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Struggling reader, need help.


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My almost 8 year old can barely read and I am starting to panic. It doesn't feel like it is getting any better. We have done quit a bit of phonics. She sounds out every single letter for every single word. It takes an excruciatingly long time to read anything. It doesn't matter if she is interested in the material or not. I have tried to keep practice down to just a little each day because of how long it take it takes and how much she is rejecting it. Today i thought I'd try getting her to read one of her Breyer books. It is totally with in her reading level but 2 pages took us 15 minutes with me reading every other sentence. She has zero confidence. Words she knows she doesn't think she knows. She will often read it incorrectly and then say it correctly. Or worse, she will read it correctly quietly to herself, and then say it completely wrong out loud. She puts r's where there are no r's. It is her most interchangeable letter but happens more often with n's. She also still gets her d's and b's confused. It seems like she does fine when the words are isolated like in a workbook or video game, but in book form, she struggles so much. These readers, http://marriottmd.com/sam/index.html    have been our most successful resource. She struggles a little, but i feel like she is getting better with them and can actually read them somewhat fluently. We are on book 32. I think most of that comes from memorization though. Does anyone have any ideas for us at all? I can't tell if she just doesn't want to do it or if she really can't read. BOTH scenarios worry me!

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http://www.bartonreading.com/students_long.html#screen

 

Here's the link for the Barton pretest.  Give it to her.  It's free and might turn up something.  I'm a huge fan of getting eyes checked by a developmental optometrist, but at this point I'd also have in her for a psych eval.  Any family history of anything like dyslexia, adhd, unexplained reading difficulties, hearing loss, etc. etc.?

 

It's all a matter of degrees.  I figure by the time Mama Gut is so worried that you come on and bare your soul to 10K people, it's probably time for evals.  Don't doubt yourself on this.  

 

Btw, do you know the ps will do evals for you?  

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My almost 8 year old can barely read and I am starting to panic. It doesn't feel like it is getting any better. We have done quit a bit of phonics. She sounds out every single letter for every single word. It takes an excruciatingly long time to read anything. It doesn't matter if she is interested in the material or not. I have tried to keep practice down to just a little each day because of how long it take it takes and how much she is rejecting it. Today i thought I'd try getting her to read one of her Breyer books. It is totally with in her reading level but 2 pages took us 15 minutes with me reading every other sentence. She has zero confidence. Words she knows she doesn't think she knows. She will often read it incorrectly and then say it correctly. Or worse, she will read it correctly quietly to herself, and then say it completely wrong out loud. She puts r's where there are no r's. It is her most interchangeable letter but happens more often with n's. She also still gets her d's and b's confused. It seems like she does fine when the words are isolated like in a workbook or video game, but in book form, she struggles so much. These readers, http://marriottmd.com/sam/index.html have been our most successful resource. She struggles a little, but i feel like she is getting better with them and can actually read them somewhat fluently. We are on book 32. I think most of that comes from memorization though. Does anyone have any ideas for us at all? I can't tell if she just doesn't want to do it or if she really can't read. BOTH scenarios worry me!

Keep going with the I See Sam books!!!!!! There are 8 sets!

Read post 28 of this thread for more info on them :)

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/518525-help-me-plan-my-learning-to-read-summer/

 

I'd also join the beginning reading instruction yahoo group and ask the remedial reading tutors who use those books for advice.

:)

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Hugs.  I know this seems scary.  Don't panic.  You need answers.  There could be many things, possibly co-morbid, causing her struggles.  A neuropsychology evaluation/COVD eye exam may help but read up on things first.  

 

Read The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide.  Read How to Homeschool Your Struggling Learner by Kathy Kuhl.  Read the information on these sites, too (see below).  Be proactive, don't just hop curriculum.  Do some research on the different underlying potential causes of reading struggles.  When you start to get solid answers is when you might be able to really start helping your child.

 

http://www.bartonreading.com/dys.html

http://learningabledkids.com/

 

Hop on the Learning Challenges subforum for more BTDT advice from other parents....

 

Best wishes...

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Does she struggle in other areas or just reading?  How is her handwriting?  Math?

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the I see Sam books (in fact, I think that I first introduced them to the WTM world about 12 years ago).  My one dd is on the website as a case study.  You are just starting.  If you think she is memorizing then keep moving on with the books.  They move slowly but yet give tons of extra practice with each new book.

 

Fluent reading didnt' come for us until sets 3 or 4.

 

The vision therapy exam might be helpful.  My nephew could hardly read at age 10.  He was very bright but couldn't read.  he did vision therapy and within a year was reading way above grade level and is now reading at a college level and moving up the ranks of Civil Air Patrol.  It made a HUGE difference for him.

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Have her work with books below her reading level until she is more fluent. I would look too as possible dyslexia, etc., as mentioned above, but what really gave my dyslexic dd confidence was reading below level until she had more fluency, then we bumped her reading level up bit by bit.

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I feel your pain. You have just described my 8 yo son. I started panicking when he was 7. We did eye therapy (convergence issues) and it did not help. After $1600 he read the same. (Im not saying it doesn't work for anyone). We tried every reading program out there. Which was probably part of the problem. We would start a program...get stuck...blame the program...start over with a new one. Looking back, I think he just needed the extra practice over and over again. He is now 8 1/2 and everything is starting to click. I really really like the systematic method of the CLE learn to read program. The readers are interesting and the workbooks teach so well and are not boring. Yes, they introduce "sight" words at first but it keeps the readers from being so monotonous which is important for beginning readers that are older. They know Pat the cat sat on a rat sucks! :p

 

Anyway...I'm a fan and will use it again for my up and coming reader. I hope things get better soon and it may help to get her vision evaluated but my son was doing the exact same things as your daughter and seemed to grow out of it. Be aware that Covd optometrists don't test for dyslexia. At least mine didn't.

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I feel your pain. You have just described my 8 yo son. I started panicking when he was 7. We did eye therapy (convergence issues) and it did not help. After $1600 he read the same. (Im not saying it doesn't work for anyone). We tried every reading program out there. Which was probably part of the problem. We would start a program...get stuck...blame the program...start over with a new one. Looking back, I think he just needed the extra practice over and over again. He is now 8 1/2 and everything is starting to click. I really really like the systematic method of the CLE learn to read program. The readers are interesting and the workbooks teach so well and are not boring. Yes, they introduce "sight" words at first but it keeps the readers from being so monotonous which is important for beginning readers that are older. They know Pat the cat sat on a rat sucks! :p

 

Anyway...I'm a fan and will use it again for my up and coming reader. I hope things get better soon and it may help to get her vision evaluated but my son was doing the exact same things as your daughter and seemed to grow out of it. Be aware that Covd optometrists don't test for dyslexia. At least mine didn't.

Just as a curiosity, did his convergence issues improve?  Over on LC we're talking about this (because of course it's the perpetual debate), but Rod Everson over there just put it so succinctly, that a kid who needed reading instruction or had phonological issues before VT is still going to have them afterwards.  It's not like it solves that.  The VT just removes physical barriers.

 

So I don't know if your doc was a scheister or you just haven't connected the dots on what it did for you or what, but you're right that it VT doesn't teach them to read.  First thing out of our VT doc's mouth when we walked in the door was: are you doing an OG method?   VT is just the vision and visual processing, sometimes with some bonus EF work thrown in (working memory, etc.).  You still have to work on the reading and for some kids that road is still bumpy and long. 

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Hi Elizabeth

 

I knew that VT would not teach him to read but it was supposed to help his eyes from bouncing all over the place. After a 6 week session, they would test him and say he was good and to come back in a month for a retest. At the retest..they would say he needed another session. We did that...3 times. I started thinking they were schiesters:). VT was not cheap and I couldnt afford it anymore. I'm sure there are lots of parents out there that cant afford it at all. I don't think it helped because he still bounced all over the page...would start at the end of a word...insert random letters in a word...add words that arent there etc.... What helped was using a notched out card to train his wild eyeballs, then we moved to holding a ruler under the line we were reading and now we use a pointer (tip of a paint brush). I have no way of knowing if VT worked at all. Maybe it helped by making some eye/brain electrical connection or maybe it was snake oil. During their initial testing there were several things they said he couldn't do but turns out that he just didn't understand what they wanted so they all patted themselves on the back for fixing him...but he just knew what they wanted by then.

 

Anyways...I hope that explains our experience better. By the way, are you Elizabeth Foss? If so, I love, love your books. :)

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