly to be in this position well into years one and two. One of my boys was not really reading that much at all at the beginning of Y1 but something had shifted bigtime by the end.

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ScareyBitchFeast · 21/10/2008 22:36

i didn't think there should be any worry until they are 7. my dd was slow to learn but overnight it seemed it "clicked".
on the special needs table has to be good doesnt it, it will help.
can you speak to senco?
didnt teacher give any good advice?

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christywhisty · 21/10/2008 22:41

Both DH and DS are dyslexic and had problems with sightwords. They both read well now. Dh not until he was 10 because they did not do phonics until then with him. DS was taught jolly phonics from the beginning with sightwords for the words that can't be decoded.
Your DS sounds just like my DS at that age. Reading really clicked when he was 7 in Yr2 and he really took off. He still has problems with mainly spelling for which he has had a lot of extra help over the year, but is doing really well in secondary in top set, excels in humanities and science but struggles a bit with MFL, but that I think is because too much is expected of him.