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Should I just relax, be worried, or what?


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DD is newly 6 (Jan. birthday). I started phonics with her last August. I am using CLE Learning to Read program. It does have more writing than I think is necessary, but I've tweaked that to fit DD better. She did pretty well with it until it introduced long vowels and consonant digraphs. Now, it seems like she's regressing on sounds she's known for a while, mainly the short vowel sounds. She also cannot seem to remember any of the spelling rules, such as when to use c and k, when to add an e to the end of a word, which consanants to double at the end of the word, etc.

I taught her older sister to read using the same program when older sister was 4, and she had no trouble at all. Granted, that is quite young to go through this program and I wouldn't expect that of just any child. It's just hard to know if there might possibly be a problem here or if need to relax and let her mature a bit more. Her younger sister, who is 4, has sat in on most of the lessons I've been teaching the 6 year old, and has occasionally corrected Dd6 when she's made mistakes with sounds! And I haven't been directly teaching Dd4 at all.

 

So does all this sound like a normal, newly turned 6 year old who needs to mature a bit more, or does anyone see red flags?

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I wouldn't worry at all about spelling for a newly 6 year old. Really, many people suggest not teaching spelling rules till 7 or later. At this age, kids are just becoming comfortable with writing phonetically, and starting to use digraphs. Trying to incorporate spelling rules so young takes the focus away from where it needs to be.

 

And that may explain what you're seeing with her slipping on the short vowel sounds, there may have been too much introduced at once so she's flailing. I'd focus on the vowel sounds for awhile, then move on to digraphs, and later once those are down move on to more complex spelling rules. I don't think you're seeing anything at all worrisome! :)

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Kids vary. The program sounds like it expects a lot. I would probably just back up, review, tread water a bit, maybe work on some other skills. 

 

Does she have any issues otherwise, like with rhyming or hearing sounds correctly or clapping syllables? Any attention/behavioral issues? 

 

You could play some games that build working memory, just because it never hurts to have more working memory. Memory games, games where you repeat sequences of instructions, Ticket to Ride Junior, anything like that would do. It will help her hold all the sounds in her head as she's trying to decode. :)

Edited by OhElizabeth
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Could indicate some underlying difficulty. Or it could be that she just needs more practice. Can she rhyme? Can she say the alphabet and identify the letters? Can she remember the sounds that the alphabet letters make? Did she have trouble with those very early phonemic skills?

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Btw, I'm not a fan of the relax and let them mature thing. Like if she's really discrepant from her peers, then it matters. The IDA is saying to get dyslexia identified between K5 and 1st. So don't think ANYBODY is saying just blow off obvious signs of dyslexia. I think we're trying to let you notice and discriminate whether it's the phonological processing glitching her, or whether it's only working memory, some ADHD, being overwhelmed by a workbook approach, that kind of thing. 

 

If you were here, you would have a couple options that could be really good. One, you could go ahead and get a CTOPP. She's 6, and if it shows it you would actually get your diagnosis, bam boom. Or it might put you at rest. She's certainly old enough for it, and around here you can get at least the CTOPP with a tutor for only $75. That would be like a super easy recommend I'd make if you were here locally. 

 

Your other thing to consider would be to go ahead, see who the popular psych is for SLDs in your area, make the appt (which will often have a 2-3 month wait), and cancel if things resolve or seem better by then. A three month wait from now is basically the end of the school year. That's what the IDA says, between K5 and 1st, so you'd be spot on time. 

 

And if you want to wait and watch, wait a month or two. I certainly would not wait MORE than that, because if it IS something you'd like it identified by sometime this summer. So when people say you could work on working memory, review, play some games, we're talking like two weeks or a month, not six months or a year. My dd has ADHD (straight, no SLDs) and reading was crunchy for her at first. My dd is very, very bright! Some kids are just more crunchy than others. 

 

So to me, that's sort of a conservative approach, to either get a screening to put your mind at ease or make the appt knowing you can cancel it. It's just important to realize that good psychs will often have a wait. If you wait to make that decision and aren't on the list, you could have a significant wait when you decide to make the move. So it's information you can gather now to have that set up for when you'd want it. 

Edited by OhElizabeth
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She's never had trouble with recognizing rhyming words, never had any kind of speech issues, seems to know her alphabet pretty well, and was actually doing pretty well with simple CVC words and some sight words. It just seems like in the past couple of weeks she's had difficulty with remembering when a vowel should be long and also the difference between "sh" and "th".

 

Like OhElizabeth said, I may should focus on games and activities that will build up her memory ability. She does seem like she forgets things somewhat easily, not just school related but in other areas as well.

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There are lots of games you can play for learning to read too! Spelling Success sells games to go with all the levels of Barton, but you might find some of them would be really nice. 

 

When my dd was starting out, Happy Phonics was really popular. It's all games. Do they still sell that? Anything like that would be nice and reinforcing and give you some variety. 

 

My dd had spurts where it just seemed like we had hit a developmental wall. You'd tread water for 2 weeks, do other things, and it was fine again. 

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Definitely look into and work on the memory stuff if it seems like an issue, but this sounds pretty typical to me.

 

You may want to look into a different program at least for awhile. CLE introduces a lot of sight words which can be confusing for some kids just learning to read. I have a friend who has used CLE with her 3 daughters. She tried to use CLE first with one dd, and while it started okay she eventually hit a wall. Now she always recommends learning the majority of the phonics taught in CLE with a different program first.

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