blending, sounding out??

[3and3]

My ds 7yo is not getting blending to make words. He knows all the sounds of the letters, but blending is not happening. We have been using HOP which works very well for dd 8. I am going slowly with ds but he is just not getting it.

 

Is there a program that works with the skill of blending? I also have alpha phonics maybe I could switch to this program, but not sure if this is the answer?

 

TIA

[Mrs Twain]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is one of the best I know about for teaching blending. Your library may have it if you would like to try it.

[Aludlam]

Have you tried using ETC? I really LOVE these workbooks!

[Samiam]

Phonics Pathways is great for that.

 

They have some fun games that are included (just games you copy from the book) that help with that.

[boscopup]

How long have you been working at it? If you started when he was 5 and he's still not getting it at 7, you might want to get his eyes checked (http://covd.org for a developmental optometrist), just in case.

 

If you've only recently started trying to teach him, then I'd probably give him more time and just pick one method and stick with it. I personally like Webster's Speller, as it works on basic syllables (BA BE BI BO BU, AB EB IB OB UB), then works up to words.

 

A 7 year old not blending yet just makes me wonder if an LD is involved, and if that's the case, you might need more than your normal reading program, kwim? Of course, he might just be a late bloomer - some kids are! But better to rule out LD's early than to find out later that there was one that could have been helped early on.

[KristenR]

When my dd was having trouble grasping the concept of blending we made up a fun game to help. For some reason just having the Velcro tiles to move around really seemed to help cement it in her head.

[siloam]

My ds 7yo is not getting blending to make words. He knows all the sounds of the letters, but blending is not happening. We have been using HOP which works very well for dd 8. I am going slowly with ds but he is just not getting it.

 

Is there a program that works with the skill of blending? I also have alpha phonics maybe I could switch to this program, but not sure if this is the answer?

 

TIA

I love Barton for this, but it is not cheap.

 

First of all modeling it is good. If they can't do it, trying to make them won't help. Do it first yourself and have them copy you. Takes a lot of stress and pressure off.

 

Second I recommend you first tap each sound (tape finger under letter and say the sound-then have the child do the same). Then do a slow blend following the letters with your finger, so you can still hear some of the individual sounds. kkkkkaaaaattttt (cat) I know it is hard to hold some sounds, but do your best. Have the child repeat it after you again. Then do a faster blend and have the child repeat as you (and they) run their fingers under the word. Over time most of my children have first taken over doing the last step independently, then over time the second step, till they could do it alone from the first step.

 

Using the hand motions might be key, because it helps the child focus. Wiggly boys can have an especially difficult time of it. My ds actually had been working on blending for about a 2 years when we started using hand motions and he learned to blend in a week.

 

Heather

[Aspasia]

Phonics Pathways is great for that.

 

They have some fun games that are included (just games you copy from the book) that help with that.

 

Phonics Pathways did it for us, too. :thumbup:

[MerryAtHope]

Have you worked on oral blending at all? Reading Reflex practices this before trying to read--you say 2 or 3 sounds and see if he can blend them into a word. My kids loved playing this as a game, especially if they said the sounds and had me try to blend them, because the sounds they gave didn't make words, LOL! But I blended them anyway, and we would practice back and forth orally blending sounds. Once he can do this from just hearing sounds, then you could try reading again.

 

All About Reading has a lot of blending tips and fluency practice, you might look at that.

 

Merry :-)

[Amy Jo]

How about a spelling based approach like SWR? The child builds the word (you say it, and they write it, you give hints to ensure they write it correctly). Then after building the word, they read it. My eldest took a long time to blend, and using the spelling approach worked better. It also let me know that he had trouble with certain sounds (/th/ was one), and we worked on those.

[3and3]

One of my friends has 100ez lessons. So I am going to start with that and some games that was suggested.

 

My ds has some issues with his speech so that might be contributing to some of the problems. Also, him and his ds have tendency to dyslexia behavior. So when he has to figure out the ending sound like at in cat first it really confuses him.

 

I have LLATL blue on my shelf too that teaches blends from being of word to end. So, I might pull that off the shelf too. Thanks to everyone who replied.

[Candid]

You can do this on your own.

 

 

My ds also had a hard time blending. He had his sounds down cold, could sound out a word, but never heard the word it was making even though I could hear it clearly.

 

We played two games that are found in Reading Reflex within a week he was blending in his reading.

 

Both of these games are played orally with no letters present, only sounds.

 

In the first game, I would give him three sounds, one second a part. I would give them to him very clearly, no sloppy pronouncing ("k" not "kuh") he would then blend them into a word.

 

The second game reverses the order and I give him a word to break apart. I expect him to do what I did very clear sounds not blended sounds.

 

The nice thing about these games is you are not limited to the first sounds children read, "kite" has 3 sounds just like "cat."

 

I would play each game at most 3 times a day with at most 5 words.

[siloam]

One of my friends has 100ez lessons. So I am going to start with that and some games that was suggested.

 

My ds has some issues with his speech so that might be contributing to some of the problems. Also, him and his ds have tendency to dyslexia behavior. So when he has to figure out the ending sound like at in cat first it really confuses him.

 

I have LLATL blue on my shelf too that teaches blends from being of word to end. So, I might pull that off the shelf too. Thanks to everyone who replied.

You might want to borrow it first if you can, as a visual dyslexic I had a hard time reading 100 EZ lessons at all. It made my head hurt.

 

Orton/Gillingham programs work best with dyslexic children, and especially those that are also sequential. You might look at All About Spelling/Reading, Horizons Reading (NOT the computer version the remedial in person version), Wilson Reading or Barton Reading and Spelling. These programs are specifically designed to teach dyslexic children. Though they are not cheap.

 

The lower costs versions would be to use Recipe for Reading, which is a how to make your own program manual, or I use Sonlight LA with the ETC books and just add in additional multi-sensory work using my All About Spelling (AAS) tiles, a sand box, play dough and other ideas I have run across.

 

Heather

Edited December 18, 2011 by siloam

[ChandlerMom]

One of my friends has 100ez lessons. So I am going to start with that and some games that was suggested.

 

My ds has some issues with his speech so that might be contributing to some of the problems. Also, him and his ds have tendency to dyslexia behavior. So when he has to figure out the ending sound like at in cat first it really confuses him.

 

What 100EZ does well is that you blend from Day 1 and always read left to right. It marks the sounds that can be held and those that can't. In your case, you may just do parts of the exercises (not the whole thing) to work through.

 

For letters you can hold, you simply keep making the letter sound until you're ready for the next. So instead of /m/-/a/-/n/ you would say mmmmmmmaaaaaaannnnn. The nice thing is you're already blending and all you need to do is speed it up to say the word. MUCH easier to *hea* the word.

 

For words like cat, instead of figuring out the "at" first (since the /k/ can't be held), try putting your mouth in the position for the /k/ sound and then making the next sound /a/ (start voicing before you begin moving your tongue to the /a/) -- that will automatically blend you without having to "look ahead". Then keep making the /aaaaaa/ sound until you read the last letter, /t/.

 

Most phonics programs have lots of special cases for sounds (teach r-controlled, st, sr, etc like separate sounds), which is fine, but may overwhelm your ds. When you learn to blend to start, most of those special cases are not necessary, which might be easier on your ds. A different approach might help things click for ds.

 

Good luck!