does the light really just go on?

[momma aimee]

with regard to reading.

 

DS decodes pretty well, and we keep practicing but it has yet to "turn in to reading"

 

we do ETC workbooks and starfall.com and we read (I read to him and brother and i try to find books he can read most of).

 

am i missing something :lurk5:>

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

For all 4 of my children, yes. It was a mental click or switch that occurred. For 2 of them it took a month off from school work when I saw no real progress happening, sort of a stall. We took off and rested. When we went back, it took a day or two of refreshing and then "click" the light came on. You could see it in their eyes. They started reading like it was a natural thing. The other two had the click but it happened without a break. One day they were sounding each letter then 'click" they began to read.

 

If you are finding he is at a wall, try taking a break. He might need to process all he s learning.

[Julie Smith]

With Eldest I was reading a book with him, It was from the MoonGobble series. I was sitting beside him tracing my finger along under every word with him reading out loud. This type of reading with my help lasted awhile. I think we did all 4 cat wing books, 3 Moongobble books, and 3 Littles books.

 

About 2 or 3 weeks after that he was happily and easily reading, "The Enchanted Forest" series quietly to himself. Then when done that he read a few other books. 2 weeks ago he even read a chapter of "The Hobbit" because he didn't want to wait for Daddy to read it.

 

So for him I wouldn't say it was a switch getting flicked, but it happened quickly from simply books with help, to quietly reading harder books.

 

Youngest, well. ... He still hasn't mastered long vowels. But he says he would like it if authors would write some nice interesting books about Lego Super Heroes using no long vowels. :p

[TengoFive]

All 4 of my readers have had a lightbulb moment. My oldest was the most dramatic. She knew all her phonics rules and could decode, but it never really clicked. We stopped doing reading work for 6 months-1 year. Then in one week she went from not being able to read to reading a 900 page book to herself with complete comprehension. That was when she was 7.

[Farrar]

For one of my twins, yes. For the other, no. I think some kids get a sudden leap and others just have to plug away slowly.

[kdownie]

For mine, it was a "lightbulb" couple of days, just after the Christmas break last year. She went from slowly sounding out words to just "getting it" and reading much more fluently. I was surprised it happened after a break from school, but that is how it went for her.

[alisoncooks]

This is encouraging.

We're just plugging away, sounding out words letter-by-letter (DD is nearly 6.5). Hoping for a lightbulb moment just around the corner...!

[RootAnn]

Depends on the kid. I don't think there is always a lightbulb moment.

 

However, mine have had variations of the lightbulb. My oldest went from barely being able to read those Step-into-Readers (even Level 1 books) to Boxcar Children (then Trixie Belden & up) in a matter of weeks. However, we had hovered in Step-into-Readers land for AGES, it seemed. (I think she was almost 8 when she made the leap.)

 

My second could read, but didn't like to, and lacked fluency. We worked & worked & worked. She finally started picking up her own (fluff) books to read - chapter books like "Puppy Patrol" and "Animal Ark." She's my audiobook lover, so she was loving the Magyk series by Angie Sage. A few weeks ago, she picked up the next book in the series (500+ pages) and took off. (She's 9, so it has been a long road.)

 

My third can read, but is working on building her reading stamina & fluency. She's still young & will probably be the only one of my kids who can read this well at the age of six.

[MerryAtHope]

For one of my twins, yes. For the other, no. I think some kids get a sudden leap and others just have to plug away slowly.

 

This was my experience too. One jumped ahead suddenly, the other it was just slow, gradual, painstaking improvement.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

For ds#1 it was more gradual. For a friend's daughter I worked with over this summer, we took a week or two off and then all of a sudden she was doing much better. For ds#2 it was a light bulb moment and he took off very quickly.

[lailasmum]

My dd has definitely had a lightbulb moment with reading. She has been plugging away trying hard but not really getting it for a few years but 3 weeks ago the switch flipped and she can easily read pretty much anything now.

[FairProspects]

NO! My oldest has never had a lightbulb moment and has had to fight for each step of reading, but he is dyslexic.

 

Ds #2 has not yet had a lightbulb moment either but he is not old enough to worry about yet.

 

I hate teaching reading with a passion. I'm beginning to think I really stink at it.

[Mommie_Jen]

I'm certainly hoping to see the lightbulb sometime. DS has been sounding out CVC words since July. It's my personal struggle to NOT get frustrated when he sounds out a word, then sounding out that exact same word letter by letter again when it shows up 2 words later. So far, for us, it's been painstakingly slow, but steady.

[MeganW]

We went through OPGTR about 1/3 of the way THREE times in the course of 2 years. (I kept starting over when I realized they just weren't getting it.)

 

All 4 of my kids went from CCCCCCAAAAAATTTT to easily reading pages in about a month span of time. (Different months, but for all of them, it was definitely a lightbulb kinda thing.)

 

I will say that for my big kids, for each of them it occurred after about 3 months of vision therapy. I'm not sure what happened with the youngest. She wasn't a reader, and then suddenly it was like all that OPGTR took, and she was a reader!

 

My impression is that it is like potty training. You *can* do it early, but truly it is just excruciating for everyone involved, or you can wait until they are ready, and it is relatively painless.

Edited November 2, 2012 by MeganW

[MeganW]

I'm certainly hoping to see the lightbulb sometime. DS has been sounding out CVC words since July. It's my personal struggle to NOT get frustrated when he sounds out a word, then sounding out that exact same word letter by letter again when it shows up 2 words later. So far, for us, it's been painstakingly slow, but steady.

 

FYI - we were in the CVC stage for about a year and a half. You may have a while yet.

[Crimson Wife]

For my kids, yes. There is something that "clicks" and all of a sudden they can do pre-literacy things they couldn't before (like rhyme). A couple months later, they start decoding.

 

Now my youngest has autism so she may have a different path, but I've got a couple of years before I need to worry about teaching her to read.

[Julie Smith]

FYI - we were in the CVC stage for about a year and a half. You may have a while yet.

 

I think we have been working on CVC words for 9 months. But Youngest is getting really good with them. Really good. :)

[blondeviolin]

My oldest had a light bulb. My next oldest...he has a lot of the phonics rules down and can sound out a lot of words. Reading is just no fun when you're sounding out everything. I See Sam readers have been great for this. They are way below his decoding ability, but the words in the readers show up SO MUCH, he's finally remembering some. I wonder if he'll have me "nibbled to death by ducks."

[Hypatia.]

DS1 had a light bulb moment, a little over a year ago. We were in the car on the way back from the library and he was flipping through one of the books (one about volcanoes) and it was like he just suddenly realized that he could read all the words in there, it was really amazing.

 

DD1 is making gradual improvement. Last year, at age 5, some of the steps in OPGTR were very frustrating for her. We took several months off and now things are coming easier, but no light bulb moment just yet.

[KrissiK]

For my three that are reading - not really. None of them had trouble at all learning to read, but..... they just eventually got the hang of it.

[mommymilkies]

I remember my lightbulb moment with reading. My oldest 2 also had that moment. They went from barely decoding to reading novels in like a day. I'm still waiting for my 8 yo to get even near there. :tongue_smilie:

[TranquilMind]

with regard to reading.

 

DS decodes pretty well, and we keep practicing but it has yet to "turn in to reading"

 

we do ETC workbooks and starfall.com and we read (I read to him and brother and i try to find books he can read most of).

 

am i missing something :lurk5:>

Yes. With my youngest, it wasn't until the summer before 3rd grade, if I recall. Don't worry. It will happen.

[Nart]

Nope - it is a dimmer switch slowly getting brighter not the sudden brightness of a lightbulb.

 

My son has made steady progress for the last 20 months. I started teaching him to read when he was four and now that he is a couple of months away from turning six, he continues to progress. He has a history of ear tubes for fluid in his ears, intermittent hearing loss, and speech and language delay due to the fluid and resulting hearing loss. Now his speech and hearing are fine. Every month his reading gets slightly better. I teach reading almost every day, 7 days a week for 15 minutes - so he has had over 500 reading lessons. He can read fluently now (Dodsworth, Billy and Blaze, Ricky Ricotta), but doesn't have the stamina for longer books without pictures. I don't think it was an issue of maturity, he just needed systematic phonics instruction. I can picture his 3 year old brother will be kid where the light bulb just goes on. He is already rhymes well and can blend words. Last week I pointed to the letters C-A-T and he said the sounds of the letters, laughed and started meowing.

[HappyCrazyMama]

FYI - we were in the CVC stage for about a year and a half. You may have a while yet.

I was thinking the same thing. My two girls did progress beyond CVC words, learning long vowels, blends, etc. but still had to sound out each word slowly for a long time, at least a year. My 2nd grader is still doing this but I have thankfully noticed her speed increasing.:)

[momma aimee]

I was thinking the same thing. My two girls did progress beyond CVC words, learning long vowels, blends, etc. but still had to sound out each word slowly for a long time, at least a year. My 2nd grader is still doing this but I have thankfully noticed her speed increasing.:)

 

this is us

 

Big decoded all these words:

 

smoke

snow

snake

smile

spear

snail

spider

spoon

spot

sniff

spell

spin

snip

snack

spill

snug

spit

spun

snap

smog

small

 

today in his ETC pages. but he just doesn't read read, yk?

 

i will keep on keeping on ....:glare:

[nandmsmom]

Both of mine had that click, however it isn't always the case. If he is decoding correctly, then I wouldn't worry.

[Soror]

It was very, very slow and steady here until this summer and suddenly it seemed to click- right around age 8. It was so nice to have a big jump when we had to work so hard previously. He went up 2 grade levels in a couple of months with no instruction.

[boscopup]

Definite lightbulb moment for #1. One day he couldn't figure out that /c/-/a/-/t/ was â€catâ€, and the next day he picked up a first grade level Dr. Seuss book and read 30 pages, as my mouth was gaping open.

 

#2 hasn't had a lightbulb moment yet, but he just turned 6 today, so it's not concerning. He is making steady progress, and he is starting to remember words that he has sounded out a million times.

 

#3 can read the first couple Bob books, so I imagine he'll have a lightbulb moment like #1 did. He learns everything by osmosis. :tongue_smilie:

[Pen]

No. DS is 2e with dyslexic type issues. No real progress till I got suitable materials for his situation. Then progress--but not what I'd call a sudden lightbulb.

[wapiti]

For two of mine, there was the light bulb, during K. For one, no light bulb until her vision problem got fixed. For my current 6.5 y.o., no light bulb but steady progress. He has been reading Frog and Toad, and still asks me to help with a few words on each page (he attends school). With lots of 2e siblings, I remain on the lookout but not terribly worried.

 

With the various issues listed in your siggy, I would be on the lookout for reading issues too, though I'd hope that your earlier testing may have ruled out some things.

[Jungle Mama]

All 4 of my readers have had a lightbulb moment. My oldest was the most dramatic. She knew all her phonics rules and could decode, but it never really clicked. We stopped doing reading work for 6 months-1 year. Then in one week she went from not being able to read to reading a 900 page book to herself with complete comprehension. That was when she was 7.

 

This is very similar to my mild-Aspie son except he couldn't understand phonic rules or decode too well even when he was 8.5 years old. In between moving house, finding work, having a new baby and doing very little school work it just clicked when he was around 9.5 and he was reading fluently. He is a great speller too. Go figure!

 

On the other hand my 10 year old and 7 year old missed much structured reading lessons during the same time. I got them both onto Starfall while the baby was little (about 3 years ago) and the 7 year old is now reading fluently while the 10 year old is still decoding as he goes. I don't know! (Shrugs shouders!)

 

It seems to me they each have a "prime" window to learn to read in, sometime, but you don't always know when, and if you miss it then reading is a laborious project. Some kids it is later, others earlier. I left my 10 year old too long with little instruction because I thought he would be like his older brother and just get it but he didn't. Now it is laborious! On the other hand I must have just caught the 7yo in his prime window and he is zooming along.

 

My advice to a younger me... stick with instruction, keep it going and don't give up, but don't make it hard work. Just regular and consistent exposure, even in the form of games or online activities. Just don't give up as you never know when their prime window is going to open.

 

Hope that was helpful to someone else apart from me, :tongue_smilie: but now I have a plan for the 4 year old. lol

 

Best wishes

Jen in Oz

[Jpoy85]

Waiting on the light bulb to go off here with C (she will be 7 in may).

[Embassy]

No light bulbs here. One child was more like a race car, but there was no moment of the light turning on that I could recognize. Another child was more like a sputtering race car. He sped ahead, but had issues that caused his road to be less than smooth.

[momma aimee]

For two of mine, there was the light bulb, during K. For one, no light bulb until her vision problem got fixed. For my current 6.5 y.o., no light bulb but steady progress. He has been reading Frog and Toad, and still asks me to help with a few words on each page (he attends school). With lots of 2e siblings, I remain on the lookout but not terribly worried.

 

With the various issues listed in your siggy, I would be on the lookout for reading issues too, though I'd hope that your earlier testing may have ruled out some things.

 

only LD suggested is "non-verbal LD" (but he can't be dx with that till 8 / 3rd grade so offically the dx is to re-evulate then)... he has been tested 2x now

[Pen]

My ds with the dyslexia-ish no lightbulb, also had speech delays. Do you have readers that are very much oriented to step by step progression (CVC words readers, for example) or are you trying to go from decoding work to regular beginner books?

[suzielou]

Yes, it really does just click. My oldest picked it up so easily, that I thought I had it figured out... along came little sister. She was 5.5 and still c--a---t. We used alpha phonics and only went 5 pages by Christmas. It didn't matter how many days she saw the SAME words, she still had to painstakingly sound them out. Insert little brother age 4. I had time on my hands and let him sit in on her phonics lesson to keep him out of trouble. His light bulb went off at 4 and he started blending everything together perfectly. Fast forward... DD 6.5 c---a---t. By this time DS5 is reading ahead of her. Fast forward DD7....light bulb! Now at 8.5, she has passed little brother in reading. She has also read 3 sets of American Girl books this year alone! I even took her to a psychologist and had her tested, I was so worried. He told me that it was completely normal, she was fine, and that all kids are different. LOL I did discover that she has a low processing speed compared to other kids her age and especially compared to her brothers, who it was easier for me to measure her against. That combined with a different learning style, I tweaked some things and we have been fine. HTH

Suzie

[momma aimee]

thanks. he decoded well, just no reading:glare:

[Karen in CO]

LeapFrog videos. The talking letter factory and talking word factory. :) They're are known around here as the cartoon road to reading. They help a lot with blending. However, my youngest has had a lot of trouble reading. She can read well now, but her eyes don't track properly across a page which makes it hard for her to actually read. Give it more time. He's young and still early in ETC. He may need more intensive phonics later, but for, let him have some time and practice.