Struggling with reading

[mrsrednose]

I'm looking for advice on how to help my ds6 (asd and adhd) with his reading. He is in year 2 and still about the red book level. They use little wandles at school. He scored 37/40 on the phonics screening, so he knows his phonics. Toe by toe didn't work as he finds it so boring. I want to help him catch-up. We will try pharmaceutical intervention for his adhd after Christmas as he has been struggling with the school work. hopefully it will help. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

There’s lots of things other than knowledge of phonics that play a part in reading.

Has DS had an ed psych assessment? Does he have an EHCP? What other support has the school tried?

He has ehcp, he has been in a reading intervention group this term. He has been seeing OT for regulation and fine motor skills. Ed psychologist saw him when he was 4 and her report was mainly about his attention, hyperactivity and demand avoidance. His behaviour has improved a lot. He rubs his eyes whilst reading but his vision is good and says it's boring.

It sounds like you need a review of the EHCP. You can request an early review. On their website, ISPEA has a model letter you can use.

An up to date comprehensive EP assessment would help. You could either request a reassessment of needs (IPSEA has a model letter you can use). However, there is no guarantee the LA would agree. It also wouldn’t guarantee a) it was a good report, and b) mean the LA actually amends to include all the amendments necessary. Alternatively you could appeal when you next have the right of appeal and seek an independent assessment.

DS needs some more targeted specialist intervention rather than just group support.

Something easy and low-cost to try are colored reading shields. I suspect my DS aged 7 has dyslexia. I bought some colored shields to place over paper to make the contrast less strong and I think they did help him. But he hates accommodations so he now refuses to use them. But it may be something that can help in the meantime and is low risk trial.

My AuDHD child detests reading. I've had some success with Speechify.

If he scored 37 on phonics, he should be well out of red group. 37 shows he can read many words fluently, well beyond red level. Have you any idea why he's not progressing to a higher level? If not, speak to the teacher ASAP. Perhaps he's not showing how good he is because he doesn't like reading, or perhaps there's a comprehension issue. What is it like when he reads his books to you?

He is very slow, skips words, distracted by pictures but we started covering them while reading the sentences. Hates long sentences

That makes a lot of sense. Perhaps they're not moving him up due to the pace. Does he still "sound out" every word (ie. "D. O. G. Dog")?

I would say though, even with this, it would be good to ask the teacher to move him up a group, if you felt this wouldn't put him off even more (it might not, there will be fewer pictures in time!). The teacher can obviously say no, and might be able to explain why not.

So his actual mechanics of reading is good, but he hates it and is fatigued easily? Does he enjoy being read to? You could try some audiobooks, that will allow him to develop his comprehension without stressing him with word reading. You could use flash card games to keep practicing word reading together, giving him just a short time to look at them and read them, so he develops speed. Does he speak in long sentences? I wonder if not liking reading them is just because he tries easily, or because of not understanding the grammar of them.

Thank you. Great point actually his grammar was in the 5th percentile when he was assessed 2 years ago. He can read easy words without blending and can recognise some high frequency words but the rest he is still blending out which slows him down. He can speak in long sentences but his receptive language is slightly behind. He enjoys short stories when I read to him especially funny or adventurous stories. His mind a bit scatter sometimes interrupts and talks about something completely out of context like "when is santa coming, my teacher said.... today" etc.

Sounds like a lot of little ones I know. The attention difficulties really get in the way of what they can actually achieve. Medication may help in that respect in time, if it suits him.

His phonics doesn't sound like a significant issue given he's in the first half of year 2. Keep reading to him, that sounds great!

As there are receptive language challenges, then this will apply as much to text that is read as it does to text that is written. So comprehension may well be challenging. Next time you meet with speech and language therapist (I'm hoping you have SALT input with that profile!), you should ask about comprehension. They may recommend an intervention for school to carry out, or they might do some direct work and give advice. Definitely speak to his teacher too - "what can we work on for his reading?"

Thank you so much. I will ask his SALT and talk to his teacher. Hopefully we find the right medication for him and things get easier for him.

Does DS have SALT provision in the EHCP?

Yes, he has SALT provision in his EHCP. I didn't know they could help with reading comprehension, we are currently working on pronouns

Do you give him reading books at home? It sounds like he's aiming to memorise words so the more he sees the easier to becomes.

Also, he sounds tired, rubbing his eyes.

Hi purple, yes he has biff and chip series, little wandle series, picture books, chapter books... I also made flashcards with 100 high frequency words. We play games with them, he seems to enjoy it more than reading books. He rubs his eyes and often gets distracted by pictures. We look at the picture first then I cover it with my hand. Getting a bit better. We read everyday, must say 5-10 minutes with lots of out of context conversation "when is my birthday, can I have x afterschool tomorrow..." we will try medikinet xl soon for his adhd, waiting for prescription. I am really hoping it will help. He rocks a lot while reading

I see. I was just checking as my DC has this issue but to a lesser extent. However it's because he's learning through memorising words- he has a very good memory. But i noticed he also gets tired if he finds something boring then can perk up for say sport or maths. He's about average though and just not particularly interested so apart from reading a bit every day we haven't done much.

It sounds like you're doing many helpful things. Hope it improves.

Thank you Purple.