Anonymous wrote:

So I've got an average kid (not gifted, no special needs). He also does some guessing of words from context and pictures, but the teacher tells me they are taught these methods, in addition to decoding. In fact, she says parents do a disservice by always telling the kids to sound it out, as there are more strategies than that one. I thought that was interesting

Yes, my son's teacher said that using those strategies (guessing from context and pictures) is fine at his level (K). It may be more of an issue later on. I do notice that when my son tries to sound out words, he will correctly make the sound of ever letter, but then have trouble blending it into the word. Either the long/short vowels are wrong, or he just can't extrapolate because the letter sounds are not exactly identical to the pronunciation of the word.

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Clearly I need to talk to the teacher. Thank you all for info!

On second go he "reads" the book well, bu tI believe it is mostly due to memorization. We read at home with scholastic readers and he is solidly at level A (no issues) and can read 80% of level B

So I've got an average kid (not gifted, no special needs). He also does some guessing of words from context and pictures, but the teacher tells me they are taught these methods, in addition to decoding. In fact, she says parents do a disservice by always telling the kids to sound it out, as there are more strategies than that one. I thought that was interesting

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my gifted but unidentified-as-dyslexic child was doing this -- "reading a book" by guessing based on contextual comprehension and the identification of just a few letters. His K, 1st and 2nd grade teachers never noticed and kept passing him up. I could see, when I "volunteered" in class one day, that DS was mumbling through the first group read and then, reading more clearly (after he heard what the text said from his peers) on the second group read and solo with the teacher.

For some examples of mistakes -- DC would read "black" where the word might be "balk", or sometimes he would even put a word in that made sense but bore no relationship to the real word ("milk" where the text said "cream" -- he knew that one puts milk in coffee but didn't know how to read the 'EAM' of "cream".) Or he would read a word but mix up or drop syllables or small endings like "ing" or skip small words. The teachers basically wrote off these mistakes as "little things" but they were the tip of the iceberg of what was going on.

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my gifted but unidentified-as-dyslexic child was doing this -- "reading a book" by guessing based on contextual comprehension and the identification of just a few letters. His K, 1st and 2nd grade teachers never noticed and kept passing him up. I could see, when I "volunteered" in class one day, that DS was mumbling through the first group read and then, reading more clearly (after he heard what the text said from his peers) on the second group read and solo with the teacher.

For some examples of mistakes -- DC would read "black" where the word might be "balk", or sometimes he would even put a word in that made sense but bore no relationship to the real word ("milk" where the text said "cream" -- he knew that one puts milk in coffee but didn't know how to read the 'EAM' of "cream".) Or he would read a word but mix up or drop syllables or small endings like "ing" or skip small words. The teachers basically wrote off these mistakes as "little things" but they were the tip of the iceberg of what was going on.

I would write a letter to your DC's teacher and give specific examples from a text you read with your child of the kinds of mistakes being made. Say you think he is reading by context/guessing and not decoding. Then ask your teacher to re-check his "level". Also ask for them to test his ability to read words in isolation -- normal as well as non-sensical. Ask them to test both fiction and "informational" literature, in particular "informational" text on a subject about which your DS has no prior knowledge.

I expressed my concerns for a couple of years, with increasing specificity and decreasing deference. Only when I finally broke down and paid for outside testing, did we find out that my DS actually had a reading problem which he was able to mask by using overall comprehension as a clue because of his really strong vocabulary and memory. He couldn't decode well and it only became more apparent to the school when he began to write and spelling "counted". By that time (3rd grade) it was harder and more costly to remediate.

Sadly, the school insisted all along that the real problem was that DS wasn't that smart, that I was the real problem because I couldn't accept that he was just "average" (which can be as low as the bottom 25th percentile). They took that tack until I presented them with the $5000 worth of testing that showed otherwise.....

Sorry for another reading group thread, but it didnt feel right to hijack somebody elses thread with question aimed in different direction. My DC is NOT an advanced reader, didnt read at all prior to K. Now DC is at level E and I think it is too advanced. DC has been progressing steadily through levels per books sent home and is proud of progress. BUT he doesnt know at least 40-50% of the words in the book on first read and doesnt sound them out (I dont think he actually knows "sound out" concept). On second go he "reads" the book well, bu tI believe it is mostly due to memorization. We read at home with scholastic readers and he is solidly at level A (no issues) and can read 80% of level B. I am reluctant to raise my concern with teacher but am also worried that DC will be in higher group without mastering the basics? WWYD?