I have a slow learner

[springmama]

I need some advice.....

 

We started Kindergarten in July and so far seem to have made no progress with regards to math, reading and writing. My dd seems really stuck and can't seem to learn any new concepts and when something is even slightly difficult, she gets frustrated and cries and gives stranger answers that she knows are not correct.

 

I just don't know what to do. When we read, she can do it, but cannot do it fluently. She also seems to have no recognition of words that she has just read. For instance, in the Bob books, the names of the characters are used over and over again throughout each book. Each time she sees them she sounds them out as if it's a brand new word, even if she has already read it 10 times within the past 10 minutes. Sight words are impossible. I have tried teaching her two at a time, but no matter what she cannot recognize them. Words like "the, a, and, on" are sounded out over and over again each time we read even though by now they ought to be sight words. She has been stuck at this level for a year now it seems.

 

We use Bob Books, ETC, 100 easy lessons, and click n kids phonics online. Nothing is working.

 

With math, it's the same thing. She does not seem to recognize numbers past 19 even though we have gone over the numbers a million times. So far, she can count up to 40 (but not recognize the numbers on paper), do basic addition with her abacus, write the numbers 0-9, and count by tens. Anything more than that is too much for her and makes her melt into a puddle. Here's an example. Every day we practice counting by tens using dimes. I have been explaining that pennies are 1 cent and dimes are 10 cents and when we count our pennies we count by ones and when we count our dimes we count by tens. This has been explained probably 30 times. Today I explained this to her and pointed to 3 dimes and said "can you tell me how many cents are there?" She said "I don't know." I said, "do you remember how many cents are in a dime?" She said "no" I said "well, there are 10 cents in a dime, so that means we can count by 10 when we are counting dimes. Can you do that for me?" So then she tried, but couldn't figure out how to get started. I pointed at the first dime and said 'Okay we start with 10, so 10....." she then said "10, 20, 30..." She then had to write "30" We had already talked about "30" and what it looks like and she had already written it and it had been pointed out to her but for some reason suddenly she forgot what it looked like.

 

Needless to say, I'm really frustrated. Things are not progressing smoothly and I really need to keep her on track for 1st grade in the fall. I feel like I must keep up with state standards so that if for some reason we ever do need to put the kids in public school, we can do so without them being behind.

 

Does anyone have any advice for a slow learner like my dd?

[Annie Laurie]

I don't think that means she's a slow learner, and I hope she doesn't hear you say that. She is in Kindergarten, is she five? It's not uncommon for a five (or six) yr old not to be ready for reading, and math is an abstract concept that a lot of young kids struggle with. She may not be developmentally ready at this point and no amount of review and reinforcement is going to make it click until she's ready.

 

Have you read anything by the Moore's and their views on better late than early, maybe that would be reassuring.

http://www.moorefoundation.com/article.php?id=3

 

Also, this is a great article on math and young children:

http://www.triviumpursuit.com/articles/research_on_teaching_math.php

[abbeyej]

Honestly, she sounds *normal* to me. I'm not saying that there couldn't be any learning disabilities there, but nothing you *described* was abnormal for a 5yo. At all.

 

It's perfectly normal for a child learning to read to sound out the same word over and over (and over and over and over and...). Some kids do it for a longer period of time than others, but it's absolutely to be expected.

 

If you had been describing a 7yo, I would have some real concerns. But for a five or newly-six year old child... It sounds like she's learning to sound things out. That's great. She recognizes numbers to 19. She can do addition on an abacus and write all the basic digits. That's great! And she will likely continue to make progress (even if it *feels* slow as molasses to *you*) for the rest of the year...

 

I see no reason to think at this point that she would be "behind" if you had to put her in public first grade a year from now.

 

I know it can be terribly frustrating. But do try to be patient and consistent. Work at a level that's "just a little hard" for her, no matter whether that seems ahead or behind -- that's the level at which she'll make the most progress without leaving foundational holes in her skills...

 

But truly, everything you said sounds just about right for a child 2-3 months into a 9-10 month kindergarten year. :) Maybe you should even save this message and revisit it in February so you can compare. You will very likely find that while day-to-day you see very little progress, over the course of a few months, she will add many new skills and greater understanding...

[Rainbows]

I didnt homeschool my older kids, but I did experience the same things with them.

 

For my oldest son reading was a challenge...then one day something clicked and it was like night and day. I remember reading a book with him (similar to a Bob book) and the word "one" was in it......every time he got to that word he'd say it like "oh-knee"....and every time Id say its "one". Next page, "oh-knee" again. Was frustrating at the time, but we laugh about it now. For what its worth, he scores "advanced" in placement tests....so he was/is a bright kid, just took a while to grasp some concepts

 

DD struggled with numbers in kindy but got much better in first grade. Don't get me started on letter sounds...ugh! We had crying every single day. She was (and sort of still is) one of those kids who melts down when something doesn't come quickly and easily. Some time towards the end of kindy things clicked for her.

 

I'd keep taking it slow, trying to make it as fun as you can.

[In The Great White North]

I don't think she's a slow learner at all. It's way too soon to make that assumption.

 

Dc were in school for kindergarten (age 6, not 5) and didn't even attempt any of that. The school introduced letters starting in first grade, money didn't come til 3rd (it's more abstract.)

 

The beauty of homeschooling is that you can do things at dd's pace, when she is ready for them, instead of trying to follow the state's plan. If, for some reason, you do put her in school at some point, you can always put her in the grade she is ready for (regardless of her age.) No point in making her hate school in the meantime.

[AnnetteB]

I'm not sure that I would call your dear 5 year old a "slow learner." There are early stages of math learning that need to be understood before moving on to more difficult concepts. She sounds like she needs more time counting things that are real to her....money is a difficult concept. In our homeschool we start the little ones off counting their fingers and toes, then our fingers and toes. It takes some awhile to realize that they don't have to count each one every time..that there are 5 in each "set" and 10 "all together," and that their own 10 plus Mommy's 10 make 20 every time. It is a great moment when the "light bulb comes on." We have been counting buttons, seashells, M&Ms, pencils, pinecones, hotwheels, Legos for 24 years now. We have a fun way of grouping crayons or pencils together into 10's with rubberbands. When we begin to subtract, we Bust a Bundle to borrow. In the early years I try to put math concepts into terms that they can picture in their heads...."How many plates will we need for dinner?" "If you have 12 blueberry muffins on the plate and Brodie(the dog) eats 3 of them how many will you have left?" We set timers for short tasks so that they get a feeling for the passage of time. When the children are ready for workbooks we start with a double-dose of ABeka and BJU kindergarten level...lots of fun and coloring :) Our approach to reading is similar with lots of rhyming play, hunts for things that start with a sound around the house, an alphabet notebook that they make up with each letter worked in a variety of ways. I love making up letter slides when it is time to put the sounds together :) One of the things I love best about home education is that I can work with each child as an individual and progress at their pace and hopefully instill a love of learning in them. Our state doesn't require testing until the end of 3rd grade...plenty of time. ( Our local ps doesn't teach the children to read until first and second grades so I don't think expectations are that high)

[LisaKinVA]

What you've described can easilly be attributed to "bright" children too -- my oldest could not blend for the longest time -- especially considering how quickly he picked up other things.

 

If you can, I'd suggest getting the Leapfrog video series for both reading and math. They are *a lot* of fun, all my children loved watching them, and this is what made the phonics "click" for my oldest. This isn't a replacement for what you're doing, but would add a fun, entertaining element.

 

I'd also agree with the above poster to use something other than money to practice counting. Fingers, Toes, cars, ponies, whatever you have in every-day items. You can practice skip counting just by chanting. When we started the 2's with my younger we'd chant "2-4-6-8, counting by 2's is really great" -- also, we have a 100 chart (one that I could print off), and we'd color in number patters. Also, we'd always refer to that chart when we were counting, so the children were always looking at the numbers as we said them.

 

Take heart -- and look forward to the "light bulb moment" that is sure to come!

[EKS]

You could easily be describing my 12 yo when he was your daughter's age. FWIW, he is ahead in several subjects now.

 

I would get your daughter a developmental vision exam. Many of the things you describe could be vision related. A developmental vision exam is not a normal eye exam. The optomitrist looks at things besides acuity, like tracking and convergence.

 

I would also recommend that you read Overcoming Dyslexia to see if anything in it resonates with you.

 

I would also post this on the special needs board. Those folks over there are great with this type of thing.

[Haiku]

None of that sounds out the ordinary to me, and I would be very hesitant to label your dd "slow" in your mind. That kind of thing can be very damaging to kids and to your ability to assess and respond appropriately to their needs.

 

Your daughter is five. There is no reason she needs to be reading fluently yet, and there is no reason she needs to be counting by tens. I think that's an extremely abstract concept for a five year old. Beginning readers do not see words as wholes. They see them as parts, so they frequently don't recognize the same word they just read a minute ago. A beginning reader sees a word as made up of individual letters that need to be assembled. Give it time.

 

Were I you, I would back off for a while. If you've told your dd something "30 times" and it's not sticking, she's simply not ready. It does not mean she's slow. It means she's five and not ready yet.

 

Tara

[sagira]

My ds couldn't understand money as he understood the other number concepts so far (we started hsing in September), so we took a break for a few weeks. A living math book or two later, and we returned to the concept. It clicked. I would have been okay with it too even if it didn't click (yet). I read here and in books that sometimes it takes time, and definitely a lot of patience.

 

You could try:

 

http://www.starfall.com for letter sounds, phonics, reading instruction in a fun way

 

and http://www.livingmath.com for reading books on math concepts (a hit here).

 

Oh, and I wouldn't say my ds was slow either, just five :) The thought had crossed my mind at one point, though, as a brand new homeschooler. OTOH he's a fabulous problem-solver and asks thought-provoking questions in science.

Edited November 7, 2008 by sagira

[StephanieF]

Not read all the posts but that was me a year ago!

Bob books were a nightmare. As you say, my ds sounded out every word as if he had seen it for the very first time. After several months I stopped.

Maths, he could say numbers 1-10 but could only recognise numbers 1-5. He could not recognise 6-10. I did everything, made numbers out of pasta, play dough, big ones little ones. Tried to learn one number a week. All completely useless.

He was simply too young.

Just have a break. Once your dc is ready she'll pick it up very quickly.

Here we are a year later, reading Frog and Toad and at least grade 1 level plus doing rightstart level B maths. He still has trouble remembering how many 1's on 10 etc somedays but I know he is normal and I just need to relax and wait for it all to click.

Stephanie

[Renee in NC]

Your daughter is not a slow learner. My 7yo is and he can't even begin to do what your daughter is doing.

 

She is normal!

[Wee Pip]

sorry if I sound redundant, I haven't read the replies. At my last local homeschool support group, the moms were talking about their 12 yos not knowing how to write the word "of" or forgetting the sound that "e" makes. It's normal. Your dd sounds like my 1stborn. Better not make her think because she'll have a meltdown! It isn't that she isn't bright, but for her own personality, she almost needs to work one grade level below what she is capable of. My 2ndborn seemed to be really ahead, but now I'm running into some trouble spots, like she is completely forgetting things she had mastered. I just treat it all matter of factly and keep moving. In fact, sometimes I have to split the workload in half, and just talk her through it, step by step, starting back at a really basic level. Some days I wonder why we're doing it at all! LOL. My 1st dd was terrible with sight words and sounded out c-a-t 10 times on the same page when she was 5-6. One thing that helped was giving her repetitious books where she could easily guess the word. Baby books that say "cat" with a picture of a cat, etc. Or books like "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" is my favorite. Sure, the kids are memorizing the words or guessing them by the pictures, but if you have them point to the words as they say them, it reinforces this idea that there is a systematic pattern to it. They are learning that words aren't just random letters thrown on a page, they happen repeatedly. Every time you see "cat" its going to say "cat" every time - its really not going to say "cat" one day and "dog" the next, LOL. Seriously, some kids don't get that concept right away, no matter how much phonics you teach them, and they just have to figure it out for themselves. So keep on, keepin' on.

[athena1277]

I don't know what the standards are where you live, but the math seems like a lot for K. My dd is almost done with MCP math K and they don't cover skip counting, much less adding more than 2 dimes together. I was researching standards awhile back and counting to 100 was actually a first grade skill!

My recommendation is to slow it down and keep it simple. The suggestions about counting with candy and such are great - we do it all the time (plus you don't have to by an expensive manipulative kit!).

[Ummto4]

Well, considering she's still five, I won't label her anything.

 

My son was like that when he was five. I struggled with him, even with asking him to counting down from 10. Then suddenly, when he was 6 (old kindergartener) he could do it and could do x+1 or 1+x on his head (x<10).

 

Also, 3 dimes = 30 cents IS a difficult concept for a five year old, especially if she hasn't got her place value pinned down. You said she can't count up to 20, right ? Moreover, does she know what she's doing when you asked her to count 10, 20, 30, etc. Does she know that she's counting by 10 ? Does she know the difference between counting by 10s and by 1s ?

 

As for reading, my experience with my son is he couldn't blend anything before he was 6 years 2 month. I started him reading when he was 6 years (impossible before then), and it took close to 2 months to get him more or less comfortable with CVC words.

 

As for writing, the same son didn't draw or write until I bought him HWT when he was 6 years 3 month. Three month with HWT (starting the pre-K book) turned him into a writer and a drawer. He can write things decently now.

 

So there are two reason as to why your dd does not progress:

- immaturity (nothing to do with intelligence, just the maturity)

- technique/method. My son is somebody who has to be taught everything very incrementally. I don't know whether your daughter is anything like my son in this respect. If she does, then you have to teach yourself or get a program which can teach her very incrementally. My daughter does not need to be taught like that. She learns blending by herself (just by watching her older brother doing it). She learns place value, counting up to 100, writing, etc by herself (amazing, I know).

 

HTH

[Ummto4]

A thought about dimes and cents. For young kids, they won't make any difference. Get her an abacus instead. That way, she'll see that 30 = 3 tens and 3 is 3 ones. Practice place value like this with your daughter. Forget the English name for number. She has to understand place value properly. You can even teach dime/cents using name like 3 tens instead of thirty. That's how I taught my son. Now he gets his place value pinned down.

 

PS: I use Right Start Math A with him at kindy, now we use RS Math B and Math Mammoth.

[Mountain View Academy]

The material you are mentioning is what you should be doing in 1st grade. Kindergarten is really for recognizing numbers to 100, counting by 1s. Knowing letter sounds and being able to write uppercase and lowercase letters. The rest is having fun!

 

I would only try to progress with math and reading if she is surpassing what you are giving her.

[Ohio12]

Honestly, she sounds *normal* to me. I'm not saying that there couldn't be any learning disabilities there, but nothing you *described* was abnormal for a 5yo. At all.

 

It's perfectly normal for a child learning to read to sound out the same word over and over (and over and over and over and...). Some kids do it for a longer period of time than others, but it's absolutely to be expected.

 

If you had been describing a 7yo, I would have some real concerns. But for a five or newly-six year old child... It sounds like she's learning to sound things out. That's great. She recognizes numbers to 19. She can do addition on an abacus and write all the basic digits. That's great! And she will likely continue to make progress (even if it *feels* slow as molasses to *you*) for the rest of the year...

 

I see no reason to think at this point that she would be "behind" if you had to put her in public first grade a year from now.

 

I know it can be terribly frustrating. But do try to be patient and consistent. Work at a level that's "just a little hard" for her, no matter whether that seems ahead or behind -- that's the level at which she'll make the most progress without leaving foundational holes in her skills...

 

But truly, everything you said sounds just about right for a child 2-3 months into a 9-10 month kindergarten year. :) Maybe you should even save this message and revisit it in February so you can compare. You will very likely find that while day-to-day you see very little progress, over the course of a few months, she will add many new skills and greater understanding...

 

I agree with this, but I did (do) have your exact experience. I know what you mean that it can be frustrating especially when my friends' children are told about money one time and are fascinated by it and pick it up immediately or start reading after a few weeks of phonics. It takes patience to have a slowER learner, but like the above poster said, she isn't behind..she is ahead!

 

I also have to make myself only work with dd 5-15 minutes on math and 5-15 minutes of reading a day so she doesn't get frustrated and start hating school. Remember, one of your main goals should be to make it so she likes school and learning.

 

Also, dd did take a full year to learn to read, but now that she has got it, she loves it and reads at at least a second grade level.

[springmama]

I'm so sorry! I did NOT mean to sound like I was labeling her at all! I just wanted to know what I was doing wrong because like lots of homeschooling parents I'm still a little insecure, lol!

 

I really don't think she has a learning disability or anything even remotely similar. I really thought the problem is just me.

 

I mean, we started off the year with such high hopes. I bought Horizons Math K along with all of the manipulatives. I made flash cards. I set up our school room for learning and then we started with one math lesson a day. First it was easy for her, then it suddenly became miserable. I just assumed I screwed her up somehow.

 

It's the same with reading. I hear about other kids going through 110 easy lessons easily, one lesson a day and magically they are reading fluently. Or so I thought......

 

Okay, so I'll keep on moving along and stop beating myself up over this.

 

Thanks a bunch for all of your advice. I am really sorry if I came across the wrong way. I definitely do not think my dd has a learning disability and no she has never ever heard me say anything of the sort....my thoughts and frustrations all remain safely in my neurotic mommy brain, lol!

[KrissiK]

I'm hsing my 4 and 5 year old boys for kinder. My 4 year old is catching on to reading much more readily than my 5 year old, so it's been a source of frustration for me. But I keep needing to remind myself that one of the myriad reasons I am homeschooling is that I can teach each of my children where they are academically. I got very frustrated with my 5 year old today and for my sake, we decided to end school early. All the other posts have been right on. Reading and math are developmental milestones in kids and if they're not ready, they're not ready!

[Closeacademy]

Last year, in September my Ker told me that she was going to marry a prince and would have servants who would read, write and do math for her so she didn't see the need to learn. I backed off and really didn't work with her for a few months and around December started including her in a review of phonics with my older child. It was spring before she could count to 10.

 

But now that we are halfway through first grade she is reading small readers, counting to 100, learning to tell time and really blossoming. It takes time.

 

My oldest understood math quickly and very young but she was almost 8 before she learned to read.

 

Hang in there, take a break if it is too tearful and come back to things when she is ready.:001_smile:

[Stacy in NJ]

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it sounds like you're a little impatient with her. Most schools don't expect real reading from kiddos until about January of 1st grade. If she's sounding out Bob Books, even slowly, this is just fine for a kindergartener. Did you homeschool you're other children?

 

I say, back off a bit. Continue with reading and math instruction but dial it down a bit. You don't say what math curriculum you're using, but go have a look at the TOC for MUS Primer level. I'll bet your dd isn't far off of normal expectations.

 

One of the things about the Well Trained Mind (the book) that I found discouraging as a parent of a dyslexic child was the assumption that most kids could learn to read in K. Many kiddos just aren't developmentally ready for reading at 5, imo. Some are, and that's fantastic, buy many just aren't.

[kalanamak]

I would call this child "not an especially early bloomer", aka NORMAL.

 

Have fun. Read a lot. Play games and talk talk talk. ("I'm giving you the BIGGER cracker" "I drew a triangle for my man's head, isn't that silly" "Oh, careful, don't fall, don't take a tumble, don't be defeated by gravity, remain upright, please" "See how the water drops bulge up off the waxed car? That's because of surface tension" "We are having 6 for dinner so we need.......how many chairs?" "See if I put the topsheet pattern down, it will be up and pretty when I fold it back over the blanket")

[popmom]

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it sounds like you're a little impatient with her.

 

Kathy has way more patience than most moms I know. I know she's more patient than I am. It's easy to feel this kind of frustation when you are trying to teach a child to read. I think it's very normal. Everybody is going to feel some level of impatience with their children in this kind of situation. And it's hard sometimes to adjust your expectations--especially if this child is learning differently or at a different pace than your other children.

 

I think the bigger issue here is worry or concern--not impatience. I know that when my children are struggling with something, it makes me very anxious. Their education is on my shoulders, yk?

 

I do agree that she seems pretty normal for a Kind'er. I would back off the lessons--especially the math-- for awhile and just do some fun stuff--You are probably already doing this though.

 

I'm using Horizons math, too. We are in 2nd and 5th. Is the coin counting in the Horizons or something you were working with on your own? I started last year w/ the 1st grade book, so I'm not familiar w/ K.

 

Marcy (aka momto4girls)

[Annie Laurie]

I think the bigger issue here is worry or concern--not impatience. I know that when my children are struggling with something, it makes me very anxious. Their education is on my shoulders, yk?

 

My oldest went to public school for a few years so when it was time to teach my now 7 and 6 yr olds to read a few years ago, I worried all the time if I was doing it right or if they would get it or what I would do if they didn't. It turned out that they did fine when I relaxed and followed their lead and kept it fun. So, yep, I've been there and I'm sure most of us moms have.

 

I hope you didn't feel jumped on, Kathy. I can look back now and see how kids all learn at a different pace and will learn when they are developmentally ready, that there is no time limit or need to worry about where the other kids are at; but I know that when we moms forget and get caught up in that, it's because we just want the best for our kids and sometimes it's not as easy to step back and see the big picture when we're in the thick of it.

[AngieW in Texas]

My youngest dd was just like this. She has dyseidetic dyslexia. I started posting about her when she was 4yo. I KNEW something was wrong, but all I heard from most people was to give her time and that she would grow out of it. She didn't.

 

At 7yo, she could not recognize any word on sight, not even her own name. However, she could spell basic code words like "log" and "mat". If you showed her a sheet of paper with the same word printed on it 20 times, she had to sound it out each and every time. She couldn't tell by looking that it was the same word printed over and over.

 

Take a look at the link below and see if it matches your dd. My dd had every symptom on the list even after vision therapy.

 

http://www.audiblox2000.com/learning_disabilities/dyseidetic.htm

 

My dd is working at grade level now.

[Peela]

I'm so sorry! I did NOT mean to sound like I was labeling her at all! I just wanted to know what I was doing wrong because like lots of homeschooling parents I'm still a little insecure, lol!

 

I really don't think she has a learning disability or anything even remotely similar. I really thought the problem is just me.

 

I mean, we started off the year with such high hopes. I bought Horizons Math K along with all of the manipulatives. I made flash cards. I set up our school room for learning and then we started with one math lesson a day. First it was easy for her, then it suddenly became miserable. I just assumed I screwed her up somehow.

 

It's the same with reading. I hear about other kids going through 110 easy lessons easily, one lesson a day and magically they are reading fluently. Or so I thought......

 

Okay, so I'll keep on moving along and stop beating myself up over this.

 

Thanks a bunch for all of your advice. I am really sorry if I came across the wrong way. I definitely do not think my dd has a learning disability and no she has never ever heard me say anything of the sort....my thoughts and frustrations all remain safely in my neurotic mommy brain, lol!

 

Lol, those first months of homeschooling can be full of disillionment! It takes a while to work out what is you, what is the kid, what is pretty normal. I find most homeschoolers of the more academic pursuasion often feel that their child is behind, or should be doing better (me included). And we tend to often feel that our child should be better than average, too. I have an "average" child and a "bright" child- academically speaking. It has been hard to accept that average is still ok! But your dd is only 5- the worst thing you can do is to burn her out on her school work- then you will have resistance for years, possibly. Relax and have fun. Things like reading need some work, but they click in the child's own sweet time, and there isnt anything you can do to rush it if the child is not ready- however you can set up a resistance in the child.

[Laura Corin]

I don't think this is unusual. I remember tearing my hair out because Hobbes just couldn't see that the word he was sounding out was the same word he had sounded out in the previous sentence. Then, one day, without my having done anything special, he started reading without sounding out. Something just clicked.

 

As for the dimes and cents issue: it seems so natural to Americans that those values should have special names, but to those of us who deal with metric currencies where values are just that (10 pence, 20 pence....) the stress on learning the names of coins seems unnecessary. Just let her call them '10 cents' for the moment.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

Edited November 8, 2008 by Laura in China

[MrsMe]

My dd was exactly the same way. She just wasn't ready to do school. So I don't think she's a slow learner. She's just not ready. And don't worry about it either. My dd learned in 3 months all that K stuff when she was ready and it was a lot less frustrating!

 

I thought too it was "me". You just never hear of the ones who don't want to or don't get it at this age. We all hear about the kids who love school and are reading at this age and want workbook after workbook. Not true as you read the responses. And there's nothing wrong with waiting till they're ready. Because really....they make up for lost time when they are.

Edited November 8, 2008 by alilac

[kalanamak]

 

At 7yo, she could not recognize any word on sight, not even her own name.

 

My dd is working at grade level now.

 

So, what did you do to help her? I'm sure many are curious.

[kalanamak]

I find most homeschoolers of the more academic pursuasion often feel that their child is behind, or should be doing better (me included).

 

 

I have been helped by thinking back to what I was doing at that age. We had NO reading until 1 st grade. We didn't even learn the letters in K and didn't pick up a pencil. We didn't learn multiplication tables until 5th grade, etc. I also remember I was in the "slow" reading group in 2nd and 3rd grade, average in 5th and then the top percentile in 10th grade.

 

If a kid is ready to pick up something and progress, fine. If not, I wouldn't give the kid the idea that they fail what is expected of them. If the kid is having this problem at an age where it would be a problem, then find something else that does give the kid the idea of accomplishment. Personally, I think blowing out the candle of happiness in learning is worse than learning to read a year later.

 

I see you are new here. Welcome and welcome to the adventure. And happy Saturday to all. We launch into the Minoans this morning! Bull vaulting anyone?

[ElizabethB]

Learning to spell the words while they're sounding them out seems to cement the sounds in their little brains. You can do this with any phonics program, although I really like Webster's Speller!

 

I'm there with you on the math, someone suggested a math facts support group in another thread, I would join!

 

I've purchased the game Sum Swamp, and the repetition from that seems to help a bit, also we try to do 3 or 4 addition facts every time we're in the car.

[lighthouseacademy]

It sounds like she is not quite ready for reading if she doesn't notice that the same word is being repeated. I have noticed before a child begins to read, they begin to see that words on a page that Mom is reading are the same words. For example, she might notice that there is an "is" in the first sentence of this paragraph but not necessarily know that it is "is" and then again see it later on and say that they are the same word.

 

As for skip counting etc. You might try having her skip count the "math way" ten, two-ten, three-ten, four-ten, etc. This is how Asian countries count and helps solidify place value later. So, eleven is 1-ten-one. Also, money is a difficult concept. To a child, they are all shiny metal coins. Furthermore, why on earth does that SMALLER silver coin get counted as more than that larger copper coin? It took a bit for my son who is 2 years advanced in math to get counting money and differentiating the different coins and values. I would go with more concrete objects etc. You might look into Right Start A for K math. VERY incremental and lays a fabulous foundation for place value. Also, coming from a mom of a gifted student who "picked up reading overnight" etc. In truth if I look at the whole of it, he didn't really pick it up overnight. It seemed that way because in July (5 and 4 months) he was a non-reader who could sound out three and four letter words if they were easy ones to reading chapter books by November and 4th grade level by April (one month after he turned 6). However, there was that year of pre-reading that he did that I don't often remember on- the arduous pointing out letters and sound on the page...

 

My approach to K is if they want to do it, great, if not, I will pick it up when they are in 1st grade. I am working SLOWLY with my daughter (5 in December) but only when she asks to work. She is picking stuff up and whereas a month ago, she really struggled to form a letter, this week she has learned almost all her letters in how to form them but not yet how to apply them. Does that make sense? I do spend lots of time reading to the children quality literature, pointing things out in nature and in the world around us, answering questions, etc. I have also found with both of my older two a desire to spell before they could read. We would spell out loud and sound out in our minds and spell out loud (they didn't have the fine motor yet for the writing part). Hang in there. In time the magic clicks.

[SonshineLearner]

Would it make you feel better to know that developmentally it's thought of by many to wait for reading? It's hard on developing eyes... Wait until she's a bit older to become frustrated, think of it like when you were teaching her to walk or brush her own teeth well. It's truly not going to matter (unless there's a real problem) if she reads at 7 or 10. Do things with her that make her learn orally or with manipulatives....Smile, relax, count the number of chocolate chips to put in the cookies...."take away" 20 and then add back some.....Enjoy life because you learn more than just academics you are concentrating on right now.

Give yourself a break...and then everyone a cookie and some milk...:-)

Carrie

[AngieW in Texas]

I did a lot of different things. Most programs for dyslexics are set up for kids who are dysphonetic, not dyseidetic.

 

We did Headsprout first - a huge help. It had exercises that worked on visual processing skills that my dd needed. I could see a difference by the end of the 30 day money back guarantee period, even though my dd hadn't learned any new code yet. The difference was that my dd was able to process more than one letter at a time. Before Headsprout, she had to sound out every single phoneme individually and then add them up to get the word. By the 20th Headsprout lesson, she was able to grab 2-3 phonemes at a time. So instead of sounding out s-t-o-p, she was sounding out st-op. That may not sound like much, but it doubled her reading speed. My dd was reading at 10 words/minute when she started Headsprout. Set a timer and read a word every 6 seconds. It is excruciatingly painful to listen to someone read that slowly. By the time my dd read all the words in a sentence, she couldn't remember what she'd read. It took too long and she'd used up too much of her brainpower just with decoding.

 

I had my dd reread I See Sam readers sets 1-3 with Headsprout part 1. She had already read (actually sound her way through) all of those readers, but by the time she finished part 1 of Headsprout, she was somewhat fluent with them. She did set 4 of I See Sam with Headsprout part 2. Those two meshed almost perfectly.

 

My dd was only reading at a beginning 1st grade level when she finished Headsprout though. She also decided that she didn't like the I See Sam readers at all.

 

I had her try Funnix level 2 along with Phonics for Reading 2 (from Curriculum Associates). Funnix level 2 started right where Headsprout left off, so it was a perfect fit. My dd liked the stories in Funnix a lot better than any of the others I had tried with her. PfR was great for working on multi-syllable words. The stories in PfR#2 were pretty lame though.

 

After she finished those two programs, I had her start PfR#3 and started doing two other things with her as well.

 

I registered for DIBELS (it's free) and had her do timed readings of the oral reading fluency passages. I started her with the 1st grade passages and she had to re-read each passage until she could read it at 100wpm. She tried it herself for one minute first and then I read it to her for one minute and then she tried it again. If she didn't make the goal speed on her 2nd try, she stuck with that same passage the next day. She didn't manage to get any of the passages done at 100wpm or better until she was almost done with 2nd grade passages.

 

I also started working on nonsense words with her. I set up five decks of cards. The 1st deck had a beginning sounds stack that was initial consonants and consonant digraphs. THe 2nd deck had single vowels and vowel digraphs. The 3rd deck had final consonants and consonant digraphs. The 4th deck had only single vowels. The 5th deck had final consonant cards and cards with a consonant paired with an "e". On odd days we'd use the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd decks to make words. On even days, we'd use the 1st, 4th, and 5th decks to make words. I used a die to determine which deck to flip over a card from. We did this game for no more than two minutes at a time.

 

I tried Megawords with her, but the rules were too much for her. Sequential Spelling is working much better for her. She is working through Rewards Reading to continue her reading instruction.