My DD is having a horrible time reading. I think she has given up. We do phonics/grammar/spelling words the whole 9 yards but the reading is just not working. She knows all her letter sounds/blends/rules/vocabulary but she'll sound out the same word 6 times in 1 short story. Today she sounded out father 4 times in 5 sentences before i just gave up. We are both at our wits end. She's in 2nd grade. She'll take her spelling test every week and get a 100 but when she sees the spelling word in a book she does not know it. Its almost like she does not "store" new words in her brain. She learns the perfectly for the test then just forgets about them. Almost everytime she reads she will make incorrect sounds for the letter even though she know the right sound. for example the word church she will sound it out Ch ur ck. Any of you who can offer me any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Amy
Have you had her eyes tested by an educational eye specialist? http://www.covd.org/ If she's spelling 100% on tests, that means she knows the phonics rules and knows how to memorize words. If she's not reading it back to you, there's a disconnect somewhere. I bet she's not tracking well. She may have double vision or something. There are a million eye problems out there that a regular eye test won't detect, and they make kids feel as if they're stupid when in fact, they're not. It could be a learning disability, or it could be nothing at all, but I'd have her eyes tested first. Look on that site to find one near you. It should be covered by vision insurance. They do vision therapy in their offices, too (just like physical therapy or speech therapy... retrains your eye muscles to work right). Doctors near you (based on your profile city): http://www.covd.org/Home/LocateaDoctor/tabid/69/Default.aspx?zipcode=30548&radius=50
She's been to the eye doctor but not specifically for her reading problems. i should set up an appointment. When i ask her what letters do you see she can ramble them off perfectly. I think she has gotten so discouraged b/c she good at everything she tries. She's super athletic and great in math and science so it may be that she just gets so frustrated because for once she is struggling at something. Then i get frustrated b/c i feel i am doing something wrong. Ugh....its just been one of those days! thanks for the support
It could be she's simply not ready for learning how to read. What I'd do is to read LOTS to her. Give her comprehension questions, have her do lots of narration, do lots of writing. Tell her you're simply not going to worry about the reading right now, that she's got all this other stuff going for her, and you'll get around to reading "later".
I agree. You may want to get her eyes checked for peace of mind, but if that's not the answer, I'd back off for a while.
I recommend backing up a bit. let her know tha you will read to her foe a while. I agree with the eye recommendations too. My friend'S daughter had eye trouble after she had learned to read...and when they found out what was causing it, it made life easier. Give Sissy hugs from me!!!
yes, definitely, back up a bit and give it some more time. I get kinda frustrated with people who expect all children to be ready for reading in K. most kids are truly not ready till much later and this is very ok! I have a 3rd grader,ds, who has just now started wanting to learn. He does the exact same thing you're describing and it is exhausting! I am trying to be patient with him but sometimes I admit to losing my temper with him and saying "you just KNEW this word 30 seconds ago!"
While I was working in public school, I did run across ONE child who simply could NOT learn reading by phonics. He learned a great many words in just a couple of weeks by the flash card method! Some kids have to learn by sight first, then apply the phonics later when they have a bigger vocabulary of words they recognize on sight. I think this might be worth a try! I make flash cards on my printer by changing the paper size and the font size, and printing on 3x5 index cards. When I worked with this boy, we gave him like ten word cards. We'd flip through the cards and say the words, several times, changing the order of the cards each time. Then we'd flip through with him saying the words. If he got it right, put in one stack, if wrong, put in the other. Make a tiny mark on each card right. Then do it again, mark, and do it only once more. Any words he got right three times, we replaced with new words the next day. We kept the known word cards in a file box for later review. If we brought out the known words (at the end of the week) and found he didn't remember some, those went back into the mix - never more than ten total on any given day. It can be hard to keep track of which words he certainly knows, did know but now hesitates on, etc., but it's so worth it if it helps the child gain some confidence in reading! I'd try Sequential Spelling - word patterns, but not rules unless you know and give the rules orally.
Lindina, I never thought of that! I'm going to try that with ds. this is why I love the "spot"! one person asks a question and everybody gets help!
I think it may just be a readiness issue. I agree with the others who said to back it up. This would help in a couple of ways. It would lessen your stress and hers. Also, it would give her more time to recognize hers strengths and gain some confidence.
I've got similar troubles with my 2nd grade ds. What I've done is: 1) got clicknkids phonics to make sure he fully understands phonics rules and such - there are some gaps so it's helping 2) stopped stressing over him reading constantly 3) eyes checked he did have issues with his vision 4) I took him back down to simpler reading books - we are doing the leveled readers stage 2 sometimes 3 depending on the brand. All those things together have really been helping him, I'm ok if he can't read 'on level', I'm not ok with him not reading at all.
I agree. If she is more right brained she may need to learn the basics of reading by sight words. Have her visualize the words. Once she starts encountering success add phonics.
I completely agree with the others that phonics may just not be for her. My ds 7 almost 8 ran the gamut with phonics programs to no success. I backed up and just had him read and would correct words he got wrong. I did not sound them out. I just would tell him the word he stumbled over and he would re-read the sentence and he learned by sight. Phonics was a big waste for us and caused a lot of confusion and frustration for us both. He has worked through The Reading Lesson almost completely now, but it isn't really phonics like the other phonics programs. He did MCP Plaid and could get the worksheets right but he wouldn't read the words right. When I quit trying to teach him phonics or sounding out, then reading just clicked. Now if he stumbles over a word, I just say the word and after a few times of seeing the word he knows it.
I have not read all of the replies, so forgive me if this is just a repeat of what others have said. She may just not be ready for reading yet! I was homeschooled. I did not read until the summer between 5th and 6th grade. I was 11 years old. Up until then I was probably at a Kindergarten to 1st grade level. Then it just clicked! In 1 year, from 6th to 7th grade I went from that to a 9th grade reading level. When it clicked it clicked! On the other hand, my second son was really set back in reading because of his vision. He has a lazy eye and that has really set him back because for half of his 1st grade year he could not see well at all. With therapy his vision is improving but I still think that the half a year before we started the therapy really set him back. Its hard sometimes to find the balance between encouraging your child to do the best they can do, without pushing them beyond what they are capable of and frustrating both them and you. I wish you the best!
