Struggling with reading

[Anonymous]

Have been trying to teach 5.5yo DD to read for awhile and it's not working at all. She has a ton of interest - has always loved books and being read aloud to. She gets frustrated that I can't read to her whenever she wants (like when we get a bunch of new books from the library). A lot of her friends can read and so she really wants to as well.

But it's not coming together at all. We tried Bob books - she easily memorizes them but then when she sees the same simple word in another context (like Cat) she has no idea and can't sound it out. She feels frustrated and it almost feels like a mental block on even trying. Unfortunately the books she wants to me to read to her are now way more advanced, so they are not good for just naturally picking up words.

Everything else is there - writing letters, knowing what sounds they make, knowing how to spell her name and a few other words.

Would love any tips from anyone who's been there and what helped!

[Anonymous]

Patience (easier said than done when she’s frustrated and comparing herself to friends, I know). It sounds like she’s got the interest and foundation, and 5.5 is still very young for putting all of the pieces together. It’s great that she’s interested in you reading more advanced content to her, that will serve her very well in the future.

She knows the individual sounds, but can she combine them into one sound in her head? So a+t says “at” not “ahh tttt”? If she has cat memorized, can she work on sounding out mat and hat? I would practice that level of phonics with individual words, not books, since she’s “too” good at memorizing. That’s IF she really wants to keep working on it over the summer. If not, take a break and just keep reading to her. Kindergarten and first grade are heavy phonics and I’d bet good money it will click for her and she’ll progress rapidly once it does.

[Anonymous]

Phonics flash card and hooked on phonics learn to read set had been great, DC went from dra4 (couldn’t read) begging of 1st grade to chapter books end of 1st grade ( was able to read fluently within 3 months) then above grade level ( maxed out) 2nd grade fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Patience (easier said than done when she’s frustrated and comparing herself to friends, I know). It sounds like she’s got the interest and foundation, and 5.5 is still very young for putting all of the pieces together. It’s great that she’s interested in you reading more advanced content to her, that will serve her very well in the future.

She knows the individual sounds, but can she combine them into one sound in her head? So a+t says “at” not “ahh tttt”? If she has cat memorized, can she work on sounding out mat and hat? I would practice that level of phonics with individual words, not books, since she’s “too” good at memorizing. That’s IF she really wants to keep working on it over the summer. If not, take a break and just keep reading to her. Kindergarten and first grade are heavy phonics and I’d bet good money it will click for her and she’ll progress rapidly once it does.

Thanks! That is exactly where we are stuck. "Cat" is not translating to sounding out Hat or Mat or Can etc (switching out the phonetic sound).

Because there is a mismatch between what she wants to read and these very basic phonics, the "reading" time feels very artificial and then sort of fraught / stressful. I am struggling with it too - sometimes she will look at a word like Red and just make up something like Blue where it's clear there is no connection to the letters/sounds at all.

[Anonymous]

Keep practicing the letter sounds. Make sure these are VERY solid. You basically need to be able to point to any letter and she knows the sound in a second.Then, practice sounding out how they come together as a word. (A-T). Try to get her to say the letter sounds of a word to confirm she know it and hears it, then do the same again but this time without a breath between the letters. (AaaahhT) You can drag out the letters if needed and then work on shortening how long she drags it out. But you have to say them without taking a breath.

Be sure you are only saying the distinct letter sound and not adding additional sounds that aren’t really there. Also try reading some rhyming books.

Lastly, read the more advanced books to her. Kids can often listen and understand more advance books. Plus the additional vocabulary and hearing words is good for them. And it keeps them interested in reading.

[Anonymous]

Developing Readers Academy is a great interactive online program. They have lessons for kids from pre-k through 3rd grade and it’s really fun and interactive. My kid loved the videos and exercises/games and the women who run the program are super helpful. I highly recommend it. We did about 15 minutes of the program a few days/week and her reading skills advanced really quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Patience (easier said than done when she’s frustrated and comparing herself to friends, I know). It sounds like she’s got the interest and foundation, and 5.5 is still very young for putting all of the pieces together. It’s great that she’s interested in you reading more advanced content to her, that will serve her very well in the future.

She knows the individual sounds, but can she combine them into one sound in her head? So a+t says “at” not “ahh tttt”? If she has cat memorized, can she work on sounding out mat and hat? I would practice that level of phonics with individual words, not books, since she’s “too” good at memorizing. That’s IF she really wants to keep working on it over the summer. If not, take a break and just keep reading to her. Kindergarten and first grade are heavy phonics and I’d bet good money it will click for her and she’ll progress rapidly once it does.

Thanks! That is exactly where we are stuck. "Cat" is not translating to sounding out Hat or Mat or Can etc (switching out the phonetic sound).

Because there is a mismatch between what she wants to read and these very basic phonics, the "reading" time feels very artificial and then sort of fraught / stressful. I am struggling with it too - sometimes she will look at a word like Red and just make up something like Blue where it's clear there is no connection to the letters/sounds at all.

When you say "reading" time, do you mean when you're practicing with her or when you're reading to her? Is she in preschool or kindergarten this year? Either way, she is not behind and is unfortunately just comparing herself to friends that are more advanced. I would back off all practicing for a while to let the frustration die down. Summer is great for that since it's a natural break in school. Keep reading fun by reading whatever she wants to her. Audiobooks are great for that too. Maybe try graphic novels that are all pictures (or books like Good Night, Gorilla) so she can "read" them to you. Like the other PP said, it is very, very common for kids to get "stuck" at this stage, then all at once make huge progress when their brains put the pieces together. But a love of books and stories is more important than decoding right now, so take some time off and revisit in a few months.

[Anonymous]

My son was there, and we now know that he is dyslexic. Get an orton gillianham trained tutor as soon as possible.

[Anonymous]

1. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a heavily scripted phonics program, that starts from the veeerrrry basics of sounding out individual letters and moves on to blending. And blending sounds like your big problem here; TYCTR100EL is great at enforcing it.

2. If TYCTR100EL fails, then something slower and even more systematic is needed, and that something is All About Reading.

3. If AAR fails, you probably have a child with moderate to severe dyslexia and are going to want to find a tutor trained in one of the Orton-Gillingham methodologies.

4. If OG isn't working, take out a second mortgage and get your child into Lindamood-Bell, which is a spectacularly expensive and ultra-intensive program that can reach severe dyslexics that nothing else seems to.

At some point in this process, make sure you also check your child's vision and hearing, because relatively subtle problems can manifest as reading difficulties.

Good luck OP. Will add you to my prayer list.

[Anonymous]

I she in kindergarten or still in preschool? If K, what are they doing to help her? Do they do phonics at school? With early readers, especially any child who is encountering issues with decoding, phonics is essential and should be engaged daily. If she's not getting that at school, I'd engage a program like Hooked on Phonics. Some small percent of kids just kind of learn to read by osmosis, but most kids need to be taught fundamentals and if the school isn't doing it, you have to supplement.

If she's in K and getting phonics instruction and still at the level you are talking about, I'd be reaching out to the school for an assessment ASAP because even if it's not clicking yet, a child receiving regular phonics instruction should be able to shared phonemes across words (cat, hat, mat, sat) and at least feel comfortable sounding out cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, even if it's not fluent yet. Kids develop at different rates on this, but those are some fundamentals I'd expect to see from a child nearing the end of kindergarten who is receiving proper instruction.

If she's still in PK, I'd continue reading to her and offering fun, engaging pre-literacy content. Jack Hartmann videos on YouTube are great for this, where it's songs that really focus on the sounds the letters make. Preschools generally do not teach reading yet, so kids who are reading in preschool either took to it unusually easily, or have received instruction at home, or most likely both. But I wouldn't panic about a 5 yr old finishing up preschool who isn't sounding out words. I'd stay aware and watch her as she starts to get proper reading instruction, but not necessarily assume anything was wrong because if in preschool, she likely has not been expected to do much more than demonstrate her comfort level with words and letters (i.e. knowing upper and lower case letters by sight, and knowing most of the sounds they make with decent confidence).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep practicing the letter sounds. Make sure these are VERY solid. You basically need to be able to point to any letter and she knows the sound in a second.Then, practice sounding out how they come together as a word. (A-T). Try to get her to say the letter sounds of a word to confirm she know it and hears it, then do the same again but this time without a breath between the letters. (AaaahhT) You can drag out the letters if needed and then work on shortening how long she drags it out. But you have to say them without taking a breath.

Be sure you are only saying the distinct letter sound and not adding additional sounds that aren’t really there. Also try reading some rhyming books.

Lastly, read the more advanced books to her. Kids can often listen and understand more advance books. Plus the additional vocabulary and hearing words is good for them. And it keeps them interested in reading.

This. You should be reading the advanced books to her just as a fun story time. Do the phonics separately. A good book is Hop on Pop, for when she gets to the point of moving on from the phonics to a book.

[Anonymous]

I went through a similar thing with my child in kindergarten. Do you know what the curriculum is like at school? My son knew all the letters and letter sounds, but school was encouraging him to guess, memorize, look at pictures for clues, memorize sight words... so when it came to sounding out new words, he didn't have the patience.

I went back to basics at home and we worked through "The Reading Lessons (20 Easy Lessons)." This really worked for him! Half way through the book, he can read really well and I stopped the lessons because he is reading. We might finish the last half over the summer, but teacher reports he is now reading at a 1st grade level. When it finally clicked, the reading really took off for him.

[Anonymous]

This is OP and very much appreciate the thoughtful and detailed replies and the support! She is in preschool (daycare) now and it's mostly play based with a lot of exposure to letters etc but not formal phonics instructions. I would say she picked up all the sounds that the letters make and how to write them at preschool. Will be starting K in the fall.

I'm not concerned she's behind her peers but I guess surprised that we've been trying some of this and it hasn't clicked. And I was naive in thinking that a love of books and a lot of time being read to hasn't translated into reading, but I do understand now that "osmosis" only happens for some kids. I was an early reader (at age 4) and it happened organically so I am also trying to parent my own unique kid and trying to separate my own assumptions from what works for her.

I think her interest (and frustration) is mostly coming from knowing some friends can read and also that she gets these super deep interests (right now it's birds) and wishes I could read to her about them nonstop but I'm juggling younger kid etc and it can't be whenever she wants. She has realized that if she could read, she could be more independent and not wait for me.

I did buy TYCTR100EL and figuring out how to best to start it with DD.

[Anonymous]

Bob books are great, but you need to practice on the skills, and then try to read a book. Get a set of individual letters (magnets. tiles, cards, etc.) and use them to form words. They don’t even have to be real words.

I find it useful to have the child picture blending as the letters sliding into each other. You can even draw a line, put a ruler down on a slant, etc. Position the first letter at the top of the slide, with the others progressing down the slide. Have the child physically move a letter down the slide, stretching out its sound until it runs into the next letter.

Repeat with related combinations so the child can get comfortable with patterns. The combinations don’t even have to be real words. While it’s tempting to focus on rhyming patterns, and that may be useful practice, but it might be more useful, at first, to think of words sharing the first part. For example, instead of starting with -at words (bat, cat, fat, hat, etc.), it might be easier to start with ba- words (bad, bag, bat). You can include nonsense words (baf), but avoid words with “r” following a vowel, because it changes the sound of the vowel (bar).

Here’s an explanation of teaching blending from Bruce Murray, a retired professor of reading instruction:
https://geniebooks.ueniweb.com/lessons/how-to-teach-blending

[Anonymous]

Hi, I could have written the same post as well as your reply. Except my DS is in K. We have the same experience on the Bob books, but I can say in the last 3 months, something clicked and he's just gotten better. Not fluent like so many friends but able to sound out the Bob books. Combination of time and his K emphasizes phonics instruction. I think he may be dyslexic, but again we have a year more school than you.

For more advanced reading, we do audiobooks of chapter books.