Finding reading / writing difficult in year 2

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PROBSNAIVE
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:43 pm

Finding reading / writing difficult in year 2

Post by PROBSNAIVE »

My youngest of 4 girls is really struggling with reading and writing. She is 7 in January. She will sound out nearly every word (except for a group of 4/5 words). She will forget words that she has just read. Writing is difficult too. She doesn't have a bank of words that she can spell. I am finding it difficult to know what to do. We practise but then within hours she has forgotten. For example we learnt counting in 10s and after some time, she got it. However by next morning she couldn't remember them.

She was never very interested in reading and always preferred looking at the pictures and making up her own stories. She is a bright bubbly personality and can recall information on topics she has learnt in school. She speaks confidently about a range of subjects.

But I dont know how to help her improve academically. She gets extra support at school and they have just said to keep practising at home. But most days it feels like 2 steps forward and one back.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
wonderwoman
Posts: 511
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07 pm

Re: Finding reading / writing difficult in year 2

Post by wonderwoman »

Read to her at least once a day and model how to sound out the odd word if necessary. If she is sounding out every word the book is too hard. When helping to spell use the 'look, say, cover, write, check' method. Start with a word a day. Use the sounds she knows eg play is made of the sounds p-l-ay.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Finding reading / writing difficult in year 2

Post by mystery »

She is only at the beginning of year 2. With the right reading programme she can learn a lit this year. How does the school teach reading? What sort of reading teaching and practice is she getting each day at school?

You say her sounding out is good. That is good. Normally with more practice automaticity eventually comes. There are techniques to help move to fast and silent "sounding out " but they may not be appropriate right now.

Is the sounding out a problem? Is she losing sense of what she is reading? What books is she reading? She needs a very logical scheme by the sounds of it, with a lot of repetition built in as new phonemes and graphemes are gradually introduced.



Spelling - try the read write inc spelling scheme for starters.

Spelling should be the reverse of reading for her at first I.e. Break the words down into sounds, then write down something which represents each sound. Where there are spelling choices for a particular sound make sure she uses the right one for that word

E.g. Tern. Turn tirn or tearn .... Need to learn turn in a group with similar words e.g. Burn

Might be some kind of memory issue. An ed psych might be able to help pinpoint it. But could just be lack of method and practice depending on school experience.

Maths - try plus one and power of two.

Support at school is good but only if it is effective. A good intervention will bring results.

What are her nc levels? What is her reading age? Spelling age? What did she score in the phonics test?

Teaching is about providing sufficient practise while aiding comprehension and not boring them silly. Some children need more repetition than others. That is not an iq issue but requires more teaching effort. The child you can tell something to once and they know it is a rare dream. Practice. There are a lot of good programmes which build in practice if you and the school can set your hands on them.

How many words a day does she read at school? Is whoever teaches her to read one to one well trained?

I think there is prob nothing wrong that some good teaching of reading and spelling will not help. It takes several readings for a word not to need sounding out. Some children need way more repetitions than others 1, 2 , 2000. It does not matter.
justanothermother
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:43 pm

Re: Finding reading / writing difficult in year 2

Post by justanothermother »

Have you looked at Sound Foundations website? The material is designed for dyslexic children and the range includes reading (focus on decoding and "blending") and spelling programmes. Some of the programmes have been recommended on mumsnet both by teachers and parents. All of the books can be viewed in full on Sound Foundation website, so you can make an informed decision. I would suggest to post a request for help in SEN section or Primary Education section on mumsnet, if you are a member (I hope this suggestion does not go against this forum rules).
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