Tips for helping first grader read at home?

[SASM]

Sorry, in advance, to our WONDERFUL resident teacher/parents...I do not mean to be harsh...just not loving our teacher or the system at the moment.

My 1st grader DS has been having issues with reading. This has been a pattern since preK (ABCs, #s, name, etc). DH and I voiced our concerns during K...he was below level and received help. Now, in first grade, DS is supposedly at level but at the low end on the cusp. It is my understanding that 1st grade is the time to really tackle reading and make sure that the child is comfortable reading at or above level. This makes us VERY nervous. DS REALLY struggles and I fear that he is going to fall in the cracks despite our being VERY vocal. I have voiced our concerns countless times to his various teachers...UGH!!! Anyway...we have requested another eval, as our school system offers an intense 20-week reading program that stresses that the child should be reading at level by the end of the 20 weeks. However, our school year ends in close to 20 weeks so I REALLY want DS evaled again for this program before it is too late. His teacher is requesting another eval but he still feels that he is not going to qualify...UGH!!! So...we have been trying to set up a time for us to discuss different ways for us to work on this at home, supposedly using techniques similiar to those used in the 20-wk program. This "meeting" has been in the making for about 3 weeks and I want to get started NOW. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any BTDT advice to use for a child who is need of reading help? I spoke with a local mom today who homeschools and she gave me some contact info for a local homeschooling group. That is all that I have come up with so far. We have any insane selection of books at home...all levels on all topics. DS just struggles. I just need some technique help. Not getting it from school. :( I just hope that one day he'll just *poof* and blossom into this effortless reader...until that time comes I want to be a proactive, PITA mom.

TIA!!!!

[egoldber]

Well, it's a hard line to walk. You want to encourage reading, but at the same time, you don't want to put pressure on him because that could turn him off as well. It is true that a lot of kids just all of the sudden, the switch turns on, and they become fluent readers.

Is he making incremental progress? Is he still willing to read to you? Are you reading a lot to him? Can you make time to go to the library and let him pick out anything he wants to either read for himself or you to read to him. Continuiing to read to him is important.

If you are concerned the school will not evaluate him in time, you could also look around for someone to do a private evaluation.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Do you know if he's having trouble with sight words, decoding, comprehension? What does he sound like when he's reading aloud? What words trip him up?

Not sure what he hears of your conversations with the teacher, but at that stage, perpetual little boosts of confidence go a LONG way. ONE overheard conversation about his "not keeping up" can really hurt. Do you have a set of very easy beginning reader books? The teacher should be able to point you to some at the school, in the library, or at your local public library. There may even be some online you can print up and make. Getting something he's excited about and interested in helps a lot IME. Scholastic has a set of science readers with easy vocabulary and high interest pictures, which a lot of the easy reader books don't have. Again, encouragement (from the heart) goes a long way.

Does anyone suspect a learning disability?

[amldaley]

Just a simple suggestion as I have not gone through this yet as a parent. but my brother had a lot of trouble with reading. My mom had him sit at the kitchen table and read aloud to her as she cooked dinner. And then, at bedtime, she would sit on his bed and read to him and simply read slowly and follow the words with her finger. When they got to a word she knew he was having a hard time with, she would have him say the word with her.

I know it's not an end-all be-all suggestion, but maybe something to get you going while you get through tests and on to techniques.

Best of luck to you - what a lucky DC you have to have parents who are so attentive to this!

[sste]

No btdt advice on reading but as far as the school I think showing up unannounced in person at the admin/principal's office to schedule the evaluation can be very helpful. Very politely. "I just wanted to drop by and touch base with person A about this evaluation. I am happy to wait until they are free or come back at another time."

I did have one occasion when I went much further with this - - not in a school setting but with early intervention who had an extreme shortage of PTs in my state and was not able to get one for my son in a timely fashion. After many, many futile phone calls I told them I was planning on coming in and spending the day in their waiting room office so that I could be there to be of any assistance to them in locating a therapist. I explained that since my work is very independent I could take my laptop with me and could in fact come in for the week. They found me a PT that day. Obviously, an extreme measure that I don't know if I would attempt with a school where I envisioned a very long-term working relationship. But, I think the basic point is the being the polite "squeaky wheel" IN PERSON can be very effective . . .

On the reading, I would not nec. be concerned by your son being slighly below average - - that type of curve is what it is and for it to be distribution there are going to be kids above and below average. The information I would be trying to solicit is "What are the warning signs that a child is going to have future difficulties? What are the warning signs they are going to fall further behind? Conversely, what are the prognosticators that a child won't have future problems?" That is what I would be focusing on. If you talk to a good reading specialist, they should be able to tell you that info. If you don't get it from the school then find a private specialist if possible.

[JustMe]

I don't have any advice about the at home piece, but I agree with the showing up during the day and speaking to the principal or school psychologist (if there is one). In the districts I am familiar with the school psychologist is ultimately responsible for these kinds of referrals so I would try that route...actually, you may want to call the school first to see if there is a school psych and if there is what that person's schedule is...sometimes they are not at the school much.

[Karenn]

I used to work with struggling readers. In my town, there are several private organizations that will work with kids on basic skills like reading. You might ask around and see if you can find one of those. You might even be able to find a retired teacher to be a private tutor.

As for what you can do at home, I agree that it's a fine line. I'm sure you're reading to him often and that is really, really important. The other suggestion I'd make is that when your DS is reading to you, try to be sure that he is reading at or below his reading level. If he's having to sound out every single word, the book is too hard and he won't learn nearly as much as if he were reading at his level. He shouldn't struggle with more than 5 words per page. Less (like one or two) if it's a book with only a sentence or two on each page. Reading "too easy" books can actually be really helpful too. It builds confidence and fluency.

[Tracey]

I HIGHLY recommend the headsprout reading program. It is extremely effective and dynamic. This is right up there with breastfeeding and sign language as far as things I'm glad I did with my daughter.
http://www.headsprout.com/home/trial.cfm?id=google&ppcseid=2083&ppcsekeyword=headsprout&mmtctg=261125701&mmtcmp=3073&mmtmt=5&gclid=CLy4sMnqpp8CFR6dnAodhUrs0Q

[kransden]

Do you know if he's having trouble with sight words, decoding, comprehension? What does he sound like when he's reading aloud? What words trip him up?

Why he is having trouble makes a difference as to what you need to do to help. I help lower end readers in dd 2nd grade class. Some have a little learning disablity others just need practice. (Children with more severe issues don't go to this school.) What works for one child doesn't work for others.

I would go to the local library and look for basic reader school books. They are typically in a special section of a larger library. You probably won't have these at home, AND your child has probably already memorized yours :). New material is the best to judge progress. Like "Billy Goat Can Float" http://tinyurl.com/yz5ufb6

Also have your child read out loud to you 10 minutes a day. You must sit with him and help him. If it causes to much stress for him, do fun books like 'Biscuit'. You can read a page and he can read woof! There are several of these types of books, have the librarian help you find them. I can always tell if my kids have read the previous week or not. If your child has more serious issues. One of the kinders I previously helped couldn't remember the alphabet. She needed serious intervention. You can then tell the evaluator what some of the problems your dc is experiencing. Good luck, and I would go over the teacher's head now too.

[newg]

I taught Kinder-first for one year and was a reading intervention teacher for 1st and 2nd grade for two years before that...........
I used this in both classrooms on a daily basis and it helped sooooo many of my kids.
http://www.phonicsdance.com/index.html
The best thing you can do for him is to keep encouraging and supporting any kind of advancement he makes.........make a big deal out of even the smallest accomplishments (ie...he remembers that "s"h" together make the "sh" sound when reading the word "she")..............repetition is also important...........we would read the same story over and over again.......standing on our chairs, sitting in a circle, taking turns on each page......again, make it as fun as possible while still being able to complete the task...............I also had a set of alphabete letters (with multiples of the vowels) and we would make words together...............
.......so if this week was "-at" words............we would start with "at".......put an "m" in front and what word to you have..........."mat"...........change the "m" to a "p" and now we have...............
I would make copies of a page or two from their weekly story and give them a highlighter and we would go through, read the story and every "-at" word we found while reading we would highlight............
at home you could get the crayons for the tub and he could write words while in the tub, or sidewalk chalk or window chalk.............spell with m&m's and he can eat the word after he reads in correctly or twizzlers..............
working with a school that isn't working with you is really really frustrating............but there are things you can do at home and it sounds like you are really motivated to help him.
Oh, ask if they school has anykind of volunteer reading program or tutoring program..........we had volunteers (grandparents, parents) that would come to school and read with kids that were struggling.........they read with them 1x a week for a 1/2.......that extra one on one time was so helpful.................

If he is still struggling to read at the end of 1st grade, it's not the end-all for reading for him.........I worked with kids through second grade and like a pp said.........it just clicked for them and they just took off into third grade reading like a champ!

[Tondi G]

My DS had a poor teacher in 1st grade too. She retired at the end of the year and put no additional effort into teaching or helping any students who were having trouble. I got 2 letters home that stated that my son was reading below grade lever and I spoke with the teacher and told her he was having trouble sounding out words and phonics. She said "oh he'll be fine just keep reading to him at home"! He was not fine and I am not a teacher. We ended up getting him some tutoring. A local center just down the hall from his Tae kwon Do! He went one or twice a week in either one on one or 3 on one tutoring and within 6 weeks he was doing tremendously better! It was money well spent. This year, 3rd grade, I mentioned to his teacher that he had a rough year in 1st and had a lot of trouble reading. His teacher was shocked. DS is one of the best readers in his class!

The tutoring was what he needed. He needed someone who knew how to teach him to focus on him and his difficulties. It didn't take long!

Good Luck

[SASM]

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!! Such wonderful knowledgable advice!!! DS gets reading homework every night...some books take him 30 minutes to get through (those nights take A LOT of positive reinforcement) and some only take 2 minutes. On the quicker days, I'll have him choose one of the books from our library (Brand New Readers, standard leveled readers from Target, or an easy book of interest) and we'll go from there. We also read to him AT LEAST 20 minutes every day, depending on the book/s chosen. Reading is soooo important and I sooo want him to love it. He just gets so frustrated. He truly seems to WANT to read and has an interest but gets tripped up on even the simplest sight words, time after time. :( I am sooo proud of him for not giving up on the lengthy tough books. At our last conference, his teacher told us that he would start to increase the difficulty and work from there. The books do not even seem incrementally difficult..they seem as though they are the same level as before...but I am not a teacher so who knows. As far as learning disabilities go, this has been a concern of DH and I since preK. The teachers would always say "he is a boy...he is the firstborn...don't worry". The K teacher even said the same thing. I know that I should NEVER compare b/c EVERY child is different but DS has had consistent problems from early on. I am afraid that he might have processing issues but the teachers are not concerned...they are the professionals, not me. I am going to look into the reccs here (THANK YOU again!!!) and go from there. Did I say THANK YOU??!! :)

[zag95]

I have taught reading to a MS and HS students, but in my reading courses there are across the board suggestions for all ages:

Encourage him to read, no matter what he reads! Find what he likes to read, and get him books in that genre (fiction, adventure, nonfiction, etc)

If there are books on CD, then he can follow along and read "independently".

Try reading some Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky or similar poetry! It's silly, and different....

Try reading picture books- have him make up his own story! Even young books are great.

Think outside of the box on reading- what about magazines? If he likes animals or sports, see if there is a subscription you can get for him, that is kid focused. Read comics! Read stuff on boxes, read directions! Any of these activities will help build vocabulary, reading fluency (speed) and comprehension. Plus, it's a good opportunity to talk about what he is reading!

Make time to read each day- maybe some nights you read to him, and some nights he reads to you, and maybe you read together.... mix it up!

GL!!

[mytwosons]

[QUOTE=SASM;2596579] I am afraid that he might have processing issues but the teachers are not concerned...they are the professionals, not me. /QUOTE]

In my book, Mom always trumps professionals. I've heard countless stories of moms voicing concerns only to be brushed off by the professionals. Go with your mommy gut. You'll never regret seeking another evaluation, but you may regret not.

[newg]

DS gets reading homework every night...some books take him 30 minutes to get through (those nights take A LOT of positive reinforcement)

on these nights if he seems to be getting really frustrated, try taking turns reading the pages................he keeps his finger on the words while you're reading a page so you know he's still following along, and then he reads the next page..............

sometimes using a pencil, bookmark, popsicle stick or something like this may help him focus better on what he's reading ..............
http://www.reallygoodstuff.com/product_details.aspx?item_guid=403c7393-dfda-4b6f-af1e-7ad7fa0bc179

[MamaKath]

He truly seems to WANT to read and has an interest but gets tripped up on even the simplest sight words, time after time. :(
How about other words?

Sight words can be very hard for kids. They do not create a picture in the brain on their own often. Like if I say "Pink" you and I will visualize the same thing- the color pink in some form. If I say "The", we are probably not going to visualize the same thing or even close.

Sight words also do not always follow the same "rules" as other words. If you see pig, you can sound out P-I-G. If you see "they" you have to put together TH-then come up with A. Much more difficult.

Two things to look into in addition to all the other great advice...
First I would highly recommend seeing if you have a Masonic Learning Center in your area. They are free (I believe) and work with kids with reading problems. They use the Orton-Gillingham method. http://www.orton-gillingham.com/

Second I would get the book "100 words to know for first grade" by Scholastic. I would start working with one group of sight words. In a story you can read until you get to one of those words. You can practice them with flashcards. You can spell them out with letter beads and a pipe cleaner, reading rods (like unifix cubes with letters on them that you snap together into words) or letter tiles. You can write them in shaving cream on a table. Lots of different activities to work on those words. Come up with sentences, cut them apart and have ds put them back in order. Get a silly sentences puzzle set to build funny, simple sentences. Practice the words in lots of different ways that utilize visual, auditory, and kinesthetic methods.
http://www.american-classroom-supply.com/r-2186.html
http://www.etacuisenaire.com/readingrods/readingrods.jsp
http://www.amazon.com/DK-Games-Silly-Sentences-Publishing/dp/0789454726

[Elilly]

I just wanted to thank the OP for asking for help. The very thoughtful responses have given me several tools to use to help my own DS.