Learning to read

[sixtimemomma]

I am teaching child #4 to read and have been unsuccessful. I am using Abeka as this learning method worked for the others. She just cannot get it. I am getting frustrated and she is frustrated. BTW she just turned 7 a week ago. She knows her vowel and consonant sounds but just will not and cannot put them together to sound out words. For instance la, le, lo, etc.

 

Any advice? Any program ideas or suggestions would be helpful.

 

Thanks

[kmacnchs]

We use OPGTR but other than suggesting a different program all together, do you think using magnetic letters would help?

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Have you tried teaching her to read through spelling? This is what worked for my oldest. We used Montessori Read and Write then moved on to All About Spelling. WRTR, SWR, and Phonics Road to Reading and Spelling all use this method. Good luck!

[gardening momma]

I don't know how Abeka teaches reading, so I can only speak from my experience of using 100 Easy Lessons.

 

Have her hold the /l/ sound while she looks at the next sound (let's say short /a/ for example). When she figures out the next sound, she lets go of the /l/ and says the /a/. "llllllahhh." (this is not exactly the way 100 EZ explains it, but this is what you do.)

 

Then do it for le. Assuming short /e/: "llllllllehhhh."

 

The key is to not break up the sounds. They need to go together, so don't pause in between them, like this: "l -eh."

 

ETA: 100 EZ Lessons calls this saying it slow. After saying it slow, the student says it fast: "llllllehhhhh." Say it fast: "leh."

Edited February 9, 2010 by gardening momma

[mystika1]

http://donpotter.net/Blend%20Phonics.htm

[Emma]

Well, my 5 yr. old was half way through Abeka's K and I realized he wasn't getting it. Yes, he could sound out words, some words... but when we got to long vowels, he fell apart. He. Just. Didn't. Get. It.

 

I've started over with CLE's "learn to read" and it has been great. He is decoding words much faster now.

[ElizabethB]

I would try starting with the syllables of Webster's Speller, it's much easier to blend two letters together than the commonly taught CVC words. I also would start with the easiest letters to blend.

 

The easiest letters to blend are m, n, l, and r, and long vowels are easier to blend than short vowels. They also have the advantage of being both the name and sound of the letter. In the syllabary (the start of 2 letter syllables for Webster's Speller), the syllables ending in a vowel are pronounced long, so ma and ba are pronounced long as in ma-ker and ba-ker.

 

So, here are the easiest syllables to begin with to teach blending:

 

1. ma me mi mo mu my; na ne ni no nu ny; la le li lo lu ly; ra re ri ro ru ry

(remember, the a in a syllable is long as in ma-ker, na-ture, la-kers, ra-di-ant)

 

then short vowels

2. am em im om um; an en in on un

 

It takes a lot of practice for some children before they get the blending.

 

Also, when you are blending, you the sounds you make do not exactly equal the sounds in the words. It is impossible to make a b without a bit of an uh sound. You can say less of an uh sound at the end, but you cannot make a pure b sound in isolation that matches the sound of b in a word. M, n, l, and r (l and r before the vowels, after the vowels they alter the sound of the vowel) match a lot better, that's why they're easiest to learn to blend with. My dyslexia page has a more detailed explanation of this and why syllables can be a good idea for a child having difficulties.

 

You can be working on the spelling of the syllables in Webster's syllabary while you're waiting for the blending to come along. Word Mastery on Don Potter's page also starts with letters that are easier to blend together. And, many of the articles and programs on Don's Page have good ideas for different ways to teach blending.

[JenAL]

I tried Abeka K with my ds last year. It was a struggle & he didn't get it either. Some of his issues could have just been readiness, though. He was only 5 & very immature. We started McRuffy K this year & he has made great progress. We are almost through with the K & will start reading through the McRuffy 1st grade readers soon. He loves the readers b/c they are interesting to him.

[Ottakee]

Check out the I See Sam readers from http://www.3rsplus.com or http://www.iseesam.com http://www.teacherweb.com/CA/PomeloDriveElementary/Mrssakamoto/printap2.stm has the first 2 sets that are printable.

 

In order to read the first book, they need to learn 6 sounds and 3 words. Then they slowly build from there with LOTS of practice at each level. No nonsense stuff, etc.---kids reading real words in real stories. It is phonetic though.

 

This has worked well for my struggling readers.

[IsabelC]

How long have you been working on it? Because I think that some kids just take longer than others, so if you know that your child doesn't have any specific learning difficulty, it may just be a matter or patience and perseverance. My ds took ages to 'get it' and move from saying strings of sounds to being able to synthesize them into words. My dd understood how to do it instantly and almost effortlessly (very annoying, as she kept on calling out words before ds could get them). It this is the case with your dd, changing your resources might not help.

[AngieW in Texas]

Headsprout is relatively expensive, but since it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can try it at no risk. It helped my dyslexic dd a lot. It had the visual processing exercises my dd needed to progress in her reading. It also had plenty of auditory processing work that my dd didn't actually need, but that still helped.

 

It can't hurt to try the program to see if it helps.

 

If it doesn't, you're at the point where I would check into testing. My dd was 7y2m when I contacted the ps for testing. The testing was very helpful for me because I was able to post her scores all over the internet and get feedback on what to try with her. Headsprout was one of those suggestions. I could see a dramatic improvement by the time the 30 days were up even though she hadn't learned any new code. The difference was that she was starting to be able to sound words out by chunk rather than individually. It doesn't seem like much for a child to go from sounding out s-t-o-p to st-op, but it doubled her reading speed. Since her reading speed was 8-10wpm when she started Headsprout, doubling it made an enormous difference. Try reading something at 8-10wpm. It's agonizingly slow. My dd didn't understand anything she read because it took her so long to sound out every word that she no longer had any idea what she had said.

[skaterbabs]

My suggestion would be to let her watch "Between the Lions" on PBS to her heart's delight. It's a fun way to review blending and phonics, and the producers have a book out for parents as well.