reading advice

[LEK]

After some advice on the progress of my 5yo in regards to reading, well actually LA in general. She is only just 5 but based on her birthday she is officially in her first year of formal school in our area (just), school year is feb-december. I am not concerned that she is still a non-reader, she is only 3 months into "school" and is progressing well with phonics. She knows all her single sounds and most letter blends however she is just having trouble blending sounds, she can sound out individual components in a word but cannot yet blend them together to make sense of that word and read. Again, not really concerned about this yet, she is making good progress and I am sure she will be reading soon (at least I really hope so). However what strikes me as unusual is her spelling, she can spell. I mean seriously this kid can spell!!! You give her a word and she will spell it, she is really seriously good at spelling. Write down that same word or even ask her to read it back once she has spelt it and she has no idea, cannot read it AT ALL but spelt it perfectly. This strikes me as very unusual, how can you spell words you have no idea how to read? I can see what is happening, she is phonetically breaking down words into their sounds and then spelling each sound but somehow she cannot translate those individual sounds back into a complete word. Should I be concerned about this? I have been just waiting it out all year expecting something to finally click and for her to be able to read back her words but nope not yet. BTW, we have done NO work on spelling at all, she has just naturally picked it up herself although I do occasionally try teaching her reading through spelling, the theory being to teach through her strength but this doesn't seem to help either. She is also quite good at writing, she can compose a sentence well and can write it down, just not read it back, strange! I am beginning to wonder if maybe I should be concerned, not because she is getting behind or anything but because her reading ability is so far behind all her other skills. I would estimate her writing ability to be 1st-2nd level, spelling about the same, math 2nd grade level yet reading is non-existant; she can read maybe 10 words total two of which are "I" and "a" so not even really words at all lol. (yes she is very math minded, LOVES math and is very good at it!!!)

 

Advice? Tips? Anyone else had a kid similar? Seriously, should I be concerned or is this just a strange quirk about her and nothing to worry about?

TIA

[Tanikit]

I have never heard of this before but there is always a first time - just because kids usually learn to decode before encoding does not mean they can't do it the other way around. Is she spelling outloud (c-a-t) and is she spelling with letter names or letter sounds or is she writing yet and spelling that way? I would probably start blending for her all the time until it does click not expecting her to do it at all and only use letter sounds - forget the letter names entirely for now.

 

I would be a lttle worried that your child can write down/verbally spell a word you gave to her and spell it correctly and then not read it back to you - because even a 5 year old should remember what you have just told her without being able to read it (what happens if you ask- what word did you just write/spell) - then there is a memory problem or she believes she cannot do it. Can she repeat a telephone number after you give it to her and then repeat it a few seconds later? Can she repeat a sentence you say to her if asked?

[Ellie]

After some advice on the progress of my 5yo in regards to reading, well actually LA in general. She is only just 5 but based on her birthday she is officially in her first year of formal school in our area (just), school year is feb-december. I am not concerned that she is still a non-reader, she is only 3 months into "school" and is progressing well with phonics. She knows all her single sounds and most letter blends however she is just having trouble blending sounds, she can sound out individual components in a word but cannot yet blend them together to make sense of that word and read. Again, not really concerned about this yet, she is making good progress and I am sure she will be reading soon (at least I really hope so). However what strikes me as unusual is her spelling, she can spell. I mean seriously this kid can spell!!! You give her a word and she will spell it, she is really seriously good at spelling. Write down that same word or even ask her to read it back once she has spelt it and she has no idea, cannot read it AT ALL but spelt it perfectly. This strikes me as very unusual, how can you spell words you have no idea how to read? I can see what is happening, she is phonetically breaking down words into their sounds and then spelling each sound but somehow she cannot translate those individual sounds back into a complete word. Should I be concerned about this? I have been just waiting it out all year expecting something to finally click and for her to be able to read back her words but nope not yet. BTW, we have done NO work on spelling at all, she has just naturally picked it up herself although I do occasionally try teaching her reading through spelling, the theory being to teach through her strength but this doesn't seem to help either. She is also quite good at writing, she can compose a sentence well and can write it down, just not read it back, strange! I am beginning to wonder if maybe I should be concerned, not because she is getting behind or anything but because her reading ability is so far behind all her other skills. I would estimate her writing ability to be 1st-2nd level, spelling about the same, math 2nd grade level yet reading is non-existant; she can read maybe 10 words total two of which are "I" and "a" so not even really words at all lol. (yes she is very math minded, LOVES math and is very good at it!!!)

 

Advice? Tips? Anyone else had a kid similar? Seriously, should I be concerned or is this just a strange quirk about her and nothing to worry about?

TIA

I would expect a child who is only 5 to "still" having trouble blending sounds. :-)

 

It doesn't sound like anything to worry about.

 

What are you using to teach her to read?

[ednkirstin]

While I don't have any experience with kids learning in this order, it seems to me that she's (most likely) still struggling with blending sounds. One little thing I like to do with my kids to help them understand blending is to demonstrate what their name sounds like when it's broken up. For example, do we say "L-i-l-y" (say the sounds distinctly) or do we say "Lily" (blended). They get a kick out of hearing their name spoken all chopped up. :) I usually focus on teaching the blending skill first. I use 100EZ lessons to teach reading, and we just practice the first few lessons over and over until they understand how to blend. It usually takes a week or two, sometimes less. The lessons go pretty quickly after that. At least that's been my experience with my 6.

[LEK]

Thanks guys. I will try not to worry and just keep waiting for it to finally click for her.

 

As to spelling, she can spell with letter tiles and write words (and whole sentences), will come and show me what she has done and tell me what she has written/spelt from memory but if I ask her again a little later to read her words she can't. Her memory is fine, actually when we did a comprehension exercise the other day she whizzed through it and I had to look up the answers to check :blush: (sounds like I need to work on MY memory lol although maybe the baby and 3yo distracted me...). I am actually wondering if maybe she can read more than she lets on, she is an extremely bright kid and is not used to not knowing answers perfectly, maybe she is pretending to not know the answer just in case she is wrong?

 

I have been doing a lot of work with her on blending sounds, I am sure it will happen. I do believe she is going really well with phonics and I am happy with what we are using (OPGTR and ETC for reading and phonics), I think it is just still having trouble blending the sounds. Strange that she has learned spelling and writing before reading though.

[5 Hikers]

My ds7 could spell but not read the word, and he was tested in January with Dyslexia.

 

I could ask him to spell cat and he would sound it out aloud and then write it down correctly, but later when I showed him the word cat he could not read it.

 

Maybe go back and see if you dd really knows the alphabet? Can she form each letter correctly, does she mix up b and d?

[merry gardens]

Has she had her vision checked?

[LEK]

Has she had her vision checked?

No, I am just assuming that seeing as she can read equations etc in math and do mapping work with no issues than her vision is fine otherwise she would also have trouble with this too right?

 

5 Hikers, that is exactly what she is doing. She can sound out a word and write it correctly but cannot read back that same word later on. I have been wondering about dyslexia, especially seeing I am dyslexic. I think we will wait and see a little longer as she is still young but maybe consider getting her checked for dyslexia if the problems persist. Yes she really knows her letters well but does still mix up b and d frequently on paper, she always gets the letter right when writing it but may read a b as a d - however having said most of her friends also still mix up b and d and they are all reading to some extent. My friends have been told (by local teachers) that mixing up b and d at 5-6 years is common and they should grow out of it soon so I was assuming this was still ok?

[LEK]

Typical! Absolutely typical!

I have been sitting on this concern for a couple of months wondering if it was normal and if I should be worried, finally decided yesterday to to bite the bullet and ask for advice and opinions and what happens, TODAY SHE CAN READ!!! I kid you not, yesterday she could essentially not read a thing and today she can read any CVC word she is presented with (did not try anything else). Seriously, sometimes I am sure kids do these things just to worry us. I am guessing that it did just finally all click into place, been expecting it to happen for a while now but woohoo it finally happened, I have a reader!!!

[ALB]

Wow, that's awesome! How encouraging!

[boscopup]

Typical! Absolutely typical!

I have been sitting on this concern for a couple of months wondering if it was normal and if I should be worried, finally decided yesterday to to bite the bullet and ask for advice and opinions and what happens, TODAY SHE CAN READ!!! I kid you not, yesterday she could essentially not read a thing and today she can read any CVC word she is presented with (did not try anything else). Seriously, sometimes I am sure kids do these things just to worry us. I am guessing that it did just finally all click into place, been expecting it to happen for a while now but woohoo it finally happened, I have a reader!!!

 

Ha! My oldest did that! He could "chunk words" into their sounds for a good year, thanks to Starfall, but could not blend whatsoever. It was completely developmental, but once blending clicked one day, he picked up Go, Dog, Go and read 30 pages in one sitting. :001_huh: Including the word "like"! You mentioned she is a perfectionist. So is my son. He wouldn't talk until he could say words perfectly, and I think reading happened the same way. We never had the sounding out everything stage (I'm getting that in spades with my middle son instead :tongue_smilie:). He just jumped from not-able-to-read to reading-at-mid-first-grade-level in one day. :lol:

 

Congrats on your DD reading! Hooray! :party:

[LEK]

Ha! My oldest did that! He could "chunk words" into their sounds for a good year, thanks to Starfall, but could not blend whatsoever. It was completely developmental, but once blending clicked one day, he picked up Go, Dog, Go and read 30 pages in one sitting. :001_huh: Including the word "like"! You mentioned she is a perfectionist. So is my son. He wouldn't talk until he could say words perfectly, and I think reading happened the same way. We never had the sounding out everything stage (I'm getting that in spades with my middle son instead :tongue_smilie:). He just jumped from not-able-to-read to reading-at-mid-first-grade-level in one day. :lol:

 

Congrats on your DD reading! Hooray! :party:

Thanks!!! Definitely :party:

I love this place, it is wonderful to hear from other mothers with similar experiences. Sounds like this might be a perfectionist thing, she was not going to read until she was absolutely certain she had it mastered.

[Tanikit]

Glad to hear it has clicked - she'll probably move forward very fast now.

[ednkirstin]

Typical! Absolutely typical!

I have been sitting on this concern for a couple of months wondering if it was normal and if I should be worried, finally decided yesterday to to bite the bullet and ask for advice and opinions and what happens, TODAY SHE CAN READ!!! I kid you not, yesterday she could essentially not read a thing and today she can read any CVC word she is presented with (did not try anything else). Seriously, sometimes I am sure kids do these things just to worry us. I am guessing that it did just finally all click into place, been expecting it to happen for a while now but woohoo it finally happened, I have a reader!!!

That reminds me of what one of my dd's did. When she was little, she didn't talk until she was 3. I mean no more than one or two worlds. I was starting to get concerned there was a problem. Then out of the blue, she just started talking in full sentences! She's such a perfectionist, and I'm convinced she wasn't willing to speak until she could do it right! I'm sure it also had something to do with being #5 and having all the older siblings do everything for her...lol.