phonics/reading?

[kedss]

Hi-

We just had our P/T conference, and our son is in a 'remedial phonics' group but is in 'high level' reading group in K.

He doesn't 'get' rhyming, but can sight read, is it possible for him to keep learning/advancing in reading without doing it phonetically? It seems like he doesn't hear the sounds?

FWIW he was a late talker, his K teacher has taught for 17 years and has never seen this before, where he can't sound out the words, but can read a lot of words.

Anyone BTDT?

It is a struggle for me to 'help' him with anything school related, as he fights me on everything, his dad is in 3rd year of med school, and says he will help when he can.

thanks!

[o_mom]

It sounds like he is mainly relying on memorization/sight reading instead of being able to sound out words with phonics. I'm not one that believes that phonics are the be-all, end-all of reading, but if he does not hear or process the phonetic sounds, that could be an issue. Later on, when he encounters words he has not seen, he wouldn't be able to sound them out. I would request that the school evaluate him further. If the K teacher has never encountered this, he clearly has something else going on. It could be that he would eventually get it without help, but if not early help will be the most beneficial. If you wait until the end of the school year, you may find that they don't do much over the summer and that he won't get evaluated until first grade starts. That would put it a year out until anything can be put in place.

[egoldber]

I agree with o_mom. I would ask for an evaluation by a reading specialist.

But FWIW Sarah is still primarily a sight reader. She *can* sound out words, but she doesn't like to. And her sight word vocabulary was simply staggering when she was younger.

[thomma]

I'm wondering if he has phonemic awareness. (Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual phonemes) If you say /c/ /a/ /t/ can he tell you're saying cat? If you ask him to tell you each sound in a word can he give them to you? Like stop: /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/
Google phonemic awareness activities and a bunch will pop up.

Just out of curiosity...did the teacher have any ideas for ways to practice at home? Also, did the teacher mention if any reading assessments had been done?

[wendmatt]

DD is a very high level reader and does not like to sound out words. She is like Sarah and had a huge sight word vocabulary at ayoung age. She can sound out chunks of words rather than sound out the whole word phonetically, which I've worried about but hasn't affected her so far. I agree with the pps, good idea ot have him tested by the reading specialist.

[kayte]

I agree have him evaluated.

I have seen a similar thing when teaching. It turns out the child had non-traditional (if their is such a thing) dyslexia but also a strong memory. She could memorize words because her brain processed not the look of individual letter or pattern of the letters (like seeing s-t-o-p and remembering it or seeing s, then a tall letter with a long letter on the end means stop ) but the outer shape the word made in combination with a complete picture of the letters as a unique drawing. (Occasionally words that are longer and one has an m in the place another has an n but all the other letters were the same could be confused for each other)

The little girl was insanely intelligent -- could read and decode new words through context (the trouble was more evident when words were presented in isolation) and the fact that her brain could overcome the confusion as parts and take a "picture" of the whole and log so many was amazing.

We did get her some help and I am some coping strategies-- like finding common chunks in works -- blends, common patterns---- and finding a small piece helped orient the other letters around it to be able to sound out words. (we started flashcards we would show quickly and then take away asking for her to identify something from the word. We started with cards that were not words, nor letters in order of convention, except for the chunk we were trying together to see, then moved to non-real words but more common structure and then to real words she could not possibly already have memorized). It drastically improved her ability to decode and changed her reading patterns.


ETA-- I got off track and forgot to mention that on the surface it appeared she didn't hear phonemes in isolation either, but it turns out that she had just never needed them as she compensated to sighting instead of reading. It wasn't a necessity to her learning, her brain observed. When taught why they were needed and how to combine them (in a way that complimented her learning style), they became a priority to her, she gained confidence and she progressed quickly through standard phonemic awareness activities.


So the short of it is... get him evaluated by a reading or cognitive specialist.

[hillview]

I agree with pp to get an eval. That said I (to this day) was never good at phonics. I was always reading several levels above grade and had excellent comprehension scores all through school. I am a rotten speller and have a hard time pronouncing words I do not "know" how to say. Teachers in elementary and high school thought I had a reading disability but were never able to prove it per se.

Good luck!
/hillary

[Tondi G]

get a tutor to work specifically on this! My DS had the same problem. 1st grade was so stressful for us... bad teacher (she retired at the end of the year) who kept sending home the notes saying that he might be retained but her only suggestion to help him was to keep reading to him at home. We found a tutoring place and within 2 months he was reading fine, ahead actually and could finally sound out words etc. It was worth it cause he was struggling and reading/phonics is SO important! We were kicking ourselves for not just doing it sooner. There is nothing like 1 on 1 instruction with someone who specializes in reading to help them "get it".

Good Luck

[brittone2]

I'm not sure if you feel a need or if the teacher would consider it appropriate, but the Explode the Code series (or Get Ready for the Code depending on where he is) has been fun for my DS.

http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/subject.asp?subject=63S

[egoldber]

I also just wanted to say that there may easily not be any problem at all. Some kids read on their own very naturally via sight reading at a young age. Sarah's K was very laid back and she received basically zero direct instruction in phonics in K. So she learned to read by sight before she learned real phonics. I think kids who learn like this may be frustrated by phonics instruction because, for them, phonics is slower and more cumbersome. It doesn't mean there is a problem with their phonological awareness, just that it is out of sync with their sight reading abilities.

Anyway, just wanted to throw in that there may be absolutely no issue, but I do think that ruling out any concerns with a reading evaluation is a good idea. :)