6yro dd struggling with reading

[Knittinfarmgirl]

Ladies,
I need some advice regarding my dd. We're using The Reading Lesson this year. Prior to this, we didn't do much, but she knew her letter sounds. We've gotten to lesson 4 and we're kinda stuck. The "TH" sound is just throwing her for a loop. Every time we come to it, it's like she's just seeing it for the first time. Also, a lot of times, she'll see a word and see the first letter, then jump to a conclusion about what it says. What she says may have nothing to do with what's on the page. And sometimes, she knows we're working on a particular sound and she blurts out a word with that sound. Repeating it adamantly to me. Like today the word was 'it' and she said 'that'. She'd just read 'it' a couple of lines above and didn't miss a beat. So I'm not really sure what to do. She gets frustrated and and exclaims that it's so hard. I'm trying to take it slow. I know kids learn to read at different ages.

TIA!

[cirons]

Hi Cindy,

my 6yr ds did exactly the same thing! I did not push it....I just corrected him each time and did tiny bits of ready consistently. After what seemed years (probably more like 7 months), something clicked and those habits stopped. Sometimes he still reads the wrong words or inserts his own or forgets a word he just read correctly, but he can read now....it all clicked a few months before he turned 7. I just found trying things consistently and trying to find a few light hearted ways of reading (like phonics games etc) helped him feel encouraged along the way.

[blessedmom]

Also want to encourage you to keep going. My oldest dd learned to read so easily and my second dd, now 7 1/2, has just been different.
Last year was a bit of a challenge. She just didn't seem to get it, like your dd, even if she had just read it .
Just keep encouraging her in what she does get and in the progress she is making. For me, when my 3rd dd started to want to read, I realized how much my 7 yr old actually did know. What I have learned this year about my struggling reader is that it has helped to approach reading a little differently. Last year I felt like I should have made my approach more hands on and I just didn't in effort to stick with the way the curriculum was written. This year, I am using a more hands on approach when it comes to spelling; it is helping her spelling and reading. What I see is that she just processes differently. she needs to physically build words to understand how to sound them out. It's funny, sometimes she can spell words correctly before she can read them. I honestly don't understand, but it is true. But once she has gone through the process of spelling them, she is more likely to be able to read them; although she may need a little more practice. Cindy, keep going, ask God for wisdom, and don't be afraid to do what he tells you .

[Knittinfarmgirl]

Thanks so much for the encouragement, ladies! It helps to hear from those who've experienced the same things. Reassures me that it's just normal, which I know in my head, but sometimes let my desire for her to do well override.

blessedmom, like you, my first learned to read so easily. He actually taught himself, so this is new territory. You're so right that they process things so differently. The hands on activities are a good idea. I may see what I can figure out for her.

[countrymom]

Some children are simply not ready to learn to read at 6. I agree with the others, don't push it. I would probably drop down to 1/2 page a day and keep it a no pressure situation. When she is ready she will take off.

[mom23]

I agree with the don't push it advice. My 6yo has seemed to hit walls with both reading and math so far this year (at different times, so I knew it wasn't just a stubbornness regarding school in general.) Anyway, it seemed to help him tremendously with both of these areas to take a week's break from pushing things too hard, and then come back to the same subject with material that was easy for him. I noticed that during the weeks that I wasn't forcing him to sit and do the work, he would actually come to me with new math problems he wanted to figure out, or just wanted me to spend extra time reading books to him. During these times, I could sneak in math or reading lessons, and he didn't even know he was getting them! These breaks just seem to give him a new perspective, and he comes back to the stumbling block, and crawls right over in just a couple of weeks.

[rainsong]

I have not used TRL but if she if frustrated you could give her some time off from TRL and do phonics games instead (quizmo, bingo, starfall, lots of online stuff) and then pick it back up in a few days (or weeks) and she if she is ready to move fwd.

[Tansy]

One of my dyslexic quirks is an eye jump. I will read a word lines above or below. I know what I read, but its not the word I was supposed to read.
of course if this is the case. Simply isolating the word on the page a blank piece of paper above and below what you are doing will work wonders.

when ever I run into reading issues. I always look to eye tracking issues. Can't hurt to have her checked out. My dd1 has strabismus it really effected her ability to focus on the words, since one eye wouldn't track so the brain shut it down. She had glasses which helped a bit then surgery on both eyes, but even now she has tracking issues. They look better cosmetically but she still has to work so much harder to read than a person whose eyes work together.

And just last week my friend C. finally took her child to the eye doctor after years of stressing over her inability to finish books, struggles with homework reading math... and guess what her kid has... strabismus. This Kid has been coping, and was clueless the rest of the world doesn't bump into walls things etc. Its not obvious unless she is really tired I would never see it.

Can't hurt to check it out.

[Tracee]

My 6 ds is the same way, but unfortunately for us, he more than likely has an auditory processing disorder and memory issues, basically dyslexia. We are right in the middle of having him tested, and the psychologist did say he was seeing the same things that I was seeing. For me, I just felt like something was wrong, so I prayed, prayed, and prayed. Our God is so good, and he led me in the right direction. Yesterday, I found out that the psychologist that we are working with is a Christian and goes to our church.

So, it could be that your dd just isn't ready. If you want to take off some of the pressure and give her time, you might want to look at the book Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. It has lots of pre-reading activities. I thought just because my ds knew all the letters and their sounds, that he would be able to read, but that just isn't the case. Now we are working on just sounds, and later we will show how those sounds are represented with letters. It is amazing. During the day, I'll catch him sounding out a word. He's learning how to break the words down in to their smallest parts...phonemes. Sometimes this just comes easy to a child, and sometimes they have to be explicitly taught. I'm seeing results already, and we have just started with this type of teaching.

HTH,
Tracy

[Knittinfarmgirl]

I appreciate y'all's input so much! I am going a different path for a while and seeing if that will help. We'll just keep moving along as much as we can. I am just so thankful that she's our 2nd. I know my dh would have been so concerned and would've been trying to push her had she been first. As it is, he tries to get her to sound things out if she asks what something says and at times, she gets so frustrated since she can't figure it out.

I think I may try isolating the line she's working on and see if that helps. But I think a lot of times, it's just lack of concentration. She'll look at the word, read a couple of the letters and then she looks away and guesses what it says. When I question her, she doesn't even look back to the page, but just continues to repeat what she said until I make her look back at the word.

[Tansy]

The fact that she doesn't want to look at the page tells me a lot!

try this close one eye then 2 sec later open it while closing the other eye.. keep doing that.. for a bit... hows that working out for you... is the word literally jumping on the page??? Would you want to look down at that or would you resist? What if that is the way your DD is seeing the page?

You may even try isolating the phenomes for her cover all but the part she has worked on moving it slowly st then sta then stay...

@ Tracee I so feel your pain.. I have an auditory processing one too. Books on tape have done wonders!