7 year old with combined type ADHD and Autism (level 1): NGRT Reading Age 5:05

[ChocoMarmalade]

I have just received my 7 year old son's end of year school report and it mentions that his NGRT Reading Age is 5:05. I think this means that his score is within the lowest 5% of the national sample.

We're going to start the Toe to Toe reading program over the Summer.

On the one hand, I'm massively relived that he made it to the end of the school year without too many meltdowns and made some friends. On the other hand, I'm a bit panicked about his reading level as I want him to be a confident reader by the time he gets to High School when he will have a million other challenges to deal with.

Does anyone experienced with ADHD have any insight as to the likelihood that he will be able to catch up and become a confident reader?

Does he like books?

Specific interventions can improve reading skills. Are school not working on interventions?

I’d look at generally fostering a love of reading at home alongside lots of multisensory phonics activities.

Outdoor activities would be good
Letters or phonemes on wooden log pieces or pebbles
Chalks or water and paint brushes to write outside
Letters or words chalked on the floor to jump onto
Squeezy water bottle to write letters or short words
Tactile letters, foam letters, magnetic letters and board make letters from playdough

Look at the TTS catalogue or website

For the ipad Writing Wizard is brilliant and very engaging
Big Cat stories by Collins on the ipad are interactive and build confidence
Make your own books based on interest, simple sentences with word cards to match
Education City on the internet is very good ( may use in school and have a log in?) or you can get a free trial
Lots of free resources on Twinkl also used in schools

Keep it fun. Good luck.

I would say the key things are to read to him and to listen to him read as often as possible - even if it's only for 5 minutes. Go to the library, there are so many wonderful books out there!

Sending this message through pure worry and struggle of knowing what to do for the best of my son. At present my son who is nearly seven has undiagnosed ASD and ADHA, he currently goes to a mainstream school that can no longer meet his needs. I might add that this is the second mainstream he has attended with in between a short stay provision while his EHPC was being done. He has struggles in emotional regulation and as a result he can show dangerous behaviours more often that not, usually due to work refusal. He is either sent home or gets a fixed term exclusion. Sending my son to school every day is like sending him to to the lions den and is breaking the both of us, but more importantly him his confidence, self esteem and belief in himself is majorly effected. I want to take him out until a More specialist provision is found for him, but he loves the social aspect of school and doesn’t want to leave his friends but he does not present with these dangerous behaviours at home. Not sure what the right thing is to do, please would appreciate some advice
Thank you in advance isha

A lot of members of my family have this type of diagnosis (adhd/asd) and all were slow readers. All caught up. Seems to me the way of learning as a neurodiverse person is quite different. Certainly all the focus on phonics confused my son who finally learned to read by just recognising words on sight.

my brother couldn’t read at all until 8 and then suddenly started reading full adult books based on his special interests.