7 year old still struggling with reading...help!

MommyInTraining · Post by **MommyInTraining** » Fri May 30, 2008 6:44 am

My son just turned 7. We have been using The Reading Lesson and are on lesson 8, but a lot of the time it is me reading the word and him following along. He still doesn't easily pick up on reading the words on his own. I know some children read later than others, but it is becoming a source of frustration for both of us. He doesn't want to do his reading lesson and it is hard to get him through it. Should I just keep plugging along and wait for it to click? Should I stop for a while or do something different? I hate to stop as I feel like, since he is 7, he should be getting it by now.

Any advice or wisdom?

Please share!

Motherjoy · Post by **Motherjoy** » Fri May 30, 2008 9:36 am

I've never used the Reading Lesson, so I'm no help with that.

But, my son was a very late reader. He is 9 and still struggles. He can read chapter books, but his comprehension isn't great. He struggles with sounding words out and still gets small high-frequency words wrong.

All that to say, keep working with him. Don't get frustrated. The worst mistake you can make is to expect perfection from him and harp on him when he doesn't deliver (I know this from experience). Learning should be fun, but sometimes it isn't and we have to do it anyway.

I'd try to shorten your lessons to 15 minutes. Do it twice a day if he needs more, but don't drag it out or he will definately start dreading it.

annaz · Post by **annaz** » Fri May 30, 2008 10:28 am

I would say that any subject your child is starting to dread, go back to short lessons, like Motherjoy said.

Also give your child easy books to read. The way to get a child to love to read is don't give him a book that is too hard. Find easy picture books that would engage him and let him read them and he'll be proud that he read them without any problem!

tiffanieh · Post by **tiffanieh** » Fri May 30, 2008 1:05 pm

I don't have personal experience in this, but I knew another homeschooler mom that had these same issues with her son. She knew that if he was in the public school system he would have easily been labeled with learning disabilities. Fortunately he was at home and under her wing. She had a wise person tell her to just drop reading all together for about 6 months. She was terrified to do that, but they did, she did not require him to read one single thing. She would read him bedtime stories, etc.. and get him interested in seeing good books. About six months later they picked a book back up for him to start learning to read and he was able to conquer it with ease and he is now reading about three grade levels higher!

I always think about this story when I get frustrated with my six year old son. He's pretty much on track, but I'm such an avid reader that I'm anxious for him to become one too. I do things that will help him to feel like a successful reader and I can see he is blossoming by such praise.

crlacey · Post by **crlacey** » Fri May 30, 2008 1:15 pm

I had tried The Reading Lesson since so many people have used it successfully. But I found it didn't work well for us. DD would cry at the sight of the book. I switched to Progressive Phonics and we sit at the computer and do it together. Boy what a difference! She will ask to do one more story since she can see the next picture as we scroll through the screens. Often one more story turns into 3 or 4!

I also agree that putting it aside for a few months sometimes does the trick. Or maybe a little review from the beginning to build confidence again.

Hope you find what works for your family.

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Fri May 30, 2008 3:06 pm

We used Reading Made Easy with my daughter who struggled. We also spent a lot of time with sight words, and reading aloud to her. If you're not doing that much, I would add more. It helps to have her hear the way words are read...my dd now can read the emerging reader books no problem...todday's was RL 3, and she's just finishing 2nd grade. Keep practicing...and check her vision if needed, because that turned out to be the reason my daughter was struggling!

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Fri May 30, 2008 3:37 pm

I haven't read all the replies. But I just wanted to say that Lesson 8 introduces some new things that are a bit tougher. You have some new sounds and more complex rules. If you have taken him past what he is able to do on his own by reading the words yourself that could also be a little frustrating.

I might take some time to review the rules you have learned up until now and get a firm hold on those giving him lots of practice with those. Bob's Books are excellent for that but there are others as well that are written by the phonics rules. It sounds to me that he needs maybe more time to practice what he has under his belt and really master each skill before he moves on.

We have had great success with my daughter who is older but special needs using index cards and dictation of words and the rules that make the words a little as well. But just having them actually write out sentences with words they can read really makes it a skill they can own. Plus it helps them spell along the way.

Hang in there! Sometimes switching programs is good with phonics but more often than not they just need a little one on one time really owning the skills and practice using them before they move on to a new one. In the end even if they are "slower" they catch up later so don't be too alarmed. I am assuming eyes have been checked, there are no tracking issues and there is nothing there that is suggesting something that needs more attention.

So if all of that is clear time, patience and practice are your best friend.

Tabitha · Post by **Tabitha** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:04 pm

Another here who hasn't read all the replies....

I am using The Reading Lesson with my 6 yo dd. I used 100 EZ Lessons with dd#1 at age 4 who was already reading. I like The Reading Lesson better. 100 EZ drags things out too long for a lesson. I *might* do that after we get through The Reading Lesson, to hit on other things since they both cover things slightly differently.

My 6 yo just takes longer. She still doesn't know all her phonetic sounds. It's just her, and how she learns.

It's okay. Take it slow. Do not push. If you are getting frustrated, walk away for a bit.

How about letting him teach you? Make up a game with letters/sounds/words and you be the student. Purposely, on occassion, say sounds and words that he knows WRONG. Let me teach you the right way. Struggle a bit yourself, and see how he guides you.

Just don't stress. It will come in time. Each child is different.

You might enjoy this article, too, that I shared earlier this week. If anything, it just reinforces that things happen at different ages for each child...when they are ready...and not to worry about pushing them.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1307

Tab

Post by **Carrie** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 8:54 pm

Terri,

My very wise sister gave me a simple solution to use whenever we hit a road-block in phonics. She told me to write the words from the phonics lesson on a marker board in black letters, one letter at a time, while having my kiddo say the sounds. Then, when he gets the word right, erase it and do the next word.

We usually do a page or so this way and then stop for the day. We also review our sounds daily. This way our lessons are short and sweet and we're still moving forward. When he seems to be over the hump again, we go back to reading from the book.

The markerboard thing works great with sentences too, just put one word at a time on the board and erase when the whole sentence is written and read.

That way they don't fear THE BOOK, they aren't distracted by too much text, and they love the feeling of erasing and moving on.

It worked for us.

Blessings,
Carrie

MommyInTraining · Post by **MommyInTraining** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:05 am

Thank you all for your insight!