We continued to do ST 2-3 days a week at that age. The more you do earlier the better.

The answer is now, do everything possible, only gets more difficult with age.

From the perspective of a HS parent: the time to push is now. What I have observed over the course of my kid's education is that in elementary school therapists and educators still see the kid as a work in progress. By the time you get to the upper grades there is a lot of resignation about what is possible on the part of educators and the focus is on transition and accepting what is. Push now, not later.

I spent a lot of time with my ADHD kid from 1st to 6th grade. Tutors didn't help much, but the time I spent with him on reading and math made a huge difference. I got his math scores up to the 98% and his reading scores to 40-60% depending on how focused he is on a testing day. I just found an engaging math curriculum that he liked and stuck with it. Now we're nearing high school, I only help with homework - nothing extra. I avoided algebra in the 7th even though I tested into it. Reading and writing remain challenging, but he's doing much better than in first grade when he was first identified as at risk. I am seeking a writing tutor as I think it's time to go to more third-party support - teenagers are tough.

OP here: Thank you all for the advice! Guess I will keep on pushing. He always does fine when he's there and I think he can handle it. I wonder if his tutor would do weekends. Her rates are already so cheap, I would be happy to pay a premium.

Re his dx -neuropsych said no dyslexia. He has v mild CP (recent dx) and just a low-ish IQ (about 90).

Re Reading Recovery- our district has always been all phonics, so I was surprised they used RR at the Title I schools in our district (separate funding source). But I trust his K teacher so much (who recommended this tutor) and seeing what they're doing, it's very much sounding out words, practicing letter sounds and blends, lots of writing (punctuation, capitalizing first letter, clear spaces between words), etc.

IP, it sounds like your son is dyslexic, is that correct? Regardless of official diagnosis if he is behind at the end of K and teachers are saying he should qualify for further intervention you should be taking action.

In addition to what pp said about all of school building on reading (which is critical to understand - when your child falls behind in reading they will probably also fall behind in math, science, etc), I’d add that at your child’s age intervention now can act as prevention, which is so much easier and more effective. You want to prevent reading failure, not remediate it once it happens. ASDEC has CALT trained in a program called Kickstart that would be appropriate for a young child.

My son hated his therapy and tutoring, too. Here’s the thing - he also hated not reading well, and feeling “stupid”. Pick your hard, OP. There is no easy path without frustration. And no, it doesn’t get easier to get kids to therapies and tutoring as they get older - it gets harder. They get more sensitive to what their peers do and think, and they realize they can refuse to participate. So as painful as it is (and I’ve been there, I know!) now is the time. I’m sorry.

I didn't know anyone was still doing Reading Recovery. I thought we had clearly moved in the directions of phonics as the first line of intervention.

This is so unfortunate to hear.

His tutor, a teacher at a Title I school, says that DS would have daily 1:1 "reading recovery" if he attended her school in 1st. Not being in a Title I school, we do not have those resources. While I am told there will be some "tier 2" interventions tbd, he will no longer be getting academic pull outs per his IEP.

My DD6 is below average in both MAP math & dibel reading test. She has IEP but she does not get reading specialist because we are told she is too young. I think she is about 30 to 40 percentile academically. Her IEP is all about speech and reading/language. She gets 1:1 like 15 mins 2x/week with sped teacher. They may consider to add math support on IEP if she keeps falling behind on math. We are in MCPS. We have not done tutoring route yet because we don't know where to start and people say that she is too young and may catch up one day. She does not mind people reading to her or she learns to read baby book for age 2-4 with some simple words. She has been picking up a bit on phonics. We plan to sign her up with Saturday schools once 1st grade starts in the fall, and she is willing to do it because she knows that she is falling behind.

For me, I moved formal therapies to once every two weeks and had the last part of the session as family training. Then we carried through with the program at home. It was highly successful.

But when it comes to reading, IMO, you give every intervention that is productive to give. If they become non responsive to something you’re offering, you drop down but ramp up when it works again the reason is this. The entire education system is based on a kid being able to read. And most jobs require you to be able to read and comprehend what you read. And if your kid is not reading well by third grade, it is tough to get caught up.

All of this being said, I’d do everything I could to avoid pulling my kid out of a fun summer camp. I’m past this, but I was able to find Saturday morning reading tutoring.

How do you all decide how much to push your dcs, especially younger elem, in doing therapies, tutoring, etc?

DS is 6. Kindergarten was a struggle for him academically, but he got through it, albeit with a lot of support. He is losing most of his IEP services next year, though. His biggest weakness is speech sounds. He gets speech (and will continue to get it) 1:1 or 1:2 2-3x a week at school, and once a week privately. Unlike OT, which was relatively fun, speech is definitely a slog. (I'm sure he will end up in OT again down the road, but, appropriately, I think, OT has been removed from his IEP, and his private provider gave us her blessing to take a break for awhile).

I think it's easier to load up on therapies in early childhood, but now ds is getting more resistant and complains that other kids don't have to do these things and feels embarrassed and jealous that they get to play. When he's older, I imagine he will have more stamina to do therapies/tutoring plus fun things.

This summer, DS is in nature camp all day and loving it. I also have him doing ST once a week, swim lessons once a week, and tutoring once a week, all of which are chores for him, and which I pull him out of camp for. His tutor has mentioned twice a week would be even better. His older siblings have never done any worksheets or formal academic activities in the summer (but being more academically-inclined, they gravitate to finding enriching things to do.)

His tutor, a teacher at a Title I school, says that DS would have daily 1:1 "reading recovery" if he attended her school in 1st. Not being in a Title I school, we do not have those resources. While I am told there will be some "tier 2" interventions tbd, he will no longer be getting academic pull outs per his IEP.

TL;dr: For a young child who struggles academically and has some other sn, but has that capacity to be somewhere in that 30-40%ile range academically, resists learning activities but is very conscious and anxious about how he stacks up to his peers, how do you decide how much to push them with interventions?