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

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

Primary education

6 yo - READING doesn't seem to 'click'

18 replies

joburg · 03/05/2009 11:29

I posted this in the wrong place at first but I am a bit desperate, so here i come again. DD, 6 (knows the alphabet, every single letter of it) started reading lessons in school last october, but she still can't put a consonant next to a vowel and read them together! She reads M,A,M,I and the word turns out as market, or whatever else starts with M. SIT turns out as POT and so on. How shall i help her? It took her ages to figure it out that bed starts with B, dog with D, she never seemed to make real sense of this either. Should we look into a real problem or is it just us and the school?

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memoo · 03/05/2009 12:53

Try not to worry, some children just take longer than others for it to click.

My DD was like this at age 6, I would see friends children with these hard reading books and yet DD would be struggling with even the basics.

She's 10 now and when she was about 8 it really did suddenly just click. She is now a really competant reader and gets top marks at school for literacy.

Just keep practising with your daughter and reading lots with her. Try not to make it a big issue because the last thing you want to do is make her think there is a problem

You're doing great and your DD will get there in the end

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mrz · 03/05/2009 14:00

You say your DD knows the alphabet ~ do you mean the sounds (phonemes) or letter names?

I would recommend looking at Phonics International the first phase is free.

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seeker · 04/05/2009 18:30

My ds couldn't read much at 6 - he is now 8 and can read anything.

Some of them just gradually learn, some of them go from not being about to read to being able to read practically overnight.

What does her teacher say?

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catrion · 05/05/2009 19:17

Can she actually hear sounds? Try these questions with her:

if you take away the "c" from "cat" what are you left with?

do "pen" and "pipe" begin with the same sound?

What word do we get if we put these sounds together : "s" "a" "t"?

What is the first sound in "rose"?

Is there a "k" sound in "bike"?

What sound do you hear in "meat" that is missing in "eat"?

What sounds do you hear in the word "hot"?

How many sounds do you hear in the word "bake"?

Which of these word starts with a different sound: "bag"; "nine"; "beach"; "bike.?

this is a test of phonological awareness for children 6-8 years. If she can answer correctly she can "hear" the sounds ok and iit is a matter of time, as others have said.

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joburg · 10/05/2009 11:04

Catrion, thanks for the tip, will try it on her as soon as she comes back from school. Tried everething else but this. She seems to be able to read sound by sound but cannot connect them ... Not yet, after months and months of practicising!

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mrsmaidamess · 10/05/2009 11:06

Is she getting any extra intervention to help with her blending? Schools usually have lots of different games and resources to support this.

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joburg · 10/05/2009 13:37

mrsmaidamess, i have no idea about it. I attended a 'reading workshop' for our children and that was all i heard from the school. they also told us that we should not worry about 'our children's reading will click' thing, it will come when it comes, but never heard more than that from them. they do work on the phonics system as mrz recommends, and DD does read each sound according to it. BUT HOW DO I TEACH HER TO CONNECT THE SOUNDS TOGETHER and acctually make sense of what she is reading???

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mrsmaidamess · 10/05/2009 13:42

In my school, if a child was really struggling with blending it would have been flagged up by now and some strategies put in place. Does your school do phonics?

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joburg · 10/05/2009 14:17

our school do phonics, as i already mentioned. but i wouldn't be here if i could still hope for some help from our school (we are in a far away country, and even if the school goes by the british curriculum, the rules are not the same). i'm just asking for help since we cannot expect more from the teachers as i already talked about.

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clayre · 10/05/2009 14:25

My dd is also 6 and in the last fortnight has gone from the bottom reading group to the top one, she also couldnt link the letters to make words, its was so frustrating for her and us tryingto help her but she just suddenly started doing it overnight, i dont know what made it click into place for her, her teacher hadnt done anything different or gave her any extra help, i think its just a waiting game!

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ellingwoman · 10/05/2009 14:26

Make sure she is secure with blending 2-letter words first before attempting anything else. Also some children can't hear the connection if they are not pronouncing the sounds corrrectly. e.g. 'L' is more of an 'uul' sound than a 'luh' sound.

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Feenie · 10/05/2009 14:33

Look here for blending games, joburg, in particular the sound button ones. Press the buttons to make the sounds, press them more quickly, and quicker still to blend them together to make words. Press the buttons backwards and read the word it makes. Put sounds together to make nonsense words. And keep, keep practising - it will hopefully click soon!

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thecloudhopper · 10/05/2009 19:03

This is were I personally fall out with phonics. The fact is in my experience all be it as a TA is that many children don't get how the sounds work in words I now still struggle with the concept. I would perhaps suggest making flashcards of common words as an aid to her reading.

These are the 50 common words we like our reception top learn from sight.

a all am and are at away big can cat come dad
day dog for get go going he I in is it like
look me mum my no of on play said see she
the they this to up was we went yes you

I would do 5 to begin with and when they have learnt those keep adding to them.

I also like to make sentences with the words to put them into contect so for example I might put together the words No MUM or HE IS BIG ect

Keep going with the phonics as well Dont dwell too much most prob she will just come .

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catrion · 11/05/2009 10:13

If she cannot do the sounds test I suugested, I would we wondering about dyslexia screening (sorry - you are going tohate me for saying this). If she has been struggling for monthys and months to blend simple words like "mum". "dad"; bed etc, I would want some further investigation. However, even if the dreaded D is an issue, there is still no substitute (that I know of) for keeping on with the sounds. It may take longer to click but how will she ever learn to decode if she just learns words by sight? (Not that that is not important too, especially with the English language where some words just cannot be sounded out). At the school where I work we have a "5 minute box" - essentially a bag of plastic letters. The child puts out the letters in an alphabet arc, giving the name of each. Then get her to give you the sound of each. Then ask her to pick out a consonant/vowel/consonant word like "mum". Then put the letters back in their place. Do this for 5 minutes per day - no more or the child will get really freaked out. Concentrate on these CVC word until she has got it. Sometimes physically handling the letters helps children to connect with the sounds. At the same time the 5 Minute box has "keywords" which the child just learns by sight - like down, about - words they cannot do by phonics.

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catrion · 11/05/2009 19:29

thecloudhopper - just looking over what you said about struggling with the concept of how the sounds work in words. My expereince with yr 5 and 6 non readers is that it is the vowels which fox them. They need to understand the sound of "a" as in mad, and then why it changes to "a" as in "made." (we call it magic E). Aame applies to "o" as in cod/code; us/use; pin/pine. They need lots of practice, first with the basic sound - mad, bad etc etc. Then introducing the magic E effect. Then they need to look at "ea" as in "each." (two vowels go walking, the first vowel does the talking); same for "ai" as in rain; and "oa" as in "boat." If they can get their heads around those, they are going to have a good start. Have a look at the JJ Educational materials - the Fat Cat booklets. I find them very acceptable to the children - and blessedly short.

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thecloudhopper · 11/05/2009 20:02

I know that catrion but even after that has been drummed in in my experence reverting back to the old flashcards does help. I also ask questions like How do I know that that word is big and not pig and they then learn to identify the sound change ect but some children do not see the sound in the word however much you try. I don't even now. So by learning key words from sight does help.

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catrion · 12/05/2009 21:06

cloudhopper - yeah, flashcards are great and definitely have their place. but....I see quite a few kids who can read a lot of words but are completely stumped when they meet a new word because they don't know/have forgotten how to decode. They have to know the sounds however long it takes to get there. But if you are struggling with this, how can you help them? Is there not someone sympathetic within your school who could help? It sounds like you have a barrier....

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Curiousmama · 12/05/2009 21:09

Agree with seeker, ds2 couldn't read much at 6, is 8 now and loves to read, he gets 2 books off the teacher

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