Should I be concerned about the way dd reads?

[psreit]

DD is making progress in her reading, although she continues to not look at the whole word and make up a word when she doesn't take her time to sound it out or look at the letters. She does have eye tracking problems, but I know the problem usually stems from not taking time to look at all the letters in the word. Maybe that is why she has difficulty focusing on the word sometimes. My other concern is that she has begun looking ahead at the whole line (they are not very long in the Early Readers Bible) before she reads a sentence. She wants to get all the words in her mind before she reads. Consequently, we have a pause between each line. I keep telling her to just continue reading word-for-word and not look ahead. Should I allow her to do that? I think she feels good when she reads a lot of words quickly, instead of slow and steady, but I wasn't sure if this was an okay thing to let her do. Any thoughts or suggestions? BTW, she just got new glasses today, so I am hoping this will improve her reading even more.

[mom23]

It was suggested to me when my son had trouble reading to write one sound at a time on the white board, making him say the sound, and then gradually adding the next and the next until he sounded out the whole word in order. That worked really well for us.

As far as looking at the whole line before she reads it, I don't think that's all bad. Eventually it will help her to read smoothly to track a word ahead of what she's saying at the time; but, I could see where it wouldn't be a great idea to pause long enough to try to memorize the whole line before you say anything . I've heard of people covering up everything on a page except for that one word, but I think training word by word reading lends itself to choppiness... Maybe you could give her a chance to quietly read her ER alone before you listen to her, so that she has a practice time to help her feel more confident when it's time to read it aloud.

I bet you'll find the glasses help your situation tremendously. Maybe you won't really have to worry about any of it, it may just work itself out over the next couple of weeks as she adjusts to being able to see clearly.

[psreit]

Thanks for the suggestions, Becky. DD has had eye problems since birth, so the correction is coming slowly. Eventually, the dr. wants to give her some vision therapy, other than the glasses. If dd takes her time, she can focus on the word and usually will get it, but sometimes she is saying a word that doesn't even have the same beginning sound. I'm not sure why. I just point to the word and tell her to look at the word and ask her what the first letter is. Then she usually sounds it out and gets it.

[Knittinfarmgirl]

My 7yro dd was doing much the same thing last year. She'd look at the first letter and guess what the word said and sometimes it didn't even start with the same sound. It was quite frustrating. As I didn't know what to do with her and we seemed to be hitting a big roadblock, I backed off of the reading for a while.

I posted to another forum when I had this issue and did hear about others going through the same thing and that's where it was suggested to me about the Orton Gillingham (sp?) method based program. We started the OG style this year and I'm so glad to say that it's going really, really well. I don't know if the different approach is helping or maybe it's a maturity issue or a combination of things. Unlike your daughter though, mine wasn't always able to decode the word when I made her slow down and really look at it. She was having such a hard time!

I don't have any suggestions but I hope the glasses help and things improve soon!

[countrymom]

I am not sure what to suggest other than to say my son was having issues similar. I found if I put my finger on the word and said the first sound that would get him going correctly. Otherwise he would just pick a letter out of the word and "sound out" anything. Often he would put together letters that were not even in the word. He also liked to take his time, only he was usually looking at the pictures for clues. In the last 4 months I have seen huge improvement with him so I really wonder if it is just the differences in when children are ready to read.

[my3sons]

...she has begun looking ahead at the whole line (they are not very long in the Early Readers Bible) before she reads a sentence. She wants to get all the words in her mind before she reads...

This is a good thing! It is an important part of the reading process. Dc begin to look ahead to work through any more difficult words, determine the context of a word, and consider what is happening carefully to see if it makes sense. All of these techniques are ways of checking for accuracy prior to reading out loud. Dc also try to "hold" the sentence in their mind for a moment, and then read it more quickly and smoothly, which sounds much more like it sounds when WE are reading out loud to our dc. This is the beginning of better oral reading skills. I would let her study a sentence or a page like this for a bit before reading, and then allow for pauses between sentences knowing there is much good thinking going on in her head during the pauses.

One thing we did for our dc as they began reading books with several sentences on a page is let them "practice" read them on their own first. This gave them time to work through any words without doing it all in front of me. It allowed them to be able to read more smoothly when it came time for them to read out loud to me, which made them more confident readers. It is sometimes very humbling for dc to have to work through difficult words out loud in front of mom all of the time. A bit of practice for a trial run before the read it out loud for Mom time really helped our dc feel better about their reading, and do better overall. HTH, but I think what you are describing is good progress to be encouraged!

In Christ,
Julie

[psreit]

Thanks for all the replies. Julie, thanks for the encouragement. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but knowing it is, I really think that would make Angie happy to read quicker to me if I let her look over it first. When she would pause and then read the line quicker, she thought that was neat to be able to read faster. I'm glad it is a positive thing. I'm anxious to see how she progresses this way.

[Rhyah]

I am so glad to see this thread. You have described my daughter(6, 1st grade), who reads very similar to yours. Reading is the one area where I worry because the couple of friends she hangs with read above grade level (one public school, one homeschooled), so I always feel like I need to play catch-up. I love the idea of letting her read it to herself first. I think I will try that. I also like how someone mentioned that when they look ahead and concentrate on the picture/other words it is actually them building their reading skills. I looked at it like her trying the easy way out and just using the picture. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one whose child reads this way and makes up words and adds different sounds to the words.

We are using phonics pathways as our program, and I love it but we are moving slowly through it. But I do see how much she's improved since we started it. I also feel confident when I give her books she struggled with last year and she breezes right through them. Last year she went pretty slowly through her Bob books, but this year she flies right through them, so I know it's working even if it seems like a slow process. I'm definitely going to use some of the suggestions here. Thanks!

[KristinBeth]

My dd5 also reads ahead, to get it "perfect" including vocal inflections. If she makes one little mistake though, she gets mad and starts all over! Glad to see that the reading ahead is normal, I should also let mine read ahead before I even sit down with her, so she won't feel pressured. Good thread!