Reading readiness for DS5 with SPD, possible ADD

[eviesmomma]

Hi all, I'm hoping to get some advice since I'm so new to homeschooling! This next year will be our first official year. I have a 9yo, a 5yo (soon to be 6), and a 2yo. The 5yo had some delays - late speech, has a hard time with fine motor, is VERY sensory seeking (therefore is not able to sit and focus long), and he might or might not have some ADD in there too. He's the sweetest boy. He went to a developmental center for a couple of years to work on the OT, PT, and ST. Now he's at home since it was only a preschool center.

 

Anyway, I've been gradually doing some things with him through the summer, trying to find a niche to start with him. We've tried things like The Reading Lesson, 100 Easy Lessons, the Funnix computer program (which is basically 100 easy lessons on the computer), Hooked on Phonics K, etc. I don't think he's ready for any of that though. He has a hard time blending letters, can't always remember letter sounds, and just has a hard time with a lot of it. I don't want to push him too hard of course. He already doesn't want to do any of it.

 

I started thinking maybe I should bump him back a bit into simply letter recognition and things like that. More of a pre-K thing. I started thinking the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler maybe? Are there any other programs that anyone could recommend? He enjoys the computer, but he's maxed out on Starfall and a lot of the other freebie sites. With Readings Eggs and other programs, he just wants to play the dumb games that come as a bonus.

 

Am I right to bump him back after only trying a little bit? Like...how long do you try before doing something like that? And, any suggestions for programs/curriculum? I'm really a Charlotte Mason gal, and I want to eventually use Language Lessons from Queen HS with him. But given his fine motor problems, I'm not ready to start that either with him. Thanks so much for any insight!

[PeterPan]

Did you go back and check his phonemic awareness and just his plain old ability to hear the sounds? http://phonologicalawareness.org/ and also look into Earobics or the pretest at Barton. My ds has verbal apraxia, which what is often underlying late talkers. Strong correlation with dyslexia and reading disorders. I'd back WAY up and work on FOUNDATION. Phonemic awareness, OG methods of instruction, not regular phonics.

[Lecka]

I would bump him back for sure. With my son -- when he can't give the right answer, he knows it, and it makes him want to avoid that activity. So go back to where he can be successful.

 

My son also had speech therapy and had trouble with hearing the different sounds, and that was the underlying issue causing him to have difficulty in matching sounds to letters. So for him working on sounds.

 

I agree on phonemic awareness. If you work on that, and he is not able to do it, then I would try to find out why. But if he can do the activities then it is worth it to go through them before starting letters, imo.

 

If you look at "phonemic awareness" on Amazon, a lot of books aimed at kids aged pre-school to 1st grade show up, and a lot might be available at the library. A lot of the games are listening games and activities, or sorting pictures by their first sound, or first-sound Bingo with pictures on the squares and you drawing a card and going "ssssss" for the box with a picture of the sun to be covered.

 

My son was not successful with these kinds of activities even until he had some speech therapy, but that is not common. More common is kids who do really well going through the phonemic awareness.

 

Agree with Elizabeth :)

 

Also for trouble with blending (once you are there)..... it is really hard for some kids to learn, and explicit instruction is needed. There are many avenues for this, but all focus on just a lot of modelling of blending in different ways. It can take a lot of repetition also. But once kids can blend well a lot of times they start to make good progress! But until he is blending well, you might want to look for programs that make a big deal of direct or explicit instruction of blending. This is not needed by many kids and neglected or not worked on enough in a lot of traditional reading programs (that are great for kids who do pick up blending easily).

 

If he does struggle with the phonemic awareness stuff -- well I know what we went though with my son. But I think a lot of kids don't need it. But if he cannot do the pre-school phonemic awareness stuff - - there are more alternatives to even make those things really explicit and tie it to how sounds are pronounced and things like that.

 

I can also say -- I would look for games, maybe, where if he doesn't know the right answer or get the right answer, it is easy to just say "oh it is this." It is very different for my son than saying "tell me this" or "tell me that" and then he can't do it. That is very, very hard on him. In a game, it is no big deal to him, and if he gets the wrong answer, he is exposed to the right answer by me -- and it is just like, getting better at a game.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Lecka