Struggling Phonemic Awareness.....

[Anonymous]

We left private to homeschool during the pandemic. We knew private schools weren’t great at teaching kids to read, but didn’t know exactly how far off the science of reading these schools are with their Lucy Calkins BS. We are now in MCPS and it isn’t much better but we continue to use the reading curriculum we used previously to supplement (All About Reading, 15-20 min/day).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When did your lower school kid start reading? My kid is in 1st grade and kind of struggling. We are currently at one of the mainstream privates. Just looking for responses from others. Thank you!

Hi OP, here's a place to start to see if any of these signs of dyslexia for kids in K and 1st line up with what you're seeing:
https://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/#part-kindergarten-first-grade

Maryland public schools are now screening kids for dyslexia in kindergarten since the evidence shows that it can be detected earlier than previously thought.

FWIW, my DC has dyslexia and it was hard for teachers to recognize. DC could compensate and memorize words in the early grades. But homework was a struggle and self-esteem took a nosedive, so we got an independent evaluation.

MD schools screen for it and then don’t do anything! When statistics show 25% of the general population has dyslexia, why spend billions of dollars in a multi-year contract with curriculum vendors that do NOT support the science of reading? MCPS is just as guilty as every mainstream private schools in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son just could not do sight words. It was brutal because he felt stupid. Once her learned proper phonics he was fine though, but it took longer than most kids. He’s a fluent reader now in 4th.

Because there are actually very few sight words. Most words do follow the phonetic rules. “Th” has 2 possible sounds, “s” has 2 possible sounds. It’s amazing what kids can decide with an explicit, sequential reading curriculum based in the science of reading. There is t a reason to memorize 100’s of sight words and it sets kids back later when they don’t have the fundamental skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine started at 3 years old in Montessori. Nearly all of her classmates were reading by age 4 at the latest. It will take a lot of work + discipline OP. You should read her a children's book daily, turn off the tv and other distractions, get phonics cards, and have her read to you. Make it fun. Good luck!

OP: The TVs are off sand we do read!

Good to hear. One thing our school did was to have an older child work with younger ones. It had a magical way of working. Also try singing the words and not just saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When did your lower school kid start reading? My kid is in 1st grade and kind of struggling. We are currently at one of the mainstream privates. Just looking for responses from others. Thank you!

The expectation is that kids are fluent readers and reading to learn (instead of learning to read) by third grade. You have some time but I would talk to your child’s teacher to find out if there are any red flags because addressing issues as early as possible dramatically improves outcomes. Sadly I think some private schools ignore red flags which leads to issues later.

OP - Thank you. Her teacher mentioned it me after they just had an assessment and she will be getting pullout 3 days a week in a small group. They did say it's 1st grade and that they will be tracking progress to for any signs. Appreciate the response.

This is great. It sounds like both you and your school are focused on it and will get your child whatever help they need. I see problems arise when parents bury their heads in the sand and the school lets them until it becomes a big issue in third grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine started at 3 years old in Montessori. Nearly all of her classmates were reading by age 4 at the latest. It will take a lot of work + discipline OP. You should read her a children's book daily, turn off the tv and other distractions, get phonics cards, and have her read to you. Make it fun. Good luck!

OP: The TVs are off sand we do read!

*and*

[Anonymous]

OP, spend 20 minute a night reading and/or reading workbooks. Get some apps that are reading related and when kids watch tv put on the closed captioning. I'd do an evaluation or supplement with tutoring as well.

[Anonymous]

What's the school's reading program? Just because you are at a very expensive private does not mean that you are safe from Lucy Caulkins or other counterproductive balanced literacy programs.

While reading books with your kid is beneficial in all sorts of ways, it's not actually going to teach him to read. First level intervention would be working on him with something like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, a highly scripted phonics program that will help you walk your kid through the basics.

[Anonymous]

Here’s what helped us: Explode the Code, Blast off to reading, weekly tutoring, school supports, reading to my child / read to me in Epic 20 min/day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When did your lower school kid start reading? My kid is in 1st grade and kind of struggling. We are currently at one of the mainstream privates. Just looking for responses from others. Thank you!

Hi OP, here's a place to start to see if any of these signs of dyslexia for kids in K and 1st line up with what you're seeing:
https://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/#part-kindergarten-first-grade

Maryland public schools are now screening kids for dyslexia in kindergarten since the evidence shows that it can be detected earlier than previously thought.

FWIW, my DC has dyslexia and it was hard for teachers to recognize. DC could compensate and memorize words in the early grades. But homework was a struggle and self-esteem took a nosedive, so we got an independent evaluation.

+1…. If your child is skipping easy words like the or it when reading aloud, plus struggling with sounding out words, go for testing. I really recommend Stixrud.

[Anonymous]

Give the small group a chance and see if it gets better. If not, get a private evaluation.

My DS is dyslexic and I wish we’d intervened earlier. He saw the reading specialist, but wasn’t making huge progress. He could disguise it well because he was memorizing words and could guess words he didn’t know based on the context of the sentence.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would work with a reading tutor outside if school. My kid is in high school and I still suspect dyslexia. Full neuropsychological testing done two times. Apparently no dyslexia (ADHD diagnosis). He was a late reader (7 years old/2nd grade) and still mispronounces words in conversation regularly. It is certain blended sounds where he makes the wrong sound. Hates to read, but is in advanced level English classes and has a really high vocabulary. Struggles with the verbal part of foreign language class, but understands and reads it fine. Who knows? Is there such a thing as mild dyslexia that tests don’t catch?

[Anonymous]

My son was struggling in 1st grade but something clicked at the end of the year. He is now in 5th and doing great.

We were very lucky to have a reading specialist for his teacher and she taught him phonics.

He also learns better with a combo of visual and audio. Some nights we would use Storyline Online to listen to a book while following along in the actual book. Seeing the word in print and hearing it at the same time was really helpful for him. When he would watch tv he would use closed captions in addition to the sound. It made everyone else crazy but it worked.

Sounds like your child has a good teacher so I wouldn't stress too much until later in the year if no progress is being made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would work with a reading tutor outside if school. My kid is in high school and I still suspect dyslexia. Full neuropsychological testing done two times. Apparently no dyslexia (ADHD diagnosis). He was a late reader (7 years old/2nd grade) and still mispronounces words in conversation regularly. It is certain blended sounds where he makes the wrong sound. Hates to read, but is in advanced level English classes and has a really high vocabulary. Struggles with the verbal part of foreign language class, but understands and reads it fine. Who knows? Is there such a thing as mild dyslexia that tests don’t catch?

That’s called slow verbal processing. My kid has it. Unless the teacher or coach or camp leader gives clear steps, nothing gets processed or retained well. All those “math talk” classes where half the time kids are guessing and sharing their wrong approaches and answers really messed up my child’s learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When did your lower school kid start reading? My kid is in 1st grade and kind of struggling. We are currently at one of the mainstream privates. Just looking for responses from others. Thank you!

Listen to your gut. Get a reading evaluation done. If the school is not using a structured literacy approach move to a school that does or plan on paying for private tutoring 2-3 times a week.

I wish I had jumped on my hunches when my kid was in K and 1st. WIth intervention they are on track but we didn't get the evaluation until 2nd.