Helping an OK but recultant reader make progress

[LadyPenelope]

DD is 9, in year 4. In Y3 she was assessed at reading at her level/6 months ahead. She is making slow progress in Y4 - reads OK but not fluently, misses words in sentences and doesn't notice, finds it hard to decode long words, halting reading tone etc. Teacher describes her as having plateaued. Think this is also now affecting her comprehension which they have started in class and also her story writing and spelling.

Want to help her but with 2 parents working full time it's hard to have the time. Anyone got any advice. She reads every day (20 mins) and we read with her most nights ... but feel like we need to do more.

Appreciate any advice
TIA

I've no advice as such, only a suggestion.

What about getting her a comic/magazine type thing aimed at something she's interested in? There are loads in whsmiths.

It might be she has no interest in much of the content of the books she reading and a comic might just enthusise her abit more?

I agree with Furball. Trying different types of literature could be a good idea as children often get bored with school readers. I know I would.

Don't worry too much at this point if the teacher thinks she has plateaued. Children do not progress in a linear fashion. They can seem to be going no where then leap ahead. Obviously if this goes on for a while then raise your concerns with her teacher once again.

To try and keep her on track with her comprehension skills while her reading is catching up you could try asking her about tv programs she has been watching. It will use similar skills. Ask questions such as;
What happened?
Why did so and so do this?
What where they feeling?
What might they be thinking?
How could you tell?
What might happen next?

If you are watching a film that you have seen but she hasn't you can stop it part way through and ask her to make predictions about how the film is going to end and then discuss how it turned out.

Thanks Furball and Soapboxqueen
Those are both good thoughts - we don't live in UK, so WHSmiths not an option, but there are comics available or we could do a subscription and it's a good thought that it might enthuse her more.
And Soapboxqueen - thanks for the reminder that it's not linear ... you are right of course ... wish the teacher had said that! DD is a hard working little keen bean, and it's a shame to see her not enjoying it at the moment ... like the idea of the movies for comprehension.

It's one of those times when it feels tough to be working full time... but in reality she's tired after school anyway, so that's probably not the real issue.

Anyway, rambling now, so thanks!

Books are probably too hard for her and she doesn't have decoding and blending skills secure. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she hasn't been memorising whole words and mostly getting by on memory. Now texts may be getting harder/less predictable.

Get her some decodable books which she can be successful at reading and ensure that she uses decoding and blending as her only strategy for working out unfamiliar words. Don't let her read inaccurately; you'll be storing up all sorts of problems for the future if you do.

Keep reading sessions really short and as much fun as you can make them.

Children don't 'plateau' with reading; they reach a point at which they no longer find it easy. You need to be asking why she isn't finding it easy...

If she is a normal, bright child with a good vocabulary and a healthy interest in life (i.e asks questions and understands and uses the information she gets in answer) she doesn't need to be 'taught' comprehension. This is such a modern and unnecessary obsession. Bothering children with questions about what they are reading/watching all the time must be the biggest turn off ever for them and must make them long for you to go away ...

MaizieD that is exactly what we mean by plateau. They were finding learning the previous skills easy and now some of the new skills are taking a little more time. Not all reading methods call on the same skills and they do not take the same amount of time to learn. To suggest that there has to be a major reason why when she might just need a little more time is just silly.

Of course the child should be challenged when they skip a word but if her comprehension skills were better she would realise that the sentence she had just read didn't make sense anyway. Reading words from memory is a reading skill, a basic one, but a skill none the less. Most reading schemes build up vocabulary slowly so there will be many words she has seen many, many times before and a handful she won't have. This does not mean the book is too hard. She just needs to be encouraged to go back over the words and use her other reading skills to try and work it out.

To say comprehension is a modern obsession is really shocking to me. One of the biggest issues I've ever had with children who were under performing with reading was that they could read any word put in front of them but couldn't work out the meaning of what they had just read! I love your concept that all children will pick up every skill they need by osmosis. Why bother have schools at all.

I was not suggesting that children be harassed when reading or watching the tv. Asking a child what happened in a book once they have finished reading or talking about home and away over dinner is hardly 'bothering' them. Also asking a child about what they have been doing shows interest and promotes social skills.

I'm afraid that when someone says that their child is finding decoding difficult ("finds it hard to decode long words," were the OP's actual words) then it tells me that the child is having problems. Decoding is a skill which should have been taught from the very start of learning to read and if the child finds it difficult in Y4 there is definitely a problem!

Reading words 'from memory' is not a 'skill' it is a handicap when combined with the sort of reading scheme you seem to be describing which is full of repetitive text. Words should be going into memory through the decoding and blending route, not through multiple repetitions to encourage a 'visual' memory of them. This sort of reading scheme works against independent reading and produces the sort of child who says 'I don't know this word'. they don't have to know any word, just have the skills to decode and blend it.

If you find my views on 'comprehension' shocking, I can tell you that I find the modern obsession with it equally shocking, and suspect it to be one of the reasons that children don't like reading. All that analysing and interrogating text before the poor things can barely read a word...

Comprehension is a function of oral language; if the child has no oral language skills it will have poor comprehension. If its oral language skills are good there is no reason why it shouldn't 'comprehend' written language. Do we spend hours teaching children to 'comprehend' spoken language?

I had written a long reply but I really can't be bothered. So I deleted it. I don't agree with your stance on comprehension or on the progress of children. I think it is overly simplistic and doesn't ring true with my experiences of children.

Hi! This is Nicoley and I just joined to see what all the fuss was about. This forum is mentioned frequently on the RRF forum and I would like to gain parenting ideas as well as share my tips and resources as a reading specialist.

Although this is an older post, I wanted to respond because soapboxqueens opinion is also shared among many teachers I train.

maizieD is correct. However, I do understand your reaction. Many teachers go through college learning ineffective reading instruction methods. All my collegues, including myself, held fast to the Balanced Literacy philosophy of teaching reading. Even now, my fellow teachers think that they now know everything they need to know about how to teach reading most effectively. They have put their lid on and find it pointless to do any more learning about how to do their job. They don't dare budge or even attempt to open their mind just a little. There was no answer among my collegues and fellow teachers when I questioned why we weren't teaching phonics and why we spent so much time on comprehension when students were finding decoding difficult.
To cut to the chase, I finally decided to submit part of my evenings studying the outcomes of scientifically based reading research. I gradually applied methods I studied and opened my mind to a more simple view of reading. And that is what maizieD is explaining in her last post. "The Simple View of Reading" centers around the formula R=DxC.
R = Reading comprehension
D = Decoding skills and
C = Language comprehension
I've listed some sites below that have articles on The Simple View of Reading. It will give you a more comprehensive understanding.
This past year my students made outstanding progress. They excelled beyond their goals and even surpassed grade level standards. I have never in my 10 years of teaching have a class that excelled so quickly. I really have to credit part of it to my changed understanding of effective reading instruction. I recently read a book called "A kick in the head" which focused on opening your mind to let new ideas in. A kick in the head is what many teachers need. It sure enlightened me.

www.balancedreading.com/simple.html
www.sedl.org/reading/framework/framework.pdf
homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Class/Psy338K/Gough/Chapter7/observations.pdf

I tutor children and in my experience, finding it difficult to decode longer words and missing out or misreading words (especially small ones such as and, the, it etc) can sometimes be signs of dyslexia. Don't automatically assume this is the case though. Dyslexia can only be formally assessed by an educational psychologist or other qualified person. I'm just saying it might be worth considering!

It might be worth raising this with the school in September to see if they think she might be dyslexic and if they will get the inclusion team to assess her, especially if she seems to be doing much better in other areas apart from reading and writing.

For any children (dyslexic or not) over the age of 7 or 8 who are finding reading hard going I would recommend Toe by Toe. It's a book that practises decoding skills using a highly phonic approach and starts with basics to check on things that might have been missed.
It does need to be done for 15 minutes or so regularly on at least 5 days of the week. You must start from the beginning and do every exercise properly and be strict about the way you mark the pages but if you are up for this input I really think it could make a big difference.

Don't be put off by the book (you can usually get it for about £23-£25 on ebay or amazon or from the Toe by Toe website). when you first look at it it seems a bit bizarre and you wonder what on earth you are supposed to do, but actually when you've had a chance to assimilate the instructions and get started on it, it's not that hard to use!

I've seen it make a big difference with quite a few children now.

PS
Just wanted to add that although Toe by Toe is excellent for helping children it can seem a bit dry. If children are reluctant to do it, a reward system can help (ie put a sticker on a chart for each 15 mins they do and when they have so many stickers they can get a reward of some sort).