Reading skills

[hedders]

Be honest and tell me if i"m going mad.

 

 

Since yr 1 my dd has been floating back and forth on level 3/4 at present she has gone back to level 3.

 

DD is now in yr 3 so nearly 8yrs old.

 

No answers from school apart from that she is going really well and "turned a corner" in class

 

 

So is there any reason for staying on level 3/4 for 2.5yrs i know dd has alot of diffculties with literacy but someone may have an explantion i haven"t thought of.

 

 

Also if she has been recieivng 1-1 support and small group work for 1.5 yrs which is fine but still working on the same level as a 5yr old??? Is this progress??

 

Been recieving support for holding a pencil correctly for 5 months but still holds in 1st grip.

[Moll]

Not sure on the reading but we got my dd a pen at the weekend they do them for left and right handed children they also do pencils

 

http://www.stabilo.com/pages-uk/products/s-move-easy.php

 

It has altered the way she holds her pen and writes.

[chris54]

My sons handwriting is all but unreadable. He holed a pen in a unusual way, we and school have tried various types of pens which have although have affected the way he holds the pen have had no affect on his handwriting.

 

It was commented on at last meeting at school that, yes he has an unusual pen grip but it was felt that it was functional and only had a small impact on handwriting. I must add that his older brother(22), holds a pen in just the same way and has never had any problems with hand writing, something to do with over flexing thumb, or something like that.

 

As far as reading is concerned our son now 8 was a very slow starter and at one point it was thought that he may be dyslexic but along came jolly phonics and his reading shot ahead. He now can read as well or maybe even better that me.

But his spelling is not so good as he spells everything phonetically. Even when copying something it will be written in front of him and he still gets it wrong.(He spells as he pronounces it which is often wrong -- "Farver", for "Father", that sort of thing.)

 

Back to dyslexia, the most recent test at school has indicated that he may be dyslexic after all, yet to be followed up.

 

It does not surprise me as there is a strong prevalence of dyslexia in my family.

[hedders]

I got to wait till she is 10 so says senco.

Class teacher and lsa kept telling me she is doing brillantly but no prooof.

Now 8yrs old they are still teaching her the basics for attainment level 1 this was started 1.5 yrs ago

[something_different]

it depends on the understanding.

 

does she have a good understanding of what she has read.

 

a child can read something really well, but still not understand what they haveread, if you know what i mean?

 

not have the understanding to be able to go back and asnswer questions about what has just been read?

 

Not sure

 

 

feel free to ignore me if i am talking rubbish

[hedders]

I feel it is to do with level of understanding also her diffculties with speech and language, recognising words, telling the difference between subtle words.

 

SHE has never had key words or spellings sent home to pratice.

[Unaltronome]

Hi hedders,

 

I'm a bit confused. This is first time that I hear about having to wait for a SENco 'til age 10- my ds had a SENco in nursery- and I don't know about Isa.

 

In England a level 2b would be the average results at yr2 SATs, and 4b in yr6. So if dd is going back and forth between level3 and 4 she is doing fab. Last yr SATs were still in place and a piece of paper with attainment results levels in different components (reading and comprehension, writing, maths, science)would have been handed out at the end of the yr.

 

Is the level1 you also mention in the writing?

Edited January 10, 2009 by Unaltronome

[hedders]

I might of confused you her attainment level is 1 in all subjects, they started teaching her the basics for attainment level 1 at the beginning of yr 2 as she hadn"t learnt them during reception and yr 1.

 

She is now in yr 3 and still being taught basics for attainment level 1 (5-6yr olds)

 

 

She is reading Oxford Tree Books and has remained on stage 3 since beginning of yr 2 which is for 5- 5.5yr olds.

 

 

Yep it's because i put reading level instead of reading stage

 

Sorry for confusion

Yes level 1 for literacy her writing skills are really good with 1-1 support or when copying when left unaided her words and sentences are jumbled

 

In Primary school the head and senco said they wouldn"t do anything till she was 7, i tried and kept hitting brick walls, i applied for stat assessment 6 months ago got turned down but at least i found out her attainemnt level..

 

Dd moved accross the road to junior school in september had a meeting with the new Senco and now told to wait till she is 10, she is on the SEN register and on School action has an IEP her first one.

 

TO be honest i dont know what we are waiting for ??

His explanation is i have been a teacher for over 20 yrs what you have discribed is wha i have come accross with children and by age 10 the problems are gone

Edited January 10, 2009 by hedders

[Unaltronome]

Right!

Thank you, can you tell is late?

 

I have to agree with other suggestion, that the school should investigate further. It's not uncommon to have dyslexia as a co-morbid condition. Is dd seeing a SALT for her speech and language? It might also be worthwhile to ask for an OT (occupational therapist).

 

Often language delays (which extends to reading, comprehension and writing) can be a problem of sensory impairments (auditory, visual and motor).

 

If the school is not proactive in the referrals you can ask for them yourself via the GP and/or paediatrician-be insistent as they tend to fob you off.

 

 

[hedders]

I have made a parental referral to SLT dd was discharged at 6 even though she has delays, diffculties they didn"t want to know.

The school was supposed to send a letter with my new referral but i messed up and gave them the orginal which slt department has never recieved and school say they did send it. So i will do my own referral.

 

 

DD has been assessed by ot for Sensory Intergration Diffculties i have 2 very good reports but has been discharged.

 

WE have a pead appoinmtent at the end of Jan dd has been under one since 4yrs old. -

Will speak to her.

[Unaltronome]

If is any consolation ds,same age as your dd, was still reading stage2 and 3 oxford tree at the end of yr1 and could not even form any letters-he was still tracing mmmmmm and uuuuuuu.

I took it in my own hands. I ignored as much as possible the school books (we still read a few to show co-operation) and started on the jolly phonics word book, which is organised in simple and sequential sound. I purchased big squared exercise books from the school supply shop to practice letter formation and writing in general. The schools seem not to like them but as a dyslexic person myself, I feel they help with tracking (i.e. no need to track horizontally and vertically) and help with sizing letters (removing the need to struggle with spatial awareness). More than happy to write reams about this if you wish.

 

If dd is already been assessed for sensory dysfunction, is she been seen by a developmental audiologist and an orthoptist/behavioural optometrist?

[hedders]

TO your last question no, as i have been told over the years her behaviour problems are down to my parenting skills as she displayed no problems in school.

Now it is recognised and in a Self esteeem intervention programme in school.

 

 

 

Yes lots of info on reading please.

[Unaltronome]

Oh the famous lack of parental skills, grrrrrrrrrr!

 

Reading. I had been told that asd children learn by the shape of the words and in context.....but ds was not managing at all even the high frequency words (that was easily read what). Also in Italy, where I grew up, reading is taught by putting letters together and blend them (easy-peasy). So I looked for materials that would allow me to do just that, jolly phonic was the closest.

1)I started from scratch and taught him vowels a, e, i, o, u (without using the examples but the sounds as in apple, elephant, igloo, got, umbrella),

2) then we blended basic sounds:Ba, be, bi bo bu, da,de, di, do, du......so forth down the alphabeth.

3) Now we were ready to blend 3 letters (bat....) and to start read the first few pages of J.phonic word book. I only used the first 2 pages for quite a while but started to ask to read in book only 2 and 3 letter word that phonetically were right. Once he got the hang and confidence with these, we progrssed to 4 and 5 letters.

4)We then moved onto blending consonants (Br, st,...) and for a while I used to circle the 2 consonants so he could see it as a 'sound'. We developed a sign code for the difficult sounds (such as bring a finger to your nose for 'sh', touch your temple for 'th' as in think...)

5) Once he could read these without circles, although he still signs to himself occasionally, we moved onto other phonetic sounds. ae, a-e, ... These were the ones that needed circling now.

 

I think he just couldn't recognise the shapes of words because they didn't always look the same. It seems that by 'chunking' his words and enabling him to decode them, he could then start even recognising them in context.

His writing is a different story. He can now hold a pencil so it is functional, he can form letters correctly, can spell a few words and as long as he has guided paper the words don't go round in a spiral.

[Unaltronome]

I also used to pencil hyphen between words, so he could recognise where a word would end and the next began. ds also found easier to use a ruler above the line he was reading, I guess it's easier to hide the line you just read rather than finding the one below.

[chris54]

I purchased big squared exercise books from the school supply shop to practice letter formation and writing in general. The schools seem not to like them but as a dyslexic person myself, I feel they help with tracking (i.e. no need to track horizontally and vertically) and help with sizing letters (removing the need to struggle with spatial awareness).

 

I am glad you mentioned squared paper. I believe they use it in some other countries when learning to write.

I did try it with my son but as they don't use it at school he was reluctant to use it as "it not the proper way".

Ill give it another go. Perhaps if I use it for writing he will to.