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Phonics Woes


IceFairy
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We are giving OPTGR a shot for DD. Its not clicking at all. I am not sure where to go from here. She needs something fun although she is mostly an auditory learner. She has fine motor delays and is just barely tracing and writing. She cannot use a computer mouse at all. Is there a DVD series out there? Besides Leap Frog? Any other suggestions would be helpful. She WANTS to read so bad and she knows all her letters and sounds. TIA :)

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Have you tried oral blending games? She's really young, so I wouldn't be concerned yet, but if she's wanting to read really badly, I'd try some blending games. You chunk a word into its sounds, then see if she can guess the word. Show her how it works, then let her try one.

 

Starfall.com is also good for that stage (my oldest actually learned to read from Starfall). But really, you're running into a developmental wall. You have to just wait until she develops the ability to blend. That normally happens sometime between 4-6, with 5+ being the norm. She doesn't need to be able to write to learn to read, but she does need to be developmentally ready, and she just isn't right now, but she will get there. :)

 

My oldest started blending at 4.5, and he had known letters and their sounds for 2 whole years at that point, and he'd been able to chunk words at 3. He just couldn't go the other direction and blend them together! Then one day, he picked up a book and read it. All of a sudden, that day, he was able to blend. It was pretty cool to watch. Now your DD may not be so sudden like that (my middle son definitely wasn't... he could blend right at 4, but now at 6 he's still sounding out CVC words most of the time - L-O-N-G process here, and he too wants to read). You can't rush developmental readiness. It happens on their time frame.

 

ETA: I just realized you said she can't use a computer mouse. See if starfall works on a tablet if you have one. Or let her big brother drive the mouse? My kids love playing starfall together.

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I always hate it when people point this out to me when I am having an issue, so I'm going to apologize up front. Ahem.

 

Your daughter is 4, if she can't figure out blends yet, I'd say that is perfectly fine and not a big deal. With that said we really like Phonics Pathways Pyramids and Phonics Road has been golden for my oldest. I wouldn't say it is fun but it is super functional, pretty easy to implement and very effective.

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My preference for very early readers, is the first 20 or so lessons of How to Tutor (or AlphaPhonics) and the first few readers with short vowels sounds. Then the student has something to hang an explicit phonics curricula on.

 

Four is young. Very young. Yes, some children do learn to read at 4, but MANY of them are NOT developmentally ready to do so, and are just being set up to feel like a failure.

 

My oldest son was a late reader. Then he went on to be an EXTREMELY precocious middle schooler and teen.

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ETA: I just realized you said she can't use a computer mouse. See if starfall works on a tablet if you have one. Or let her big brother drive the mouse? My kids love playing starfall together.

 

Also, the regular Starfall (not more starfall) can all be controlled with the keyboard. No mouse needed. ;)

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You might want to look at Funnix. We used it just to teach blending and then switched to Jolly Phonics (and are now moving into Phonics Pathways, lol) but for young children, it teaches blending really, really well. It's a computer program with voiceover and very simple graphics, but the child doesn't have to do anything with the keys or mouse- they just point at the screen and answer verbally. We did about the first twenty lessons, at which point dd was blending really well.

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You don't really say whether she can blend sounds effectively. Can she? If she's an auditory learner, as you say, maybe she's already able to blend orally-presented sounds, but is mainly having trouble with print?

 

If she is having trouble mainly with the printed word, and is delayed in fine-motor areas as you say, do some reading on binocular vision problems and vision therapy, since that might be what is going on with her. Or, as others have said, she might just need some time.

 

Here's a link the the vision information on my site: The Vision Piece. That part of the site is about dyslexia, but I just use that word to describe a struggling reader.

 

And you might be interested in the vitamin D3 and Omega-3 information there also, under The Diet Piece.

 

Mainly, though, if she can now blend, but continues to struggle with the printed word, keep the possibility of a vision issue in mind. As she gets older, there's a Vision Assessment Checklist there that might be helpful to help you decide if you should take her to a developmental optometrist for an evaluation.

 

Rod Everson

OnTrack Reading

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I would not worry about it since she's only 4. But if it helps at all, some kids don't get blending if you aren't careful to have them copy you saying JUST the sounds without the "UH" on the end... e.g. B says "b" (not "buh.") And T says "t" (not "tuh" or "tih.") If that's not already happening, I would get her in the habit of saying ONLY the sounds of the letter without adding any sounds. This will making "hearing" the word easier. "T" "aaa" "p" sounds a lot more like the word "tap" than "tih-aaa-puh." YKWIM? Sorry if you are well aware of this.

 

I have them copy me when I demonstrate how to sound out a word. I have them sound out the same word and "say it slow" i.e. drag out any sounds that can be drug out... like sssssss and aaaaaaa and mmmmm. But don't let her drag out the sounds that cannot be said slowly without altering the sound (b, t, p, etc). Then you can show her how to say the sounds a bit faster, and then a bit faster, and then have her guess what the word is you're sounding out. This can help her learn to recognize actual words in the sounds she is saying. So when she sounds a word out herself it might be easier for her to go from saying the letters sounds to hearing the word.

 

Also, maybe use some magnet or wood letters, or use this fun melissa & doug puzzle? The picture might give a little bit of confidence while you practice the sounding out aspect and help it "click."

 

Melissa & Doug See and Spell Puzzle

(ETA: Though obviously I would only use the straightforward CVC words like bus and sun and skip fish for now. Maybe you could make some homemade templates with the word and picture on them and as she sounds out the word she can put a wooden or magnet letter on the spot.)

 

Again, sorry if that was all old news and useless info. :)

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Not sure if I am alone here, but maybe her brain is just not ready.

 

My oldest was hyperlexic ( Aspie), but my second child almost seems dyslexic. They really are complete opposites. I have a video of her saying and forming letters with their letters sounds at age 2.5, but she just could seem to get blend and put everything together until 6. Now it's finally clicked.

 

I kept at it with Explode the Code and was lucky enough to find a free almost mint Hooked on phonics set.

 

For fine motor delays I would do tweezers, playdoh, squeeze balls, puzzles, and Handwriting without tears.

 

Hope maybe one of these things helps :)

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100ezl worked well with both my older girls. They needed more phonics after but it gave them a great start. It really helped my oldest with blending. My youngest mainly practices blending cvc words while I write on a white board. She has started 100ezl but doesn't do it daily yet. It's a soft introduction I feel.

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DD started Hooked on Phonics, Kindergarten at 4.5...we divided each lesson into three days (except for some really short and easy lessons). Your DD would need to know short vowel and first consonant sounds before starting, though. We also used a word families helpers resouce book for extra practice and fun. See my blog for more details... http://bluehousescho...curriculum.html

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