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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:59 pm 
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LisaTX wrote:
I typed up a long post earlier and it disappeared, so I'm going to try a condensed version. I thought I should give a reading update on my son. Unfortunately, there's not much positive to report. A year ago, when Christian was going into 4th grade and still struggling with reading, I got some great advice from Anna1111 about giving him phonics training. It seemed to start out ok, but something has been going wrong that is hindering progress and I have not been able to pinpoint it. I was doing everything I thought I was supposed to, but still Christian was making so many mistakes in his reading with seemingly no rhyme or reason. One day, he could say a word and the next day he would get it wrong, constantly having to go back and re-reed. I read that if you suspect they are guessing a word, to tell them not to guess, but to sound it out. I would do that and he would quickly say the right word, so we would move on. But the lessons said not to move on until he was able to easily read the words and he could not do that and was complaining that he had to keep reading the same page over and over. I was so frustrated wondering why phonics worked for every kid but mine. This was supposed to be the year he learned to read and discovered he loved books, making both of our lives easier.

Going into a new year, I was about to throw in the towel and was wondering what business I have in homeschooling my kids (i'm still kind of wondering that, btw). But I think I was finally able to pinpoint the problem and it seems so simple that I feel stupid for not seeing it sooner. I think his problem is that, despite doing eye exercises, blending and phonics, he is not able to look at a word (at least most words) and not see the whole word. He has word guessing so ingrained in his head, that even though he knows the letter sounds and is learning phonics, he's not capable of seeing the individual letters in a word. At least not for the most part. He even told me that he can't help guessing and still remembers in Kindergarten and first grade, sitting there and the teacher showing the words on the flashcards. He will see the word "like" and still say "look". He needs phonics, but he needs to be cured of his word guessing before we can progress. I really did not know it could be this bad. I just thought we needed to keep trying and keep trying and it would get better. But it's not. I tested his reading level and Saphira's reading level and they are both at about the same level. Saphira is slightly above grade level and Christian is well below grade level. He really has not made much progress.

Well thankfully, once I pinpointed his problem, I looked online and realized that there are some determined word guessers that you can't just tell to stop guessing, you have to get drastic and force them. This hadn't even occurred to me. And there are several methods that break them of the habit with great results. I found these sites:

http://www.thephonicspage.org/

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic ... -guessing/

I feel hopeful again. I thought phonics was my last resort. But this really is my last resort. If this doesn't work I don't know what else to do. But I feel confident that this is his problem and will work. It has to. I just started the video phonics lessons with him that are specifically for whole word guessers. It forces them to sound out each letter. I have started writing words on the dry erase board, letter by letter, having him say each sound as I write it instead of having him read the word as a whole, I am writing words in all uppercase so it changes the shape of the word and he can't guess it. I am doing a card game that makes him sound out the letters. I am giving him lots of nonsense words and there are also nonsense words in the phonics videos. These are all things they say will cure this habit. I really think progress will go much quicker after this. He is very smart and bright, so that makes it extra frustrating. The phonics videos take about a month and they say most people improve 1-2 grade levels afterwards, some more. Some people do the videos 2-3 times and they improve a grade level each time. I am hoping to kick start things and get him a quick boost, though I know he will need more than just this. He loves writing on the dry erase board, though, so I am having him spell words from the lists in the "Why Johnny can't read book and using those exercises as well to help. The phonics book I was using was great, but the pages were so busy and I just need to get back to the basics to get him up to speed and no playing around. He can't go another year of not reading and I really need to see significant improvement in the next 3-4 months. He is also so defiant, so his attitude against everything school related makes things so hard. I think a lot of it is due to the history of trouble with reading, but also part of it is his personality.

Anyways, I really hope I can update again in a few months with much more positive news. Anna really got me started in the right direction with phonics, but I wish I saw sooner that he is one of the minority that has deeper rooted issues with reading and needs a little extra.



That is great that you have discovered the problem and can now tackle it.

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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 4:14 pm 
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Location: Central TX
Martha, thank you. I will check that out. I have a couple of those books, but didn't know they had online videos.

Tory, yep I have the same problem with dd, so I try to keep her out of the room or at least tell her to stay quiet. It's hard because she still hates being in a room by herself, but she's getting better about it.

Sis, I am that way when I read out loud in a group setting. I will read whatever it is and then have to go back and read it quietly to myself to know what I just read, lol. One thing with ds is that when he reads, he will get a word wrong and it messes up the sentence and he won't even realize it and I have to ask him if what he just read makes sense. But other times, he seems to understand what he read. I think/hope that once he's making less mistakes, he will understand better what he's reading. I tell him that's why it's important not to guess, but obviously that's not enough for him, so I need to force that out of him.

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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:41 am 
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Lisa, my DS is having similar problems with reading. I used to be a teacher so I used to get increasingly annoyed at myself because I obviously thought it was my fault and there must've been something wrong with my teaching techniques. I read for ages and ages about different ways to teach reading in a way where he wasn't getting jaded but was actually getting better.

I was, at that time, reading the Book Thief and was inspired by the characters to paint one wall of the garage with blackboard paint so that he could write down words he found difficult and we could go over it every now and then. I found a myriad of online. I regularly look at pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/search/boards/ ... activities and http://www.jumpstart.com/parents/activi ... activities to find activities I could do. Youtube is great as well. Remember Blues Clues? They had great reading activities like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMVr8LMiYnc.

Just this week we tried a newspaper scavenger hunt where he was to take a sheet and find all of his favorite words and then read them out loud. Sometimes we go over lyrics of songs he really likes and during those times, he doesn't make a fuss to read. All these techniques have helped but he still has a long way to go.

You not giving up on it is such an inspiration to me! I'm going to go at it with renewed fervor!


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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:21 pm 
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edumomzilla wrote:
Lisa, my DS is having similar problems with reading. I used to be a teacher so I used to get increasingly annoyed at myself because I obviously thought it was my fault and there must've been something wrong with my teaching techniques. I read for ages and ages about different ways to teach reading in a way where he wasn't getting jaded but was actually getting better.

I was, at that time, reading the Book Thief and was inspired by the characters to paint one wall of the garage with blackboard paint so that he could write down words he found difficult and we could go over it every now and then. I found a myriad of online. I regularly look at pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/search/boards/ ... activities and http://www.jumpstart.com/parents/activi ... activities to find activities I could do. Youtube is great as well. Remember Blues Clues? They had great reading activities like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMVr8LMiYnc.

Just this week we tried a newspaper scavenger hunt where he was to take a sheet and find all of his favorite words and then read them out loud. Sometimes we go over lyrics of songs he really likes and during those times, he doesn't make a fuss to read. All these techniques have helped but he still has a long way to go.

You not giving up on it is such an inspiration to me! I'm going to go at it with renewed fervor!


Thank you, I will check out those links! We do have a dry erase board and he loves to write on it, so I have him do most of his spelling words there. It definitely helps to try to make it fun as possible for them, especially when they're discouraged.

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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:31 pm 
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Well, I did another test on him last week and he has bumped up one grade level, so that is encouraging. I had him do those phonics videos I linked for a month and have noticed improvement. We also do the card game in the link. But there is still a long ways to go and he is still very adamant about word guessing, so I am still for the most part, having him sound out each letter, even for super easy words. Most of the time he is ok with it, but if he is really resistant, I will let him read the whole word, but if he gets 3 wrong, then he has to go back to sounding them out. He has gotten better about slowing down and taking his time and that definitely helps. I created a monster back when I didn't know what I was doing and wanted him to read faster. Big mistake, I didn't realize he was word guessing and that trying to rush him was the opposite of helping. Now I know that speed will come with time, after he is out of the habit of guessing and can actually read the words. I have noticed him being a little more willing to sound out longer words now, although I do still have to prompt him a lot to sound it out and not just guess and then give up, looking to me for help. He is very slowly starting to gain confidence. Now we are going through the lessons in "Why Johnny Can't Read" and, like I said, I'm having him sound the words out until I am confident he has broken the habit of guessing.

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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 6:34 pm 
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so delighted with the update, Lisa!

You're making great progress.

I used to get *so* discouraged with our study of Greek (mine more than dd's) until one day I realized that the best way to make progress was to *work on it every day* - and that getting discouraged & quitting was NEVER going to get us anywhere. If we work on it every day, well, we might never be native speaker skilled, but we'd be way better off than with any other method! (like, ya know, just giving up and expecting it to magically "click" one day)

You're doing a great job - keeping at it & making wonderful progress! : )

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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 7:01 pm 
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That's great, Lisa! Good job!

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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:44 pm 
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do you do spelling.? I am sure you do.
Make a list of the words he is misreading and see if he can spell them when you say "look" and if he spells it correct and does not put Like, then I would have to go from there to figure out what is going on.


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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:45 pm 
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Lisa how are things going school wise?


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 Post subject: Re: Reading update
PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:02 am 
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Things are going well. There are good days and bad days. I'm really happy with the program we're using, but it's taking longer with Christain because of his attention span and bad habits that have formed oer the years, like reading too fast and word guessing. That is our main focus in the program righ now, breaking those habbits.

I've also started using the program with Saphir because, while she doesn't show many of the common dyslexia characteristics that

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