6 year old really struggling sounding out words

[Anonymous]

She turned 6 in October. She’s in a private K-8, so we had to do WPPSI testing. She came out at 135 IQ with no dips in any abilities. She has a great vocabulary, but she really struggles sounding out words.

For example, she’ll tell me the sounds for the word “rip” but can’t put them together. When she tries, she’ll add more sounds or just will tell me it’s too hard.

We spoke with her school and her teacher said that they are working with her on sounding words, but they don’t perceive any issues.

I don’t know if I’m overreacting or if it’s a concern that she’s struggling with these very phonetic words. As a result, she considers reading very difficult and doesn’t want to do it. I’m concerned she will avoid reading in general.

The school has a reading specialist and I’m considering asking them to do an evaluation to rule out any underlying issues.

[Anonymous]

There is a font that is easier for students with dyslexia to read. You will have to Google that as I can’t remember what it is. I’d print something in that font and see if that helps her while you are waiting to get an evaluation.

Also ask if she sees (consistent) color in the letters/numbers. If she has synesthesia, learn about that.

But get her evaluated.

[Anonymous]

Try How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can get it on Amazon or at the library. It walks through teaching your child to read in a thoughtful sequence to fill any holes ir gapa. It should take you about 10 minutes a night with a 6 yo. At the beginning it may feel too easy, but it builds and gets tougher as you go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can get it on Amazon or at the library. It walks through teaching your child to read in a thoughtful sequence to fill any holes ir gapa. It should take you about 10 minutes a night with a 6 yo. At the beginning it may feel too easy, but it builds and gets tougher as you go.

We tried that last year and she struggled with it after a few lessons.

[Anonymous]

She is in kinder, right? Seems normal to me if you can see that she is maki g progress - learning letter sounds before, now linking them together.

[Anonymous]

She is 6. Many kids don’t read yet at 6. Remove the pressure to do so. Reevaluate when she’s 7 or 8 if still struggling. Early intervention might just make her feel pressured and incapable and hate reading.

[Anonymous]

Here’s some advice from a professor of reading education at Auburn about how to teach blending, that might provide some helpful ideas.

https://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/lessons/blending/

If the school will evaluate her, I can’t see a downside. Either you’ll identify a problem and be able to start remediation, or you’ll be reassured.

FWIW, I had a terrible time learning how to read. Everyone else in my class learned, but I was lost and frustrated. Eventually, it just clicked. I don’t know what combination of practice and maturity was responsible, but one day it just started to make sense, and I became a lifelong bookworm.

I’d recommend having her practice a little day, in short sessions. (I remember those practices seeming like interminable torture sessions, even though it was only 5-15 minutes/day). Use decodable readers (Bob books are good. The early ones are deadly dull, but they get better.). Above all, make sure she sounds out words and doesn’t start guessing.
https://www.amazon.com/SCHOLASTIC-BOOKS-SB-0439845009-BEGINNING-READERS/dp/0439845009

In addition to having her practice a little each day, don’t stop reading to her. That will help frame reading as a fun activity rather than just a dreaded chore*.
Also, let her see you enjoying reading for your personal pleasure.

* Once she has mastered reading, I think daily reading should no longer be required because it serves no useful purpose and just turns something intrinsically enjoyable into a chore. I can imagine no faster way to make someone loathe something than to tell them they have to do it every day, or else. Requiring reading for a purpose (to master the skill, to prepare for a class, to complete an assignment) makes sense and is useful. Forcing someone to read just for them to spend time reading, I think will ultimately lead to decreases reading time, because while they may do what’s required, they will be more likely to avoid it otherwise.

Good luck to you and your daughter, and don’t get discouraged. Reading is a complex and difficult skill to master, but I know you’re giving her the support she needs to conquer it.

[Anonymous]

I am sure you are doing what you can to not stress her. Just tell her kids learn at different rates and you know she will get it, and emphasize other strengths.

You can do short activities, though. She needs to automatically come up with a sound when she sees a letter. Don’t do all the letters at once. Pick maybe five and hold one up, like B, and she should quickly say the sound. It needs to be automatic. Add in more cards as she masters them, and don’t do more than a few minutes at a time.

Then work on word families. Start with -at. When she knows that, add on letters to the beginning, to make rat, sat, cat, etc. She should get to say them quickly. You can write them in cards and put them face down and play Memory with them.

With such a solid IQ, I would have her tested for possible LD. But above all, don’t stress her and just read to her tons.

[Anonymous]

Tutoring. If you can afford private school, you can afford a once or twice a week tutor. We cannot afford private school and we still pay $100/week for a tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can get it on Amazon or at the library. It walks through teaching your child to read in a thoughtful sequence to fill any holes ir gapa. It should take you about 10 minutes a night with a 6 yo. At the beginning it may feel too easy, but it builds and gets tougher as you go.

We tried that last year and she struggled with it after a few lessons.

We had the same experience at that age with How to Teach... 100 easy lessons. DS was diagnosed with dyslexia at 7. One tricky thing about blending is that there are some sounds that are hard to say on their own, including r and p, so if you're not careful, rip becomes ruh ii puh . If working a bit more on blending doesn't clear up the problem, it would be worth seeing if the school would screen her and getting her a tutor who specializes in a method known to work for kids with dyslexia (Orton Gillingham and related programs like Wilson and Barton).

[Anonymous]

Hi, I posted a while ago with a similar situation, although my son has a different reading issue, he can sound out words but sight words don't stick. We've been working 15 minutes/day on reading together. We'll review the school worksheets, we'll read the easiest possible books over and over. He's slightly improved over 3 weeks. I think it builds confidence for him to know he can read simple words now and it's just a deeper level of work than he anticipated.

But I'd recommend practicing each day because I figure when we get around to assessments or tutoring, we'll be assigned homework at home by then too.

[Anonymous]

There are two kinds of readers - phonics and sight.

The approach is slightly different for both of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can get it on Amazon or at the library. It walks through teaching your child to read in a thoughtful sequence to fill any holes ir gapa. It should take you about 10 minutes a night with a 6 yo. At the beginning it may feel too easy, but it builds and gets tougher as you go.

We tried that last year and she struggled with it after a few lessons.

How many days did you try? The day it fast/ say it slow exercises are great. They also start with blending sounds you can hold like ssssss, mmmmmm, nnnnn. They explain this in the parent section in front. Keep practicing every day. You can also buy dancing bears reading books. They work in sounding out as well. It’s a fantastic British reading intervention program.
https://www.soundfoundations.co.uk/en_US/learning-to-read/

[Anonymous]

Sounds like my kid....turns out he has phonological dyslexia.

For example, kids take 15 exposures to learn the word "jump". For a kid who has dyslexia it takes them something like 50x exposure to learn/read/sound it out. You get the picture

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are two kinds of readers - phonics and sight.

The approach is slightly different for both of them.

Current reading research does not bear out this idea.