Perhaps it is not the child but the way he has (or has not been taught). Did he have strong phonics teaching early on? Most of today's reading programs do not stress phonics, but use a "whole word" method of teaching reading. It doesn't work for many children. Did he have good teachers? Too often a child is held responsible for not learning instead of the teacher. Let's face it, there are good teachers out there, but there are also many poorly trained teachers in the classroom. Teaching methods focus on self-esteem rather than evaluating whether a child really understands and masters a skill before moving on to the next step.

Woe is I

Wow, long comments! Well, if all else fails, try rewards. That would motivate me. But I do believe you need to sit and read.

It's important to remember that ability can be assessed in many ways.

My oldest knew her letters in preschool, colored within the lines and was reading on her own by age 5. She is of average intelligence.

My youngest did not know his letters until third grade, still at age 12 cannot write very well and cannot color and is at least 3 years behind in reading. His IQ is in the very superior range.

Both children have had a very enriched life - surrounded by books, well traveled, plenty of play, exposed to the arts.

Which child has the higher ability? The one that reads and writes well, or the one that has superior reasoning and thinking skills? How would you group them? Should the non-reader be placed with kids with cognitive deficits just because he can't read? Is the difference in their ability a result of the parents and home life?

I'm not sure that there is a simple solution for struggling readers. But I do know that we cannot assume that poor readers are a result of underexposure to literacy, poor parenting or watching too much TV. I also know that we cannot assume that poor readers have poor academic potential.

BerkhshireMom you got it right. Some children come to school prepared and others do not. It is just amazing the difference in the children in my daughters classroom. There are 1st graders who are still working on their ABC's and then others that are reading at a 3rd grade level, with a number of others somewhere in the middle. It is not only in reading that I have noticed the differences but other areas as well. Things as basic as coloring within the lines and other subjects like math, science. It would be very nice if elementary schools separated children based on ability. Can't you just see the potential of these children that are doing well and where they could end up if they were in a classroom where the teacher could focus on their advanced skills. I wish my daughter were in a classroom like that. The state that we live in believes that all children should be provided with the same education based on their age and not on their ability. The schools here intentionally diversify classrooms based the ability of the children. Fortunately schools are allowed to create gifted programs for these children, if budgets in that area allow. Believe it or not this states education plan is being looked at by other states and the federal government likes the education system here. It seams crazy to hold back these wonderful minds when they are at the age where their minds absorb everything. Plus when these children reach high school they will be separated out based on their abilities and that will hold true for the rest of their lives. Sorry I have kind of gotten of from the subject of reading here. I really believe that we should be reading to our children from day 1 and continue to do so for as long as we can. They see the words on the pages that we are reading and hear them when we read. They pick up on those hard to get words by us reading them, pointing them out when we read. Sometimes when I read to my daughter I say I have lost my place do you know where I am. I do this to see if she is at least following along to some degree. She is most of the time. Quality time with books, writing, arts and crafts, games that are educational and just plain old caring about and talking with our children will improve their skills. I know that it is not easy when both parents have to work at least 40 hours a week. Plus you have commute time to and from work, so most could make that 40 hours, 50 hours. It is possible to still make time for this type of quality time with our children. This website should become better know to schools, teachers and parents. It is like preaching to the choir because I think everyone that uses this site cares about and knows how important the education of their children is.

Yes, question, but do so in the spirit of working WITH the professionals instead of opposed to them. We are all on the same team. We need to act like it.

Disadvantaged children frequently arrive at school unprepared to learn. Better educated parents tend to read to their children and put learning in context with day to day life. They fully expect their children to complete a certain level of education. The children are in stable environments and have good nutrition, adequate rest and exercise, relatively worry-free environments, and limitations on TV and video games.

Schools have to take the children the parents send to school, so if a child is prepared to learn (s)he is ahead of the game. If a teacher has the pleasure of a classroom full of these kinds of students, a great deal will be accomplished, and everyone benefits. But instead, teachers are faced with students who are sugar and fat laden, who have been up until late at night listening to arguing,stressed-out adults (or worse), or have been texting all night, homework undone, unused to listening or being held responsible for their work. Wow.

Addressing this in this forum is preaching to the choir. The parents here take responsibility for parenting duties and realize fully the absolute importance of education to their children's and society's futures. Studies are wonderful, but every approach has studies to support it and to put down other approaches. What matters is what works for your child. It really won't matter if whole language or piecemeal reading is the method of choice, as long as the children and their parents put the appropriate priorities where they belong. Agreed?

I have spent many years listening to both sides of the argument about phonics vs. "whole word" methods of teaching reading. Growing research is showing with impressive consistency, that instructional approaches that include systematic phonics lead to higher achievement in both word recognition and spelling, at least in the early grades, and especially for slower or economically disadvantaged students. We have spent many years of subjecting children to experimentation in the classroom and guess what? Reading and math mastery has seriously declined for the last 30 years. The lack of phonics has led to many colleges having to offer remedial courses in reading. Children have not learned to spell or use grammar properly. Writing skills have disappeared as well. Curriculum has been watered down to entertaining children instead of teaching them the skills they need to become learned adults. Parents have every reason to be scared about what their children are not learning. Educate yourself and don't be afraid to question what is happening in your schools.

Sorry, woeisl, I have to disagree a bit here. Whole language is far more interesting and motivating to students than phonics. Straight phonics is like eating your dinner ingredient by ingredient (some flour, some lettuce, some butter, some chicken, some potato, some cucumber, etc..all in separate little dishes - Bon Appetit!) A straight phonics approach is as dry as it gets and has turned kids off for generations! That's why reading aloud to your child is SO vital. Yes, absolutely teach phonics skills, but demonstrate their use in interesting and age-appropriate print material. When your daughter runs across an unfamiliar and difficult word, tell her right away what it is, THEN show her how to "sound it out", rather than the other way around. Otherwise, she will get completely hung up on the "process" and forget what and why she was reading in the first place.

All three of my kids learned by whole language and phonics combined. My daughter was valedictorian and is now a freshman at WIlliams, and my boys are regularly high honors at a very competitive high school. It worked for them!

That being said, there are children who benefit greatly from other approaches. Your child's teacher will have a variety of techniques at his/her disposal. Ask the professional what approach they use and how they feel your child responds to that approach. And instead of running to tutoring right away, respect the professional who was trained to teach, and ask them how you can suplement, rather than replace, what is being done in the classroom. Your child is likely to get pretty confused if presented with two different approaches by two different individuals who are not working together to teach your child with you, especially if you approach this with a "Your teacher is doing it WRONG" mindset.

Make sure she is learning phonics and not "whole word"reading. If she isn't learning phonics, get her a tutor ASAP otherwise she may end up like many other children and not be interested in reading.

We went through this is K and am still going through it in 1st grade, thou on a smaller scale. I now have a 1st grader that reads at a 3rd grade level. I still read to her every night before bed for 30 minutes. She follows along with me and will point to words ahead that she would like to say or sections that she would like to read. When she reads to me I never nit pick at the little things and have noticed that she now goes back when she skips a word or says a word that is incorrect and does it right or at least trys. When there is a word that she can't get on her own we work together, sounding it out and discussing similar things to those mentioned by debbiej99. I never tell her that she has said it wrong because she is a perfectionist. Instead I tell her close, lets try together, remember (whatever rule applies to the word). It seams to have and be working well for us. I have noticed a big improvement in this area over last year with my daughter being able to figure out words correctly on her own, including the more difficult words. She is remembering the rules. Be patient when your child reads to you. They maybe trying to remember the rule for the word or sounding it out in their head.

Sorry, I hit the answer button twice

Learning basic phonics rules is helpful, but it takes practice on the rules. When you and your daughter come to a word that does not follow one of the rules, tell her what the word is. For example, the word ought is one of the words that does not follow any of the rules. Don't try to get her to sound out that word. Do follow the basic rules for syllables:

open syllable (ends in a vowel) the vowel is long...be, hi, mo

closed syllables (ends with a consonant) the vowel is short...hot, sit, pat, cut, wet

two vowels together (two vowels go walking the first one does the talking) Ususally when two vowels are together the first one makes the long sound. However watch out for ea in bread and several other combinations.

vc+e ( vowel, consonant plus e) The syllable is closed making the vowel short, however the e at the end finds the other vowel and tickles the vowel. Then the vowel makes its long sound. cake, hope, cute, mine, Pete.

R-controlled vowels: ar, er, ir, or, ur. ar: as in car, er: as in ladder, ir: as in bird, or: as in fork, ur as in turn

Once these patters are established, apply them to multisyllable words: lad der The a in ladder is short because it is protected.

I hope this helps.

Read aloud to her!!!!!!!! I suspect you have in the past, but have maybe put it aside since she can read now. However, as long as she lets you, keep doing it. Read things that would be above her reading level, but are interesting to her. You will find that after you do, she is likely to pick up the book and try it on her own sometime.

PLEASE resist picking her read-aloud efforts apart everytime she skips a word or makes other errors. Nothing will more quickly kill her interest or her confidence in her ability. Praise her when she does do a good job, even with a couple of minor errors that don't affect her comprehension or her ability to use uppper level thinking skills on the material.

Ask her "thinking' questions that make her draw conclusions or use deductive reasoning. And just ask her what she thinks about the material. You may find her rereading that part to allow her to really pull her thoughts together.

She may be making these errors because her speaking and comprehension vocabulary is above her reading skills, and she is bored with the topic. (Think about high schoolers who have low reading levels. They want to read about things other than "Spot and Mitten", even if that is where their reading level is!) Reading aloud to her will help bridge this gap.

If you have a pet, encourage her to read aloud to this completely non-judgemental audience. You will find her making an extra effort to be correct for this special listener!

Reading taught me to be a better writer, as well as studying vocab. Do not push grammar onto her, actually, teach her how to express what she wants to first, add vocabulary, context, finally make her check her grammar. Teaching her to write in layers will help her understand each foundation of writing, and eventually she'll be able to combine some layers.

Praise her; support her; and read, read, read!!! I often will read books below my students abilities to build their confidence. In between 'easy' books I throw a more challenging book in here and there. I will read one or two pages of the more challenging book repeatedly until the child is comfortable, then the easy book will be moved to the background and the more challenging book will become our focus for awhile. I make note of the difficult words and write them down to study with my students in different ways, ie.. finding these hard-to-read words in different books until they become familiar enough my students will begin to recognize the word on their own. I will use the word often in conversation as well.

Thanks guys, I will check "books with cassettes" at our local library and I will certainlly continue reading with her.

Listening to books on tape or reading along with an adult is a great way to learn new words and practice accuracy.

It's also important to realize that at her age she may not have learned certain letter patterns that make up the sounds within words. It is important that her reading program at school includes explicit instruction in the phonetic code along with time to practice reading text at or below her level.

Why text below her level? This allows her to build up automoticity for the words and patterns she has learned so that she can become a fluent reader. Practicing books that she can read easily on her own with at least 90 percent accuracy is the best way to build this skill.

There is no "easy" answer to your situation, which is one reason why experts do recommend that parents continue reading to their children even as they get older. It helps to expand their vocabulary. Until a child has "broken the code" (understanding the letter-sound phonemic association) it's hard for them to even begin to decipher unfamiliar words. Gradually, she will, but at 6 years old, she can't do it alone. You might try to see if your local library has any "books with cassettes" for children ~ my son would sit and listen to the voice on the tape recorder and follow along with the words in the book...