Reading questions

[mhaddon]

My son will be 7 at the end of May. His reading level is still at the first of the year rather than the end of the year. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong and why he isn't progressing faster. We've used IEW PAl phonics this year and are about half through the program. I just feel like he's stalled and not trying. I'm getting frustrated and I feel like maybe I'm doing something wrong. What causes some kids to just take off? It is a struggle for him to read and I just remember wanting to read and teaching myself and never having trouble. DH was the same way. He isn't even great at remembering sight words when I tried to add them. He always says has or the just guessing. But if I give him a poem to memorize he has no trouble at all and can recall the events in a long chapter book...

[LizzyBee]

I really doubt you're doing anything wrong. Some kids just take longer. You might look over this website to see if he might be dyslexic: http://www.dys-add.com. If you suspect he is, you can post again and get lots of suggestions for good resources, etc.

[edeemarie]

I would say just keep reading to him and let him pick out good books that he will really enjoy. My kids have both hit that wall where I really wondered if the reading thing was ever going to happen- but it did! It just seemed like one day they just got over that hump and really took off. If you aren't using AAS yet I would definitely start, and if you are using it just keep going. He will get there:)

[Ellie]

I wouldn't put any blame on him by saying he "isn't trying."

 

Children don't always progress in tidy little steps. Sometimes they hang out at one spot for awhile until it feels right and then they zoom ahead.

 

Personally, I wouldn't be worried about it, unless you see actual signs that he has some learning issues (what you've described doesn't sound like a learning issue to me).

[mommy5]

Double post - sorry!

Edited April 15, 2012 by mommy5

[mommy5]

My son is 7 and just recently (maybe the last 2 months) just started taking off in reading. He is still probably behind the average for his age but is doing fantastically at reading level 1 and 2 readers ... is finally getting his sight words and can sound out most words. We use PAL now, too, and have found it really good for him. He also uses Reading Eggs which seemed to really click.

 

I think some kids just take longer than others to progress. We tried many different methods before it clicked with him.

[mhaddon]

We use AAS level one he's on lesson 13. We've been using Readinga-z.com readers and he's on E and many words I am not even sure how to tell him to sound out because like I said I just started reading and didn't have phonics...

 

No I don't think he has any learning issues or dyslexia. I just can't motivate him to try harder it seems. Reading is a battle. Aggh!

 

So anyone have any fun reading/phonics games they would recommend? Maybe if we play. We do the file folder games for PAL, but I need more than just those words, he gets them down after a game. He has trouble with a few rules (but is great with magic E), but -ue he never remembers and sometimes he can not remember th and will go through -sh, -ch, etc. and not get it at all!!

[jennynd]

starfall.com is fun.

 

I use Hooked on phonics on my DD. I am Chinese and had no idea about phonics and find HOP is very helpful for me

[LaraH]

My son is also a slow reader. Click n' Read has helped. He also loves the Whizzizzle card games (two sets with 6 games in all) that I bought from Rainbow Resources. It's taken time and lots and lots of read alouds. My goal has been not to put him off reading. Now he's trying to work through Tintin!

[LizzyBee]

No I don't think he has any learning issues or dyslexia. I just can't motivate him to try harder it seems. Reading is a battle. Aggh!

 

"He doesn't try hard enough" is an almost universal statement in reference to kids who have LDs or dyslexia. It's disheartening and discouraging, and it's why so many kids *of normal or above normal intelligence* grow up thinking they're stupid. They hear teachers/parents/tutors/siblings say that they could do it if they'd try harder, yet they know they *are* trying. Please, please, please don't ever let your son hear you say this about him.

 

Many people think that LDs are caused by low intelligence, but the truth is that a child must have normal or above normal intelligence to be diagnosed with a learning disability. Dyslexia is a *unexpected* reading difficulty in regard to a student's intelligence and education.

 

I am not trying to convince you that your son is dyslexic. As I said in my first post, some kids just take a little longer. But if you feel like he should be doing better, based on his intelligence and the amount of instructional time devoted to reading so far, that's a huge red flag. If you feel like he's not progressing because he's not trying, that's a huge red flag.

[raceNzanesmom]

"He doesn't try hard enough" is an almost universal statement in reference to kids who have LDs or dyslexia. It's disheartening and discouraging, and it's why so many kids *of normal or above normal intelligence* grow up thinking they're stupid. They hear teachers/parents/tutors/siblings say that they could do it if they'd try harder, yet they know they *are* trying. Please, please, please don't ever let your son hear you say this about him.

 

Many people think that LDs are caused by low intelligence, but the truth is that a child must have normal or above normal intelligence to be diagnosed with a learning disability. Dyslexia is a *unexpected* reading difficulty in regard to a student's intelligence and education.

 

I am not trying to convince you that your son is dyslexic. As I said in my first post, some kids just take a little longer. But if you feel like he should be doing better, based on his intelligence and the amount of instructional time devoted to reading so far, that's a huge red flag. If you feel like he's not progressing because he's not trying, that's a huge red flag.

 

I agree. I highly recommend educating yourself on kids with reading issues- dyslexia or other. It makes it so much easier to help them. Not that it means he has an issue, it'll just help you help him succeed and it'll help you recognize anything that might be wrong.

 

I also recommend getting his eyes checked, if he hasn't already.

 

For my ds, we just keep inching forward. He just turned 8 (on Sunday) and is finishing 2nd grade. He's on grade level or above with everything else. He just really struggles with reading. We do lots of reading the same thing over and over. The more successful he feels the harder he's willing to try. When he knows he'll fail (what he sees in front of him is too hard), then he doesn't want to try. Sometimes that means I have to encourage him to just read one or two sentences- not the book or even page. Then we'll add a few more sentences, then he'll read a page and I'll read a page, until he finally gets to where he can read the book/story.

 

My ds uses an index card with the corner notched out. That helps him track, esp when what he's reading is a bit hard.

 

Don't give up! :grouphug:

[Pen]

Even if your son does not have dyslexia, you might want to consider some of the materials that are considered especially helpful for children with dyslexia. Just as curb cuts help not only people in wheel chairs, but also people on bikes, pulling wheeled carts, and pushing strollers, I have a feeling that other children besides ones with dyslexia might find the materials usually indicated for dyslexics to be more "user-friendly."

[MrsBear]

For what it's worth, patience goes a long way. DS (now 7yr 9mo) was really struggling at the beginning of the year with reading - slow, poky, sounding out everything, mixing up b and d routinely, forgetting some sounds like oi or ue - but as frustrated as I was, I really, really tried to contain my frustration and continue to encourage him, praise his successes and help when he was stuck. Now he is reading at grade level and maybe a bit above, but it's still work, just not as hard as it was for him nine months ago! He's now actually likes reading, something I feared he'd never enjoy!

 

What I did this year was found a solid program that integrates the rules, reading selections and workbook exercises together, step-by-step (A Beka Handbook for Reading and Letters and Sounds) and even though we'd done all the rules already, we slowly went through them again - doing the charts, reading from the readers, workbook pages and tests. I used some other materials too - Nora Gaydos readers, leveled readers, and an assortment of regular books we have (ie. Dr. Seuss books, other picture books, etc.)......each day, I broke our reading lessons up into 3 blocks of 20 minutes so that DS was getting a full hour of reading in, but doing it in smaller time segments. It is much easier to focus for 20 minutes than for 60 minutes at that age.

 

Without knowing I was doing it when I started this, I have since learned it is a technique.....I would give DS something easy to read, he'd read it well, and I'd let him know how well he did......he'd then read something challenging, harder than he was able to read, and I'd help him with the words he found difficult - and still praise when he did well with what he knew and praise that he was trying with the harder stuff.....and we'd read through things right on level, where he was, that while challenging, they were also right where he was, so he could do it......then we'd end with something easy again, to build confidence and help him see that once he mastered the harder stuff, he'd do well with it since he'd mastered the easy stuff and look how well he could do that.

 

When DS hit walls, we'd slow down, practice, practice, practice.....on the white board with word lists, on paper with word lists, with sentences, then back to readers with what he was struggling with. I made up games, we played hangman, scrabble, banagrams, etc., we'd look for words while we were out or words that used a rule to see who could find it first, and we read, read, read each day.

 

I did have his eyes tested to rule out a vision problem too. Slowly over time he did figure out b and d (we used the bat before the ball, doorknob before the door method to remember which was which) and he's much more confident reading now.

 

HTH

[OnceAHomeschooler]

I was just watching the post for this thread because we seem to be having the same issues with our 8 year old. He is still in a brick and mortar school and he is failing 1st grade because of reading. I am going to have his eyes checked and when I look at the check list for dyslexia he does seem to suffer from more then 3 things on those lists.

 

I totally understand your frustration. I am hoping using the Well Trained Mind method it will help him get through this rough time. All of your post were very helpful.