OT: 7DD's Needs Help Reading

[DaisyMamma]

My DD struggled last year in Kindergarten and now is struggling in first grade. She went to summer school last year for reading, which was great, and I'm hoping they send her again this year, as it's free.

I need some suggestions of anything you can think of that might help. Anything from Apps to inexpensive books that have high frequency site words to games, movies and ???? I'm going to look into Sylvan Learning Centers but I bet they are way too much $$ for us

I was feeling that she is just a "kid" and should have her time to play but after a discussion with a K teacher last night I realize that this problem is going to affect her for the rest of her life if I don't address it and help her get caught up now. My goal is to get her to where she needs to be and to find school fun or even "easy" instead of hard and miserable by the end of next school year .

[NeedaVaca]

I'm a little confused, what is going on that will affect the rest of her life? I thought your post reads like she is struggling with reading, is there more going on? The reason I ask is because learning how to read does usually start in 1st grade or even younger for some kids BUT some kids take a little longer and I don't feel like that is completely abnormal ya know? It's just taking longer for it to click for her.

I would get her involved in picking out books, take her to the library often and let her choose books that look interesting to her. Starfall.com has great reading activities & my DD loved it. Read with her often, let her read and help her practice sounding out the words. If she doesn't have anything else going on then I really think she will get there! It just takes a little longer for some kids

I also think the jump from FUN kindergarten to WORK in the 1st grade is a tough adjustment for some kids. I have seen it many times and have heard comments from kids saying the same thing!

[canadiancare]

I love these books

[SquirrellyMama]

My suggestion would be to stop looking for books with high frequency sight words and look for a good phonics program. You can get an inexpensive one and teach her yourself. I used The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading for two of mine.

I would try that before paying money for Sylvan.

Kelly

[DaisyMamma]

I'm a little confused, what is going on that will affect the rest of her life? I thought your post reads like she is struggling with reading, is there more going on? The reason I ask is because learning how to read does usually start in 1st grade or even younger for some kids BUT some kids take a little longer and I don't feel like that is completely abnormal ya know? It's just taking longer for it to click for her.

I would get her involved in picking out books, take her to the library often and let her choose books that look interesting to her. Starfall.com has great reading activities & my DD loved it. Read with her often, let her read and help her practice sounding out the words. If she doesn't have anything else going on then I really think she will get there! It just takes a little longer for some kids

I also think the jump from FUN kindergarten to WORK in the 1st grade is a tough adjustment for some kids. I have seen it many times and have heard comments from kids saying the same thing!

Nothing else is going on. Learning to read starts in K here.
Experts say that if your child is not at the right reading Level by age 7 They will never catch up.

For example, is she is still struggling decoding words and comprehending when she is 10+ and she is required to read Charlottes Web for school, it would take her 2x as long as her peers. Or later when she is required to read Romeo & Juliet but is still at a level 2+ below her peers, it will be extremely frustrating. this sort of frustration causes Children to give up or skip assignments= bad grades, failure to go to college, etc.

[canadiancare]

The books I recommended are from the UK so the spelling will not be the same as US (neighbour instead of neighbor) so you might not like them.

[countrymom]

I pm'd you.

[Unregistered]

I like Heidisongs for sightwords. You could wright them off as a daycare expense.

http://www.heidisongs.com/index.php

or leapfrog DVD series

starfall.com - most of it is free!

read to her lots

Get books at her level or just below her level and let her get confident reading them to you and gradually work up from there. If she is not comfortable reading out loud to an adult perhaps a pet, younger child, or plush toy. My goal is more to create a love of books and to enjoy reading and being read too. Push'em too hard and you risk turning them off books all together. Try and keep it fun!

[Unregistered]

I have not tried this, but there is also this Erudition board game for sight words that I keep meaning to get one day:

http://www.amazon.com/Acumen-Associates-LLC-ERUD-Erudition/dp/B001TW97UM

[DaisyMamma]

Excellent, thank you everyone!

[Unregistered]

The fastest method i found for teaching my children sight words was playing the match game

Take 2 flip them over and play, my children always begged to play with me long after i was sick of it.
Start with 5 words and once she gets the hang of it, add a couple of new ones at a time.

Add words that are not "sight words" per say but words that she can associate something with that she likes, for my son these were dinosaur, snake, lizard, etc. He learned these before he could tell me what "at" said because he liked these words.

Use color words (red, yellow, green, etc.) to make a timed flash card game, write down how fast she can get through them, be excited when she finishes ahead of her last time, if she doesn't just be like "oh no, we gotta try that again maybe this timer is broken because you were like lightening" etc. Just encourage and try to get her to play as many times as she can. Eventually she will suggest playing with the other sight words when she gets good at the colors. ( I suggest color words first because they always learn these the fastest, they associate them with something) Try to wait for her to suggest things and do what she wants to do because she will be more receptive of learning to read.

Try to say things like "Just wait until Daddy gets home to see how smart you are" etc. So she feels like she needs to hurry up and practice more (does that make sense?)

Push her as much as you can without her realizing your pushing in other words, if she gets tired let her do something else, as long as you are making it fun she will want to play with you the next time you ask.

Also, when you refer to this time dont say work, reading time, school time, etc. Call it something fun like Girl Time, or something funny she can relate to, if it is Girl Time or "(Her Name) Time" you can make it a no boy zone or go into a room where it is just you and her ( which would be better for her attention and concentration anyhow)

Hope this helps, i would write more but.................doody calls :-)

[SquirrellyMama]

Nothing else is going on. Learning to read starts in K here.
Experts say that if your child is not at the right reading Level by age 7 They will never catch up.

For example, is she is still struggling decoding words and comprehending when she is 10+ and she is required to read Charlottes Web for school, it would take her 2x as long as her peers. Or later when she is required to read Romeo & Juliet but is still at a level 2+ below her peers, it will be extremely frustrating. this sort of frustration causes Children to give up or skip assignments= bad grades, failure to go to college, etc.

Take a deep breath. It will be ok. I think it is nonsense that they cannot catch up after age 7. I've known kids (one of my own) that weren't reading at grade level at age 7 but are now. Keep working with her. I still suggest a phonics program.

Not all kids are ready to read at the K level. I had to quit phonics for a year when my ds was 6, and started back up again when he was seven with the phonics book I recommended earlier. We did quick, short lessons so he didn't get frustrated.

Everything will be fine.

Kelly

[Unregistered]

The fastest method i found for teaching my children sight words was playing the match game

Take 2 flip them over and play, my children always begged to play with me long after i was sick of it.
Start with 5 words and once she gets the hang of it, add a couple of new ones at a time.

Add words that are not "sight words" per say but words that she can associate something with that she likes, for my son these were dinosaur, snake, lizard, etc. He learned these before he could tell me what "at" said because he liked these words.

Use color words (red, yellow, green, etc.) to make a timed flash card game, write down how fast she can get through them, be excited when she finishes ahead of her last time, if she doesn't just be like "oh no, we gotta try that again maybe this timer is broken because you were like lightening" etc. Just encourage and try to get her to play as many times as she can. Eventually she will suggest playing with the other sight words when she gets good at the colors. ( I suggest color words first because they always learn these the fastest, they associate them with something) Try to wait for her to suggest things and do what she wants to do because she will be more receptive of learning to read.

Try to say things like "Just wait until Daddy gets home to see how smart you are" etc. So she feels like she needs to hurry up and practice more (does that make sense?)

Push her as much as you can without her realizing your pushing in other words, if she gets tired let her do something else, as long as you are making it fun she will want to play with you the next time you ask.

Also, when you refer to this time dont say work, reading time, school time, etc. Call it something fun like Girl Time, or something funny she can relate to, if it is Girl Time or "(Her Name) Time" you can make it a no boy zone or go into a room where it is just you and her ( which would be better for her attention and concentration anyhow)

Hope this helps, i would write more but.................doody calls :-)

That should say "Take 2 sets of cards, flip them over and play"

[itlw8]

first many adults learn to read... so our brain does not stop learning

2 they will not test for a learning problem until usually 2nd grade why? because they can only do it so often and often some kids are just slow to catch on.

3 none of that means you should ignore it so make reading fun. at bedtime do you read a page I read a page. dgd loves to read that way.


we are going through this with #1 dgd expected it as ds is LD and DIL is dyslexic.... wish I was closer to help.... #2 dgd is a joy to teach it comes so easy. except she expects to be perfect all the time.

If you let her watch tv turn on the captions. It can't hurt.

[NeedaVaca]

Take a deep breath. It will be ok. I think it is nonsense that they cannot catch up after age 7. I've known kids (one of my own) that weren't reading at grade level at age 7 but are now. Keep working with her. I still suggest a phonics program.

Not all kids are ready to read at the K level. I had to quit phonics for a year when my ds was 6, and started back up again when he was seven with the phonics book I recommended earlier. We did quick, short lessons so he didn't get frustrated.

Everything will be fine.

Kelly