Difficulties learning to read - connected to speech disorder?

[sazale]

My son 5.3 years will be starting year 1 in July and is having problems learning to read. He sees a NHS speech therapist (is on 3 month break ATM) as has a phonological disorder and final consonant deletion. He has word finding difficulties sometimes and he will describe the object that he is talking about. He also has hypermobility which is extreme in his hands and causing difficulties with learning to write. His fine motor skills are at the level of a 3 year old but his gross motor skills appear to be very good.

He's really struggling with learning to read. He can recognise most of the letters and can blend simple words. If you say a word to him and ask him what letter it starts with he can tell you but if you ask him to say a word that begins with a specific letter he just says random words that don't begin with the right letter. He doesn't appear to have any sight words. You can show him a word and then show it him again immediately after and he still needs to decode it. When he reads (which he is very reluctant to do) he just reads the full sentence as individual letters and doesn't acknowledge that they are words. If I attempt to get him to blend the letters into words he gets very stressed and refuses to read after 1 or 2 words.

Could this be connected to his speech disorder? He is my 3rd child and my other 2 children could read very well by this stage although as they are 11 & 13 didn't learn to read using phonics which I understand takes longer. He has an amazing memory so I'm confused as to why he can't recognise words by sight and he struggles with numbers too.

My eldest has many difficulties ASD/dyspraxic traits/PDA traits/ADHD traits/SPD and auditory dyslexia. The LEA have this week agreed to statement her and her difficulties within primary school went un-noticed by school and I'm obviously concerned that history doesn't repeat itself. My DS goes to the same primary but it has a new Head and SENCO.

Thanks in advance for any info/help.

Hi Sazale, I don't know much about your son's particular difficulties. My son had severe speech disorder and now been confirmed ASD/ADHD and I suspect APD. Anyway, he is nearly 8 and has been extremely slow to read.
I think when I stopped trying so hard with phonics it improved. He does exactly that same thing where he'll sound the first letter and then pick a random word.

He too has an amazing memory and I think it is slowly kicking in with him remembering whole words. But sounding out and blending just seems to slow him down and baffle him.

My son had/has language delay, and didn't really get on with phonics, like shell's son he relied on his memory and pretty much taught himself to read by sight reading, he had the same sort of difficulties your DS had at that age, OK at assigning sounds to letters, just about OK at the odd v simple blend, but not able to do more than that.

Since your DS doesn't seem to get on with sight reading, I guess maybe you'll have to persevere with phonics. A few people on here (including a speech therapist, Moondog) have recommended headsprout (computerised phonics software), also people have found toe by toe helpful.

Thanks guys.

I've been looking at the Headsprout programme. He just doesn't seem to be able to remember words by sight, even small ones, and he only seems to see the letters not the words.

He is on the waiting list to be assessed for ASD although I'm not convinced that he is ASD but due to my DD's difficulties it's better to make sure. On his initial assessment at CDC the OT said she noticed intermittent poor visual attention and scanning so I'm guessing they can impact reading as well.

I guess I'm worrying about being paranoid because of all the difficulties with my dd but by the same token his development with reading just doesn't feel right. He's starting year 1 barely able to read or write and I'm worried about what will happen when the work load increases in year one as he does get anxious and develops tics.

Between this and the fact that his speech can still be difficult to understand and his social anxiety in school with adults, I'm worried about how he will cope. I've got a meeting next week with the SENCO and learning support services.

My other 2 children learned to read the old fashioned way so it's all new to me. The phonics is helping his speech. Once again thanks.

My dd2 has HFA and severe language delay, she learnt to read at the age of 3 but self taught (not using phonics), when she started school the whole 'phonics' thing confused her, eventually the school said she could skip phonics (as they were trying to re-teach her using phonics), she's now at the end of year one and is reading at the same level as her class mates.

Phonics doesn't work for all children.

Have you asked if he has speech dyspraxia? My ds has it and I just noticed some similarities from reading your post. I wish you all the very best. I hope your ds gets all the support he needs.

Thanks guys.

Journey I have suspected speech dyspraxia for a long time. I asked his SALT and she got him to say the same letter several times and because he did she said it couldn't be otherwise he would have said it differently everytime. He couldn't breastfeed as a baby, only took 1oz of milk from a bottle, was totally silent, no babbling, till he started talking at 3, devised his own sign language to communicate before that so wanted to communicate, he cannot lift his tongue up when asked, has great difficulty in puckering up his lips etc and some days his speech is far more clearer than others.

He is on the waiting list to be assessed for ASD but it doesn't feel right. Dyspraxia fits much better in my opinion. My DD is def ASD but I don't think my son is but there's something going on.

My understanding is only a very small number of kids with a speech disorder have speech dyspraxia so I think the exposure that some speech therapists may have to it may be very minimal. Diagnosing your DS by simply saying he can repeat a letter several times therefore he doesn't have speech dyspraxia is very wrong. My DS's test probably took about 40 minutes but the speech therapist had being thinking for a while that he had it. However, although her opinion was right he got diagnosed by her manager. (I could tell the manager knew what she was talking about).

I loathe people diagnosing children on mumsnet because I think it can be emotionally very upsetting for the parent when it could be so wrong. All I would say is all that what you have written about your ds is very familiar to me! Like you ASD was discussed but my gut reaction was "no". (He doesn't have it).

I have found it quite hard to find information on speech dyspraxia (partly because of all the different names for the same thing). I found this article useful. Perhaps it will help you.

www.tayloredmktg.com/dyspraxia/das.shtml

Wishing you all the very best.

Thanks journey. It's good to hear that I have valid concerns and that I'm not paranoid (which after so many people missing my DD's difficulties for so long, I probably am)! His speech therapist is very nice but I'm not sure how much experience she has (she looks very young). I've found a private SALT close by who appears to have a lot of experience. She was the chairperson of ASLTIP for a while. I think it may be worth paying for to set my mind at rest once and for all. They also have experience with dyslexia and auditory processing. Once again, thanks.