Almost 6 yr old reading struggles - does this seem normal?
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Anonymous
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I will bring this up to her teacher at the next parent-teacher conference but I was hoping to get more points of view in the meantime.
My almost 6 year old has been sounding out words since she was 3. We thought she was going to be a really early reader. But she has made almost zero progress in the years since. She still reads entirely by sounding out, recognizes almost no words by sight other than her name, and gets exhausted and frustrated after one sentence. Her writing is actually what's making me wonder if something else is going on. Today she wanted to write "you are" and she wrote "ouy era". Almost exactly backwards. Is it possible she has dyslexia or some other disorder, or am I overreacting? Thanks for any insights! |
Anonymous
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Yes, I would ask the teacher and get an outside evaluation. It's fine to not be reading well at age 5, but the lack of progress over time is unusual. As is the lack of sight words.
Reversing letters is not unusual but reversing entire phrases is much less common. |
Anonymous
| Agree with PP. lack of progress over that time is odd. Get an outside eval for DC. Do this sooner not later. Easier to fix an issues earlier. |
Anonymous
| She spelled that using the right letters in the wrong order. Seems like she's trying to memorize words. If she's sounding words out but they're not "sticking" even after lots of repetition, she may well have weak phonological skills and weak orthographic mapping. You could get her tested for dyslexia or save that money and go straight to tutoring. Testing will get you a diagnosis and an IEP (eventually), but schools and Special Ed teachers don't actually teach kids to read and "graduate" them out of special ed. Even if they're fully trained, there aren't enough hours in the school day to teach dyslexic kids to read (especially with group rather than 1:1 instruction). A good tutor will teach her to read whether she would qualify for the dyslexia diagnosis or not. |
Anonymous
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I agree with PPs about the lack of progress over time being the concern. For perspective, I have a 5 year old who only recently started sounding out words. At 3 and 4 he knew letters and some sounds, but never really tried to go beyond that. At 5, he was suddenly interested in trying to sound out words and he can now sound out the very simplest words (i.e. bat, cat, etc.) and does know some sight words.
I don't think it's unusual at all for a 6 year old to struggle with reading, but I would expect a kid who was trying to sound out words at 3 to have moved past that stage. If your kid is working on reading either at home or school, and they know the letters and sounds, at some point it will usually start to click. Hopefully it's nothing major, but an evaluation can't hurt. |
Anonymous
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Actually this does sound quite concerning, OP, given that she's been trying to read for years and the clear symptoms of dyslexia she's exhibiting.
PLEASE get her an evaluation as soon as you can, and please figure out a way to pay for the (sadly expensive) Orton-Gillingham tutors. You can observe their lessons with your child, and try to replicate them at home. She will need intensive dyslexia-specific remediation every single day (so maybe twice a week with a tutor, the rest of the time with you), if you want her to catch up in time for 3rd grade. Third grade is when kids read to learn, instead of learn to read. After that, she will accumulate serious delays in all subjects, and will end up hating school. It happened to my son's best friend. My son had an IEP at school for a global developmental delay, along with private speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy. He does not have dyslexia like his best friend, but I saw the immense benefits of early intervention. We went all out, and he caught up as much as he could in elementary. Schools are terrible at remediating dyslexia, so please do not rely on any reading specialist at school. |
Anonymous
| ^ also consider whether she has other issues, like inattentive ADHD. It can worsen the dyslexia. |
Anonymous
Dyslexia is a life long thing that kids learn to manage so I don’t see them graduating out of getting assistance for it. Wouldn’t school help and tutoring be the best ? |
Anonymous
Dyslexia tutor here. The vast majority of the kids I work with get caught up to their peers in reading. Then, if they're young enough (1st/2nd/3rd grade) they can learn the rest at school. (If they don't do the tutoring until 4th grade or later, we have to teach them all of it because the school's reading instruction take place primarily in grades K-3.) You'd never know they had a problem with reading when they were younger. Of course, there are exceptions. Also - spelling tends to lag behind, and it's harder to get kids caught up in spelling. |
Anonymous
| I would get an evaluation but also sit with her /and or just get the tutor right away to practice reading. My DS would write words backwards too, we had to work together to learn to read. Reading never clicked for him and I don't think he would have learned in school with no outside help. We didn't have the long delayed progress issue which would also concern me (she seems bright like she's trying and it's not working). |
Anonymous
| My child was at a similar place in kinder. She needs someone to sit with her and help her get past the sounding out stage. Find a curriculum that resonates. If after really giving it a go, there seems to be something more going on, then find specialized testing or help. |
Anonymous
Agree. Are there speech issues too? Incorrect enunciation? Has she been tested for hearing and sight problems? My Kid1 had speech therapy bc she was mispronouncing words abd therefore spelling them incorrectly. My Kid2 has phonetic dyslexia and receives services in school. |
Anonymous
| K teacher. None of this would be concerning to me if she hadn’t been attempting to read for years. Once kids have the alphabet knowledge things start to click and rapidly progress. She’s been stalled out for a long time. Does her teacher know that info? I would get an evaluation asap because early intervention is key to positive outcomes for dyslexia. Also pay for the orton gillingham tutoring while you wait for the evaluation. There could be another reading disorder but there are also signs of dyslexia. The eval will clear it up. |
Anonymous
| Sounding out at 3 is a warning sign. She should be whole-word sight reading before sounding out larger words or unfamiliar words. Sounding out is a signal that she can't whole-word sight read |
Anonymous
Sounding out at 3 can be normal for early, strong readers. The bigger concern here is, just as OP has already surmised, the lack of progression. |