Reading Difficulty

I have a child who has a lot of trouble reading. He has repeated 1st grade and continues to struggle. The biggest issue is when reading he will read a sentence and literally saw the wrong word. An example would be a sentence that has the word boy in it yet he says brother. It seems that he only looks at the first letter and says the first thing that comes to mind. When corrected he can usually say the correct word or be helped to figure it out. This is puzzling us.

Parent Answers to "Reading Difficulty"

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I could say the same of my son - the word finding/ word substitution you describe is indicative of rapid naming issues. The difficulty blending, recognizing words patterns is a decoding issue. These troubles should be addressed in an intensive, multi-sensory program that includes an OG- based decoding program www.ortonacademy.org/as well as a fluency program. RAVE-O might be a good option to build the automatic recognition of the word parts and the word finding ase.tufts.edu/crlr/raveo.html.

Your son is young and will benefit by intensive intervention. Depending upon your skill level as a teacher, you may be able to do some of this at home. The Barton Method is an OG type program that many parents have been able to do at home. www.bartonreading.com/ But, it is essential that if your school uses a program, that all home practice uses the same language and approach - you don't want to confuse your son.

The first book I read on the journey, and perhaps the most helpful was "Straight Talk about Reading" by Louisa Moats. I also learned a lot about dyslexia by reading "Overcoming Dyslexia" by Sally Shaywitz. These should be available at the library in both print and audio book form.

It sounds like your child's teacher is perceptive. The difficulty that she is observing are classic symptoms of dyslexia. My son still has trouble chunking, but OG drills, a year of RAVE-O and work with fluency using "Read Naturally" has helped improve these skills.

It is CRITICAL that your school provide research based programs by a qualified and experienced teacher in an intensive manner. This Reading First Publication gives you some info on what the government recommends. www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/Cierra.pdf

You are doing a lot of work at home. I did the star fall and dolch, too. But, it is essential he learns to break the code at school using an OG approach. The Dolch words get you the high frequency rule breaking words, starfall gives you a phonics system. BUt, if he has a LD (and it sounds like he might), Starfall is not explicit, multisensory and intense enough. It's a great support for a more direct program. The books I recommended, will help you understand the differences between the programs.

Thanks for the feedback

Our son's teacher sent us an email with the following info:

1. He can make out individual sounds like BR but blending the sounds together is difficult.
2. He does a lot of substituting of words. Example, substituting brother for boy.
3. Tracking of sentences is a problem. He will skip words or lines, sometimes going back to the line he skipped. His teacher gave him a guide to use which seemed to help.
4. Using visual clues is a problem. He cannot pick out words within words. Has difficulty chunking words.

Does anyone know of any programs to purchase that help at home? We do the Dolch books, Starfall.com, flash cards and read every night to him.

My son went to a developmental Optometrist for vision therapy. I think it helped a bit with some of his tracking issues. However, it is not a substitute for reading instruction. Most reading difficulties center around a difficulty with the sound symbol relationship, phonemic awareness and the rapid naming problems (able to look at a symbol and automatically be able to say what it means - the symbol could be a letter/sound. word attern such as the "at" family, numbers etc).

Vision therapy won't address these issues. But, if in addition to poor reading skills, the child has a difficult time processing the letters, keeping focused on the lines of print, reading from left to right, VT can make a difference and make the child more available for reading instruction.

Keep in mind, if the school thinks you should get him evaluated in this area - they should pay for the evaluation and therapy just as they would occupational therapy. I would make an additional request in writing and say something like:

Dear ----
On date I made a referral to special ed for my child name. I spoke with teachers name about the referral and they recommended that child's name be evaluated for by a developmental optometrist for vision therapy. Since IDEA mandates that the child should be evaluated in all suspected area of difficulty, I would like XYZ school to assume responsibility for this evaluation and the subsequent recommendations.

I would be happy to schedule the evaluation. Please let me know the credentials you require for such an evaluation and or a list of certified developmental optometrists within the next 5 days.

The www.concordspedpac.org has a good section on both VT and appropriate reading programs. I would do a bit of research so that you feel more comfortable with the types of programs your child might need.

Your son is not reading phonetically - yet. I don't know why they're not saying that to you. He may yet go on to read phoenetically but right now he's guessing at the word from the initial consonant. It's not uncommon for children to try to read that way when they can't yet sound out the words or recognize the whole word.

Some people never become phoenetic readers but they can still read well. It's true that your son could still become a phoenetic reader but as he's at the end of his second year in school and isn't using phonics - the school should stop saying 'that he is not progressing as they would like" and do something that helps him to progress for whatever they're doing hasn't had an impact.
Clearly he knows his alphabet and the sounds that go with letters. Can he blend would be my question for that's often where the problem lies. My own son can't 'blend' to this day and neither can my husband.
If your son knows that B makes the buh sound and that R makes ruh sound, what does he say when you put b and r together - br. He should say bruh. You might try that with him yourself.
Give him fun alphabet sound tasks. Buy a wooden puzzle and put the letters in a bag. Have him draw out a letter with his hands, no peeking, and see if he can tell you what letter he's holding in his hand? What sound does the letter make?
Playdough letters, shaving cream letters, soap used as a pencil on the tile wall of the shower letters. Refrigerator letters put together in 3 letter words. If this is c-a-t, then what's this? b-a-t -always do words in word families.
Reading aloud to him every night is very helpful - there's a wealth of research to show that 15 minutes of being read to every night goes a Long way toward helping all children become good readers.
Good luck.

We appreciate all of the great advice. We sent our letter to the school yesterday requesting for testing of suspected disability of our son. It has forced the school to take a much closer look at our son. After Spring Break we are supposed to have a MFE evaluation done. Our son is at the same reading level as he was one year ago at this time. His teacher wants us to look at a developmental opthomologist to rule out an eye tracking issue. Has anyone gone down this road before with their child.
Thanks Much!

I have a 6th grader that had and still has difficulty learning to read. When he was in 1st grade, his reading was much like your son's.

Substituting words with similar first and last letters is a typical behavior of a child that is experiencing reading difficulty. Looking through the word and automatically recognizing letter patterns does not come naturally or automatically for them. Thus they use other skills - perhaps relying on a good vocabulary, context clues or wild guessing.

Your child has struggled for awhile and it seems as if the school has thrown a few supports in to see if it would help. Since he has not progressed it is time to get more aggressive to find out what is going on and to build a plan to help him.

I agree with Healthy is that you need to initiate a referral to special education with a formal letter that requests an evaluation. If you make this request in writing, IDEA (special ed Law) mandates that they MUST evaluate in all areas of suspected disability in about 60 school days. Make sure you mention your concerns including difficulty learning to read even with extra practice at home and instruction with a reading specialists, let them know if he has trouble in other areas such as writing and spelling, math facts, organization (these issues are often related). Don't delay - you want to get this in by year end. In your letter request that you get a copy of the evaluation report at least 2 days prior to the meeting. We can help you understand what it means once you have the scores and recommendations.

Once the school evaluates they will hold an IEP (Individual educational plan) meeting to determine if he is eligible for services. You are an equal member of the IEP team and you do not have to agree with anything that day.

It sounds like he needs some specialized instruction. This link gives a nice overview of what kind of instruction is best for struggling readers www.concordspedpac.org/Reading.html .

Thanks for all the info. We make weekly trips to the library, tried Dolce workbook and flashcards. Last year he went to the reading specialist at school and then repeated 1st grade again this year. Its odd that at this time every year we hear similar comments from his teacher that he is not progressing like they would like. They would like to see him get over the "hump" but they are on the fence and cannot put their finger on if there truly is a problem. It makes it hard to pinpoint the problem if the school is vague about if and what the problem truly is.

I have two children who have struggled with reading, each for different reasons. I found a tutor who specializes in reading and was able to pinpoint the problem. I was sent home with material and expected to work with my child for a short time each day. My daughter made rapid improvement and now we're starting with my son.

Is your child attending a public school? Have they done any comprensive evaluation for learning disabilities? That's the first thing to ask for. It must be done formally, via written request. (You can find examples of request letters at sites like www.concordspedpac.org) Don't let the school delay helping your son any longer.

My own son did what your son seems to do, and he was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia(schools don't call it that...they refer to specific learning disabilities in reading and writing.) I could go on for many paragraphs, but rather than do that here, I'd like to recommend that you join and repost your concerns in the Learning and Attention Difficulties Group at community.greatschools.net/groups/11554

This web site might be a good place to start:

www.brightsolutions.us

Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of GreatSchools. GreatSchools does not check for accuracy in community posts or verify the contributor’s identity. If you are searching for health-related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Community Guidelines for more details.

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Reading Difficulty

Parent Answers to "Reading Difficulty"

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