How to help young children who can't read?

Question

I'm helping my friend's son, a 7 year old boy, with his studies, but I'm not sure how to go about doing it. He can't read many words yet, so he is unable to do his school work well. How do I teach him to read? I have no knowledge on phonics too.

Also, he often writes 'mirror images' of alphabets and numbers; how do i teach him to remember?

Any teachers with good advice?

Answer 1

Have you tried reading Put Reading First by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) ?

The link below is to the site.

I am an English teacher in Japan and to help my Grade 1 students to start to read English words, I teach them the nursery rhymes first. I expose them to various English sounds and trained them to differentiate and identify the sounds with flash cards and actions.

Young children learn well with actions.

I hope that the link below at the "know your source?" can do some help for you.

Answer 2

It depends on where you live. If you live in the States, he should be learning his 21 sight words first. Then you build from there, which is what he should be getting in school. Learning to write the alphabet is just a issue of practice, practice, and more practice...it is not unusual for youngsters just learning to write their letters backwards...especially b's d's and p's....as well as s's if you can believe that one! Most kids grow out of that by the time they are in 2nd or 3rd grade. It is great that you are helping. Sometimes it is easier & more productive for friends or other family members to help with homework...we parents are sometimes to emotionally involved to help effectivelly!