Late reader? My DD is in first grade... UPDATE

[HollyJoy]

I wouldn't worry right now if I were you. Most kids start learing in First grade, and there are always a few kids in each class that are levels above the others. My daughter is in second grade, but reading on a third grade level, but there are kids in her class that are still on a first grade level. Give her time, and lots of books, and read with her. Sound out words with her, but dont' stress. She'll only pick up on the stress and get frustrated.

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

As a former first grade teacher, I can tell you- DON"T PANIC! It's very common for kids to enter first grade at all different ability levels. Some are reading, some are ready to read and some are still grasping the concepts of letters and sounds. That is why teaching first grade is challenging.

In my experience, all kids in first grade will start to bloom in their own time. I always called March and April the magic time because most of the kids who struggled a little in the first part of the year just seem to "get it" in the Spring. Keep an open dialogue with the teacher so you can stay updated on your DD's progress. Kids have a way of coming into their own when you least expect it!

First grade is the year that you will see so much progress in your child's ability levels. I think it's a year unlike any other in Elementary school and that's why I LOVED teaching first grade.

 

[Mouseteacher]

I do not expect all first graders to begin the year reading. Children at this age display a wide range of ability.

However, you have noted your concerns regarding ADD and dyslexia. It may be too early for a solid diagnosis on the dyslexia issue. I would suggest strongly that you pressure the school system to administer a Speech and Language Evaluation which will give you insight into where she is developmentally with language (expressive and receptive) and perhaps a Neuropsych eval which will give you information on her cognitive development (how she best learns). These evals will also deal with the ADD speculation.

Please remember that she is just beginning her journey through learning. At her age, things just can't be rushed. But, as the good mom you are, stay on top of the school and never doubt your instincts. Good luck.

 

[Otto's Doll]

Originally posted by zurgswife

Originally posted by Otto's Doll
Can't help, but sending a , I know how frustrating it is to have a child be a "late bloomer" at something

Why would you call a first grader who doesn't read yet a "late Bloomer"..... My dd hasn't even begun to to learn to read yet....It's not even taught until 1st grade in our school....

I think kids these days are expected to do way to much learning way too early....they are kids for crying out loud....my 3 older ones learned reading at the same school and at the same pace....2 out of 3 are way above grade level...my oldest son is very very dyslexic so his level is different.... but I can't believe people actually think that a 1st grader that can't read yet is a "late Bloomer"

Oh, good grief! I certainly did not mean anything by it, and if the OP took it that way, I am sorry. I was just trying to say she shouldn't worry about it, kids learn at all different speeds.

 

[janette]

My 10yo DD has a reading disability.

She had problems in pre-school and was very delayed in alphabet & number recognition. She was in a private school until mid-1st grade and when she transferred to public although she'd made progress she didn't know the entire alphabet & numbers. Most kids with dyslexia don't have as severe issues and often aren't diagnosed until 3/4 grade when they can no longer compensate for the reading delays. She does get special education services at school and is doing well but still a little over a year behind in reading / writing.

I wouldn't be overly concerned with your DD's level. I would suggest you look at other factors. A learning difference is just that a child isn't balanced in their learning. Is she grasping other concepts at a much different rate? When my DD was in the private school they told me that they'd started math concepts. They realized that although she didn't recognize the letters 1-10 she could do basic addition & substraction using objects with no problem at all. She continues to do well at math, the only issue is sometimes the reading required. She also has a very good memory, no problem retaining information and does well on tests.

Do watch and keep working with the teacher, it is probably not something to be concerned with but early intervention is very important for kids who do have learning differences.

 

[DisneyJules]

Don't fear. I was extremely behind in reading and I was in a lousy school, that sure didn't help the problem. I was in grade 3 and really struggling to read. We then changed schools and I started doing a lot better. I excelled through high school and ended up doing very well in language arts,ahaha Kind of ironic. Some just have a slower start at the beginning. I was just watching Dr.Phil the other day and he was talking about this very thing. Some children may be very advanced at the beginning and others less advanced, but they'll eventually meet up. I know this was the case for myself.

 

[mudnuri]

Okay from a family of readers I come. DD8 whose just entered 3rd grade, June birthday- is reading at 5th grade level. DD6 whose just entered 2nd grade- October birthday (yes, she's a full year younger than all other 2nd graders here) is reading at 3rd grade level. I, along with my mom, dad, brother are avid readers.

NOW........to comment on a few things...Please remember, these are just IMHO....

And what age should they really be reading already?

This depends on what reading program your school uses, and WHEN it starts. In our Elementary school, they start reading in kindergarten, but also have ALL day Kinder...they use the succcess for all reading program. They start with the memorizing...then work onto the harder books...in kindergarten, they all go at the same pace. (they read the same book for a week!...2-3 pages at a time....)In 1st grade they are split into "reading blocks" They have reading for 2 hours (combined with spelling etc..) in a different classroom. The class, made up of anywhere from 8-14 students, are each on the same level. Doing the same books. Starting in kindergarten, they had reading homework Mon thru Thur nights. in K it was "read this book" the memorized books...practice words in back..spelling etc. Once they hit "reading blocks" it went to 20 minutes a night, and 2 sentences about what they read. Again- spelling.

now that my kids are where they are in blocks, they use books we have at home. They read for 20 minutes, write 4-5 sentences on a specific topic. "setting" "characters" "problem/solution" etc.. plus spelling etc... Okay- enough about mine.

I also have 2 neices and 1 nephew who can not read. the girls- are 3rd grade (6 mo older than mine) 7th grade, and the nephew, is a Freshman in highschool.

WAY back at your daughters age I pleaded with their mom to get them extra reading help. her reply was always- "they get it when they get it"... Well, let me tell you I helped my nephew with his algebra homework this weekend...and it was upseting to watch him write d's for b's and spell the letter 2 as to, and 4 as for... VERY UPSETTING....

The youngest neice finally had her eyes tested, sure enough she couldnt see...but she's so far behind her classmates, Im not sure when/if she'll catch up.

I am only speaking from this experience I have, but please, push the school. Ask them what you can do to help your daughter...they know how to do this...thats their job. Also, if she was in a special reading group last year...she should have automatically gone to it this year, no?

If she is dyslexic, or has ADHD or any other LD, once this is figured out, her lessons can be taylored to accomodate these things.

I'm not trying to preach, but I see what it does to my neices and nephew....He couldnt even read well enough to get the treadmill going at the Gym.....(of course, I ask myself, HOW THE HECK DID HE GET TO A FRESHMAN IN HIGHSCHOOL?????? but...thats neither here nor there now.)

Keep encouraging your child! She will be the best that she can be, and the reason is that your standing behind her helping her!....a lot of parents would just blow this off.

Brandy

 

[klmklm]

Reading from memory is a good starting point. They need to be able to understand what they are sounding out, so they can put it all together in their minds. When I tutored reading at our elementary school, I used materials that the children already knew. At first they read from memory, but then they started really sounding things out. Two things that we used: 1. type up song lyrics from a song they know well. 2. have the child dictate a story; you type it up, and they illustrate it. They like to read their own stories.

 

[shelbyjosh]

Shan...funny you should post about this. I was going to start a thread earlier, but got too busy. DS6 is in 1st grade. He has a phonological and articulation speech disorder. He has come a long way with his private speech therapy. He can actually talk intelligibly now. We are stuck on the do, does, did AND has, have issues. Now the therapist is concerned about him having an auditory memory issue. I am really concerned with his reading and phonics also. He has grasped basic words but cannot read a book in full to me. The reason I have such a hard time dealing with this is because DD9 is a great reader. She was a full-day kindergartner and could read Junie B. Jones books in 1st grade. I always compare them and now I have to realize that he will not be the same as her. He has challenges that she never dealt with. I have volunteered to offer students in his class (hopefully him too!) extra reading/phonics help. If it is deemed that he needs more than what the teacher can do, we will do what needs to be done. I hope you get you daughter's concerns squared away. Hugs and PD coming your way.

P.S. don't worry about the girls on your trip! They will be fine and you and DH will have a blast.

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

Ya know, I don't want to automatically say she has a LD, but then again if she does I don't want to wait so late into the game that it will really be hard catching up. Last year I kept getting from the school that she was too young to be tested, wait, wait...
I don't think it is wrong to question if she needs a different style of teaching than the norm. My gut has always been she isn't learning the same way others are.

janette, my DD was late learning her letters and numbers. It was alot of work getting her to finally know them all. Meanwhile, her sister is already at age 3 picking out letters on the keyboard on her own, just from picking up on things? Actually like you mentioned, my oldest still has a time recognizing numbers, but yet she can add and subtract??? Odd.

Mouseteacher, thanks for the info about testing. I would have had no idea what to have asked about. This gives me an idea of what to say when I go into conferences next month.

If I get nowhere again I guess I should go to the lead teacher for the school? Would that be correct?

Otto's Doll, no offense taken. I understood what you meant. I also understand everyone does things at different rates. My DD crawled early, walked early, etc, but talked late. (Course, now she doesn't stop talking! She is a TALKER.)

And being a Mom I must say that although she is struggling in reading you should see this kid's backstroke!

 

[lenshanem]

Hi shelbyjosh! Last year they kept telling me she might end up needing speech therapy. I never could understand why??? What was your son doing? Did you take him or did the school do it?


My daughter also has mild asthma and a severe peanut allergy. I've already had to have the school work with me on this... I guess we're high maintenance???

 

[aprilgail2]

I taught my 4 year old to read by using the BOB books..they were wonderful!! She was SO proud of her self when she started to figure out the words based on the different sounds. You can pick them up pretty cheap on ebay which is where we got ours. They teach kindergarten here in kindergarten where when I was a kid we learned in first grade but now they do everything earlier! I wold just continue to work with her and bring it up with the teacher and she what she/he has to say about it....

 

[shelbyjosh]

Shan- He was "diagnosed" with his speech disablity when he was almost 4. He babbled. No real words. I got him into our district's PPI program. He got a little bit of help there in 2 years. He began private ST in June 03. He was 5 y.o. talking at a 2.9 y.o. level. In 9/03 he progressed to a 3.9 level. Now he is almost up to where he should be. This place was actually referred to me by a friend and I am so lucky that he got the help when he did. They started on "cycles" with him. Working on different sounds. Now he is working on syntax--sentence structure. Like I mentioned before, he is hung up on certain things and we can't seem to get past them. This is why his therapist is concerned with the auditory memory problem. We have a lot of $$ invested in his therapy. Blue Cross pays ZERO. I pay $88 a week. It has been worth every penny. He also sees the PT in the same clinic for his toe walking. She said he has very tight Achilles tendons. Thank goodness BC is paying for this!! If speech is a concern of yours, please investigate it. Better to get it taken care of now rather than later when things get more difficult. Oh, Josh is also getting a little bit of speech at school. He is in the same group of 3-4 kids as last year. I really don't think the speech at school makes a big impact. You really need that one-on-one.

 

[We4mickey]

Our DS had difficulties in 1st grade and the teacher told us not to worry. By 2nd grade the teacher said he needed to be tested, however she told us this 2 days before the end of the school year. Nothing could be done over the summer. In 3rd grade I spoke to his teacher and she said I will have to evaluate him and see if I feel it is neccessary. Needless to say, by the time they went through all the paperwork and testing and evaluating it was 8 weeks before the end of the school year. He was found to have a disability. So more or less for 2 school years he did not get the help that he needed. I talked to the teachers all along the way for tips and things that I could do with him. If you feel there is a problem push for the testing. You will feel much better when you know for sure if there is a problem. He is now a freshman in high school, he still gets help, but not as much as before. The improvement that I saw in his reading and spelling and the independence from me having to help him with everything was worth all the stress of trying to get something done about it.

 

[lenshanem]

Michelle, I don't really think my DD needs speech. I don't understand why her teacher thought that last year. I'll have to ask her teacher this year what she thinks. Sounds like it has really helped your son, though!
I think the school would pay for speech here, though if needed.
I know I was told my youngest could take speech thru the school even though she was little last year. Turns out her second set of tubes did the trick!

(OT - toe walking? My youngest walks on her toes. They always comment on it at dance and make jokes about it, like she is already on pointe, etc. She also hates to keep shoes on. Never thought this was a problem?!? What's the scoop on that? Geez, we're falling apart over here... )

 

[shelbyjosh]

Our school pays for his therapy at school, but the private ST is our responsibility. He has been a toe walker for as long as I can remember. He will walk on his toe knuckles!! He curls them under and walks, jumps, etc. on them. It helps to have shoes on. When he is bare foot, watch out!! OT seems to think his tendons back there are so tight. She does heat ultrasound on them and that gives her 5-7 minutes of "loose" tendons to manipulate. He really enjoys going to her. He dreads speech, though!! In fact, tomorrow is PT day and Monday is ST.

 

[janette]

Originally posted by lenshanem

janette, my DD was late learning her letters and numbers. It was alot of work getting her to finally know them all. Meanwhile, her sister is already at age 3 picking out letters on the keyboard on her own, just from picking up on things? Actually like you mentioned, my oldest still has a time recognizing numbers, but yet she can add and subtract??? Odd.

I also have an older DD and don't even remember her learning her letters & numbers, she was reading chapter books in 1st grade so it's always been hard to adjust to know how far behind her sister is. I can't compare the 2 of them since they are so different in their learning syles.

What you are seeing with the addition & substract is out of order, the most common type of testing measures the child's IQ and their skills to determine if there is a problem. Kids should perform academically at about the same level as their IQ. Kids with a learning difference don't. My DD's testing is a very staggered line.

Most schools don't test until 2nd grade, dyslexia is something that isn't considered something to test for until about then but it can be found earlier. Our school district doesn't test specifically for dyslexia. I think it is hardest for kids that are in between, since the differences are sometimes not severe enough to get special services you have to really work to get your child the help they need.

If you decide to have testing done on your own you want to find someone that would do very through testing for social, learning and attention issues. They can all sometimes mimic and overlap so it's hard sometimes to find answers without looking at a big picture.

edited to add: On the speech issue, my older DD teachers had her tested for speech in 2nd & 3rd grade. There are certain sounds that they should be able to do a specific ages and she was borderline. She was put into speech class to work on a few sounds for 4th grade but ended up not doing it because by the time they started she'd grown out of it.

 

[lenshanem]

bump

UPDATE - I did have conference with my daughter's teacher yesterday. I think the teachers are now starting to see what I was worried about. I will be taking her to an eye doctor for a complete workup, including perceptional? And contacting the lead teacher to get testing in motion. Something isn't right. She is doing well in math, but her reading and writing is not so good. I don't know if I mentioned this later in this thread, but I did out of curiosity have her tested for the gifted program and she did well on it, which further intensified my worries she might have an LD.

Wish us luck!