can anyone advise me?

Question

my 6yr old son has problems with his reading at school,he is on level 1 reading books,he should be on level 4 or 5,the teacher say he is struggling with his sounds,he should know simple words like (at,the,)etc,when i read with him he just doesn't recognise these sort of words,how can you tell if a child is dislexic (not sure how you spell it),or how do i help him recognise certain words,
i need serious answers please

i want to say thank you for all your advise given,i will follow this on with my sons teacher,a.s.a.p
thankyou x

Answer 1

I have the same problem with my daughter, she can say all the letters but cant can string them together and read them , i have taken her to doctors and found that her hearing isn't as good as it should so she is now having treatment, maybe check your sons hearing?

Answer 2

For a start your son is too young to be diagnosed as dyslexic, children are usually only assessed when the enter Year 3 and are having problems reading.
I would suggest you go back to basics and work for about 15 mins per night on the following:-
Letter sounds (nb not the names of letters but the sounds they make)
Blending (some schools call this building) ie t-a-p =tap; similarly tr-a-p = trap etc
Common words (this is the area you'll probably be concentrating on) I am quite old fashioned and would advocate making a series of flashcards and making the activity into something of a game. The worda that I would use are:
the, and, is, he, she, was, then, because etc - I'm sure you get the idea.
Good Luck and try not to worry too much as it is very easy to commnicate these feelings to your son.

Answer 3

There are so many different levels of Dyslexia.

First get his hearing checked out at your Docs, raise this issue with your sons school, they should have certain test papers that can recognise Dyslexia..

Dont let them make you feel like an anxious mum, many children struggle for far too long because this condition is not recognised.

These children/ adults are not thick or stupid they merely find it difficult to put things down on paper or to read it..

Sort it out now before he gets to juniors/high school..

Good Luck.

Im also suprised your school has been so lax at spotting this..

Answer 4

Forget dyslexia - I suggest it's more likely that he is suffering from "delayed reading". This is very common in children. When he reads his book to you, read it with him so that he hears the sound of each word as he attempts it.

My youngest daughter still has trouble recognising some simple words, but she reads better since I've taken this approach to support her.

I personally think it is far too easy for a child to be given a "label" these days. Your boy is only 6, which in my opinion, is still relatively young to be reading fluently. However, this link will take you to a page which briefly explains "delayed reading" (it's near the bottom of the page). You might find it helpful.

http://www.foodforthebrain.org/content.asp?id_Content=1636

Answer 5

There is allot of good suggestions here. I would suggest that you pressure the school system to do any and all the testing they can do and also take your son to a pediatrician for some testing on his hearing and speech.. I hope you find out quickly because if you catch while he is young then he will not learn to hate school. Once you have some answers from the school system and the findings of the pediatrician then you can work with both resources and plan a future for your son. Good Luck

Answer 6

My son switched schools between year 1 and year 2 - when he started his new school, they told me he was year behind his peers in reading and basically hadnt been taught Phonics properly. With the schools help we started him on a reading programme, which initially was going back and re-doing all the ground work with phonics. Last year (yr3) he started on a reading programmed called 360 reading - he worked really hard, with us sitting with him each night as he read a chapter from each book - the books go through 8 levels. He finished at the end of last term (pre-summer holidays) and over the summer read the first Alex Rider book to me - it was amazing to see the change in him, his ability and his confidence. Until he started this programme we had serious concerns that he was dyslexic.

You can force your school to have him assessed, but this costs around £700 (min) and they will be relucant to do this at his age, as its really hard to know whether a child is dyslexic or just moving at a different pace from his peers. You can pay to have the tests done privately - see the dyslexia association website for details.

However, I have to say that whilst on the reading programme, he stayed behind in all literature based subjects - history, science and language (because his reading was so poor and his spelling dreadful). When he finished the reading programme we thought he was probably still dyslexic because of his spelling - however, again, with the schools help, we have developed a programme to help him catch up - at the moment he is in the top 5 in his class on weekly spelling tests!

Talk to the school, ask to see the SEN coordinator (they have to have one by law) and see if there is a programme they can recommend to help him.

Good luck

Answer 7

It's too early to say he has dyslexia- the question is, did he just start learning to read in school or was he reading at home before he started. If he wasn't reading at home before going to school then I agree with Loulou it could be delayed reading. I would suggest you discuss it with his teacher and at the same time have a couple of fun reading sessions at home with him. Put emphasis on the phonic sound of words when you read them. Perhaps his teacher can give you a list of the phonic sounds they are learning in class. You can also get involved with some fun activity with flash cards on various items around the house or next to his things in his bedroom that way he will be able to identify words with items etc.

Answer 8

I think the first thing to do is to check his hearing. He might have hearing loss that affects the way he is hearing the sounds. If that is ok (and I hope it is) you need to check into a place like Silvan learning center or check with childrens services and see if they can evaluate your son for Dislexia.

And Charlie, this is a serious question, don't be an Idiot.

Answer 9

he should be being offered more support in school
i go in school 3times a week to listen to children read that are having a little difficulty in reading, it is called the better reading partnership, you could suggest your school takes this up and volunteer to help out running it, i am not a teacher just a parent wanting to help out,
good luck

Answer 10

He dose sound dyslexic try getting him a leap pad to help him recognise words and sounds, your lucky really my son didn’t get diagnosed until he was sixteen although I had been telling the schools for years he had a problem

Good luck.