Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 22:29     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ask for an evaluation. This sounds like my daughter who wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until fifth grade. I believed all the excuses the teachers gave me and I am still pissed about it. FCPS fails kids in reading all.the.time


+ 1

Everyone here is sharing their own experience. How do you know if your kid is the delayed but totally ok child or the one with a reading disorder ?? FCPS will just tell you not to worry but an evaluation can make a huge difference. If you find out in fifth that your child has a language based learning difference you’ll be kicking yourself for all the wasted time. My advice is don’t worry too much , but do act. Whatever it is, your child will improve in time !


Come through DCUM!

Loving all the people providing good advice to OP.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 21:05     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am having a hard time imagining a kid who can't read being ok in 2nd grade in any subject.

Teacher isn't concerned because DS is showing progress even though well below grade level still.

I was giving it time, understanding challenges of last year but I am starting to panic a bit thinking that this school year will be over before we know it.

What would you do??


I’m a teacher at a neighboring county. I have children. If your kid is not reading before entering school that is YOUR fault. My kid speaks reads and writes 3 languages proficiently.

It’s MY fault.


Yikes, you’re a teacher? Hopefully not L.A.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 20:53     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am having a hard time imagining a kid who can't read being ok in 2nd grade in any subject.

Teacher isn't concerned because DS is showing progress even though well below grade level still.

I was giving it time, understanding challenges of last year but I am starting to panic a bit thinking that this school year will be over before we know it.

What would you do??


I’m a teacher at a neighboring county. I have children. If your kid is not reading before entering school that is YOUR fault. My kid speaks reads and writes 3 languages proficiently.

It’s MY fault.


wow, you sound super helpful.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 20:50     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:Your DS does not need to be reading until 3rd Quarter of 2nd grade.


And sink the self esteem of the child. In our school, after winter break all first graders were reading at least level 1 books, some are 2 grade levels above (excluding SN kids). I would not wait to intervene with extra help and a school evaluation (private too). It just gets harder to catch up and the student feels like they are dumb because they see the other kids reading.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 20:50     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:I am having a hard time imagining a kid who can't read being ok in 2nd grade in any subject.

Teacher isn't concerned because DS is showing progress even though well below grade level still.

I was giving it time, understanding challenges of last year but I am starting to panic a bit thinking that this school year will be over before we know it.

What would you do??


I’m a teacher at a neighboring county. I have children. If your kid is not reading before entering school that is YOUR fault. My kid speaks reads and writes 3 languages proficiently.

It’s MY fault.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 19:06     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Your DS does not need to be reading until 3rd Quarter of 2nd grade.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 18:47     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
My young ES was struggling big time. She had difficulty sounding things out and putting words together. Did a bunch of research to supplement at home so I got Logic of English Foundation. 8-10 minutes max each day we went through each letter phonetically. The guide also helped her how to write as we learn each phonogram. It was slooowww but that has helped her to recognize letters and sounds altogether.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 18:24     Subject: Re:We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Reading teacher here. Get him evaluated at school. Document everything. A poor test score, video tape him reading, poor grades, etc. Any other academic or behavioral concerns? If you can, also have an outside evaluation if possible. Continue to work with him at home. Who cares if it feels like a chore, he has to learn how to read… get a tutor if possible. One on one will meet him where he needs it. What specifically is the school saying he can work with as far as interventions? It requires so much documentation from teachers to put a child up for an evaluation that a lot of teachers will tell you he is ok and just to wait and see. This will continue well into the next grade. Be your child’s advocate!
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 18:17     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:That was 100% my kid in first grade, and she has severe dyslexia. Email the school now (teacher & principal) and ask to have your child get and evaluation with the screening committee for reading/decoding issues. That starts a clock and the school has 2 weeks to meet with you, then if they warrant it (and they should), 60 days to get him tested.

Your kid is already behind, you want to get a jump on this before it gets worse.


If they warrant it is the key. They are pushing off those things a lot more recently because of the known learning loss issue with COVID.


This.

Could have written OP’s post word for word, our DS is in exactly the same situation and FCPS just flatly denied testing.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 18:12     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:Ask for an evaluation. This sounds like my daughter who wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until fifth grade. I believed all the excuses the teachers gave me and I am still pissed about it. FCPS fails kids in reading all.the.time


+ 1

Everyone here is sharing their own experience. How do you know if your kid is the delayed but totally ok child or the one with a reading disorder ?? FCPS will just tell you not to worry but an evaluation can make a huge difference. If you find out in fifth that your child has a language based learning difference you’ll be kicking yourself for all the wasted time. My advice is don’t worry too much , but do act. Whatever it is, your child will improve in time !
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 17:12     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:That was 100% my kid in first grade, and she has severe dyslexia. Email the school now (teacher & principal) and ask to have your child get and evaluation with the screening committee for reading/decoding issues. That starts a clock and the school has 2 weeks to meet with you, then if they warrant it (and they should), 60 days to get him tested.

Your kid is already behind, you want to get a jump on this before it gets worse.


If they warrant it is the key. They are pushing off those things a lot more recently because of the known learning loss issue with COVID.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 13:47     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am having a hard time imagining a kid who can't read being ok in 2nd grade in any subject.

Teacher isn't concerned because DS is showing progress even though well below grade level still.

I was giving it time, understanding challenges of last year but I am starting to panic a bit thinking that this school year will be over before we know it.

What would you do??


Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

It should be for sale on Amazon. Spend 30 or so minutes a day and around 30 bucks and fix the issue.

Don’t wait for government school and a teacher with many other children—maybe not doing as well as yours— to manage.

+1. This book is gold. It tells you how to teach reading step-by-step in bite sized chunks. If your child starts having trouble with lessons, back up 5-10 lessons and redo those. Once you get past lesson 50 you can start adding practice with Bob books. When you get into the 90s then you can start with Dear Dragon books.


100 Easy Lessons is an amazing book, I really like it, and use it with my own kids. It's really cheap, both used and new.

However, I'm a bit concerned about the level of difficulties OP says her son is having. I would try

1. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. If that seems to be failing and your boy is requiring too many passes over the same material or isn't retaining, switch to

2. All About Reading. If AAR doesn't work, then things start to get expensive. This is pretty much the top level of what you can do at home, IMHO, so the next step is

3. An Orton-Gillingham trained tutor. Work with the OG, replicate what you can at home. If this isn't working

4. Neuropsych evaluations, vision screening, etc. If still no progress, then it's time to take out a second mortgage on the house and go to

5. Lindamood-Bell, which is *fabulously* expensive but has worked for some extremely dyslexic kids for whom nothing else would.



Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 12:35     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
That was 100% my kid in first grade, and she has severe dyslexia. Email the school now (teacher & principal) and ask to have your child get and evaluation with the screening committee for reading/decoding issues. That starts a clock and the school has 2 weeks to meet with you, then if they warrant it (and they should), 60 days to get him tested.

Your kid is already behind, you want to get a jump on this before it gets worse.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 12:29     Subject: We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
I would request an evaluation because I agree with PP that there are some concerning things and with evaluation delays, it would be better to get the process started.

I'd suggest trying Reading Eggs. It is phonics based and they have a free trial, so you can see if your kid enjoys the program and seems to benefit first. The cost is around $10/mo, so much cheaper than any tutor and removes the dynamic of parent doing the teaching, that many of us are burned out of.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2022 12:15     Subject: Re:We are 3rd quarter of 1st grade and DS still isn't reading
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here.We read to him daily and a few times a week we read a Bob book or similar level together (trying to avoid reading at home becoming a chore).

He can work through some of the easier Bob books but many are too hard. Every word is a challenge even if he just decoded that word on the last page so he gets tired quickly and sight words still aren't clicking consistently.

To clarify, not blaming school or teacher-l (this year's or last year's) just trying to figure out how long to ride this out under be patient, everyone is catching up at different speeds vs panic- time to pull out all the stops.


This is a red flag for me. I have a DS with severe dyslexia and he was similar. Funnily enough, he ‘progressed’ in first grade and received a DRA of 16 at the end. The problem was that he was really at a DRA of 4 (which is where he tested at the beginning of 2nd grade) They never revealed what happened with the high score at the end of 1st- my guess is that they gave him a test he had already seen- he has a great memory (except for acquiring sight words) and is/was a superlative guesser or they were extremely lenient or just put and out fudged the data. He finally got evaluated fall of 2nd grade, got an IEP in Feb and started with an experienced and trained reading tutor at the same time.

The ‘gift of time’ was detrimental for him. I would suggest getting your DC evaluated privately if you can afford it. The FCPS evaluation went as far as qualifying my DC for an IEP but stopped at finding the actual issues to be ameliorated. Early detection is important.

Finding a tutor who is experienced and trained in Orton-Gillingham methods like Wilson (not Fundations or Just Words which are for the general population), Barton or through ASDEC is important. Barton is packaged in a way that makes it easier for parents to do it at home if a tutor is not in the picture.


I suspect part of what happened is DRA doesn't measure what you think it measures, which I could go on a rant about, but it's not going to catch all dyslexics at those early levels. Plus a reading teacher told me the number of mistakes you can make and still pass is quite high (and it's pass/fail so almost failing is passing). I thought my child must be fine for way too long because DRA was on grade level also.

https://www.spelfabet.com.au/2019/02/running-records-are-an-uninformative-waste-of-teacher-time/

Agree with you that what you bolded is a huge flag.