What can I do? My child child is not making progress in reading?More and more parents are finding their child in this situation. You are far from alone. The teaching of reading has been made so complicated, so that you can be made to feel helpless, unless you have hundreds of pounds (literally) to get your child assessed and help obtained. Sadly, even then, your child may only receive a label with little or no help to actually solve the problem. Help is at hand. I have taught hundreds of children to read over the course of over 30 years - of all ages and abilities. I know that it does not need to be complicated. For many children, they only need more structure to their learning than has been given to them at school - plus a programme that can go at their pace, not one set by a classteacher/school/governmnet department/etc.. On my FREE reading programme, Reading Made Simple, I show you how easy it can be to help your child I do not mean that it will not involve much patience, or learning on your part - learning how your child learns, how best to teach in a way that encourages rather then discourages, and so on, but one that lays out a simple programme that you can use to go at your child's pace and that gives you a simple lesson outline that you can follow each day, for just a few minutes before or after school as as part of your home-school lessons. FREE Reading books for reading interventionAs well as our FREE decodable reading books for children who are just starting out, or who have a special need, I also have a series of books for older children who may need to go back and revisit the early stages to build reading accuracy and fluency. These books were written for my older pupils, some of whom had started secondary school before they cam to me for help. Assess what your child can doBefore we find help for your child, the first thing to do is to assess where the problem has arisen. I do this through a simple testing activity that even you can do. When you know where your child has come unstuck, then you can work to rebuild and strengthen the 'wall'. See learning to read as building a house. First a child must learn the initial sounds - the sounds that each letter of the alphabet stand for. Then they must learn to put those sounds together to make words: c-a-t: cat! Once this skill is mastered, they must be able to blend four sounds - word with a consonant blend, like s-w-i-m. These stages form the foundation for reading and it here, in the foundations that I usually find 'cracks' or even 'holes' in the wall that are causing a child to fail to make reading progress. This post will tell you more. A little daily structured help may be all that your child needs. And you can become the expert - and saver £££££'s! Other may need a little more digging and help is provided here. Decodable reading books for reading interventionI have a growing series of decodable reading books for reading intervention.
What is special about these reading intervention books?In my work with older reading 'delayed' children I find a commons symptom, once the intial foudnations have been checked thoroughly, to ensure for example that a child knows the initial sounds and how to blend them to make words. GUESSING has most often become the child's main strategy. This becomes obvious when you find a child confusing words that look very similar, e.g. tip and trip. These books deliberately include these words multiple times to force the child to think about the whole word, not just a part. In short, these books have been written as I have helped REAL children - not by an academic with a literacy degree, but no real working knowledge of how children learn. CVC Words
Consonant blendsBasic common sounds with 2 or 3 letters togetherThe following books have been written to match Level 2 of Reading Made Simple. If these are too hard for your child - do not fear, simply do Level 1 instead, and find a complete set of reading books for you to use with your child.
Keep moving through the Reading Made Simple programme and your child will make progress. Purchase the bundle for a low price: click belowAt last, just what you have been looking for! A professionally written set of totally FREE, levelled phonic reading books, for parents to use to help their child to learn to read! Written by phonic specialists, these books take children from the earliest stages of decoding to reading fluency. Simple to useThese books have been written for Reading Made Simple, where FREE, easy to follow instructions are provided to help you to teach your child to read - simply!
Built in successUnlike many phonic reading books, these books build in success as they only use decodable words for which the child has already been taught the phonic sound and a few sight words which are gradually introduced. These sounds and sight words are then revised again and again as reading book follows reading book. Constant revision and repetition of words helps children to relax knowing their are no nasty surprises. Cheap to printThese books print n black and white just as well as colour making them budget friendly compared with $5 a book new, or $1 in a thrift/charity shop. SAVE, SAVE, SAVE and still give your child the best reading instruction. What these phonic decodable books DO NOT contain
We have endeavoured to create little stories, with a touch of humour where we can, which will set children up for serious, thinking reading later on. We do not believe that the gift of reading is purely to entertain, but as a means of learning about the world around us. Therefore, they are not 'silly', or fantastical, as we want children to live in the real world as thinking people, not a virtual one where their minds can be easily controlled. The Reading BooksThese book bundles are all available for FREE from my store on Teach Simple, where I get a small royalty every time someone downloads them, so enabling me to provide more FREE resources for all to use. If you see other paid products in my Teach Simple store that you would like, please pop over to my TPT store where you can purchase them without subscription. Initial Sounds 'reading books'These are the first books in our series of decodable reading books. They are intended to be used while a child is learning the initial sounds.The process of learning to read begins with learning the sound that each letter of the alphabet stands for when it is at the beginning of a word. We call these beginning or initial sounds. We help children to lean these through s simple daily programme. You can find out about it here. CVC decodable reading booksThe next set in the series is a set of 16 CVC levelled phonic reading books, taking children from their earlies attempts to blend the simplest words such as c-a-t, to reading simple sentences made up of such words, and the sight words: a, is, the of. The characters are introduced throughout the series - farmer Tom, his animals, the dog and cat, and son and daughter, Sam and Pam. Children love these books because they can read them. Starting with the first book where the child simply reads 'a cat', to the last book where they read of Jiff making a mess, children feel their skills developing. The set is accompanied by a set of five workbooks which help to consolidate learning. Instructions for teaching this stage can be found here. Consonant Blends reading booksOnce the child can blend three sounds, we teach them to blend four. Instructions for doing this can be found here. Once again, these books have matching workbooks to help learners to progress as quickly as possible. Common Sounds Level 1 Set 1The next stage is to learn some new sounds, made when two or three letters join together. In the red level series we teach the sounds: ck; oo; ee; sh; ch; th; ng; ing; ar; and or. The children feel secure as the stories carry on telling more of the adventures of the characters they have come to love added to which they meet familiar words, already met in the the pervious two levels. This means that reading fluency can start to develop. If you need help teaching these sounds, we tell you a simple method for doing so here. There are more books in the series, although not yet packaged into bundles and you can find them here. Silent 'E' Words level 1 Set 2Next in the Reading Made Simple reading scheme, we learn the silent 'e' rule and learn to decode words like: cake, time, smoke and tube. If you have a struggling reader we have you covered too. Find out more here.
Is your child struggling to read fluently or are you trying to teach a young child to blend and having trouble? Maybe your child has been taught the letter sounds and maybe even many letter combinations (e.g. ai, igh, ee etc...) and you cannot understand why your child cannot read well.
Why is my child doing these things? In short, your child, even if s/he has been taught phonics, is not blending, but guessing. This means that whoever taught your child phonics did not ensure that the child was hearing and feeling sounds in words to the point where s/he could easily sound out words to spell them: c-a-t, AND put them back together again to read them: c-a-t- = CAT. Other typical signs that this is the case include:
What is blending? Blending is the word we use to describe the putting of sounds together to make words. For example, a child may sound out a word: d-i-g. The child then needs to be able to hear that when we hear d-i-g it is the word DIG. Some children, for various reasons, do not do this automatically, as others might. This leads the child to learn words by heart and then, if s/he sees a word with similar letter patterns, s/he will presume that it is the same word, and rather than check the sounds in the word, will guess. It also has to be borne in mind that this is a two -way process and a child may be able to do it one way (most often to spell), but not the other (most often to read). If the parent sees a child sounding out accurately for spelling words such as BUS and CUT, then s/he can be forgiven for thinking that the child must also be able to sound out such words to read them. However, this again is not automatically the case. In my work with pupils who are struggling to read I often find that one is easier than the other, at least initially. Do not be too hard on yourself, if you taught your child to read - it is a mistake that even many teachers make. See below for the remedy. I thought guessing was a reading strategy Sadly, some teachers have mislead parents to believe that looking at pictures and guessing what the text says under the picture, is a way to learn to read. Sadly, the opposite is true: guessing is an enemy to learning to read. Although phonics is taught in UK schools, sometimes a child is given reading books that do not contain words that a child can decode. This can lead a child to guess and some teachers may not notice what is happening until the habit has been formed. How can I help my child? If your child is just learning to read for the first time - understand the pitfalls of teaching a child to read; understand that once a child knows all of the letter sounds and can hear the beginning sound of words, then the child must now learn to hear sounds in words and take them apart to spell (we call this segmenting words) and put them back together again to read (what we call blending). This stage may take much time and much patience be needed. It is helpful if teachers/parents a child's ear to hear sounds in words, before introducing the child to written words as otherwise a child may memorise the words before learning the skill. If you have an older child who has already memorised small words, like CAT and BUG then again, start with pictures, and then use nonsense words first orally and later to decode. This pack of 3 FREE to download Oral Blending Activities may help you. They are based on hearing sounds, but not seeing words. Here are three simple activities that you can do with either a younger or an older child. They are both listening activities, so the child will not be expected to spell or read the words. With just a little time spent each day, doing these activities, your child will hopefully soon be hearing sounds in words - separating them out as if to spell and putting them back together ready to sound out text.. The secret is to keep practising and to have a lot of patience. One day it will happen. Once the child can blend, see Reading Made Simple, my 100% FREE systematic Phonic Programme to teach reading, spelling and writing. For a small price you can check your child's progress at this level with my Phonic Diagnostic Assessment tool kit. This will help you to detect where your child is having difficulties. It may be individual letter sounds that are weak, or blending words such as MAT and TUB, or those with consonant blends such as FROG and MILK. Once the weakness has been identified you can begin work to remedy the situation. When our children first begin to learn to read we may take care to use phonics. Maybe your child's school uses phonics. Phonics is the proven, best method to teach all children to read and spell well. So your child starts to learn by phonics and you expect all to be well. For some, that is the end of the story. The child does well, learns to read fluently and the parent thinks no more about it. For others, the tale is some what different. Their child fails to make progress. They are told "Maybe s/he is late starter". "Don't worry, it will come!" Precious time passes and still the child cannot read. "What is wrong with my child?" Thinks the parent, and starts to have big concerns. For those children at school, the misery increases. The teacher does not seem to know how to help. The curriculum says the teacher must move on and the child has to go too - and while others can read the questions and the books, for those that cannot, there is little help. They fall behind in all subjects and their time at school is pretty much wasted. By the time the child reaches secondary school, s/he is often disillusioned and may have given up wanting to read, long before. What can a parent in these circumstances do, or do to prevent the case getting worse than it already is? Help is at hand. Reading Made Simple has been written just for such children and the good news is that it is 100% free. You can become your child's teacher and with a road map in front of you, and some guidance, and some determination to succeed, you can help your child, without needing to spend lots of money. Should I get a dyslexia assessment? These are very expensive to do privately and will only get a label without necessarily the help to go with it. A school may provide your child with a dyslexia friendly keyboard, headset and audio equipment, but if s/he cannot read, this may be of little help. If you suspect that your child may have symptoms of dyslexia, you can ask the school to pay for an assessment, though such an assessment is hard to get now. The Government's latest advice is that as the schools teach phonics, all children's needs should now be catered for - even those with potential dyslexia and that the school will provide what is necessary. The other problem is that there are many children needing help and there is probably going to be a long wait for help which may mean more time is wasted. You can help your child NOW. As a teacher of children who need help with reading and the author of Reading Made Simple, I work with such children. As part of my work , I have devised a series of simple tests that you can use to find out where to start your child on Reading Made Simple. This will make it easier for you to pin-point precisely where your child is having difficulties. Having identified the difficulties you can take action to help your child to learn the necessary skills, through the information contained, for FREE, on the website. The test assesses a child's ability to recognise the letter sounds and then to put them together and pull them apart to read and spell words such as cat, do, and frog. This may seem very simplistic, but experience shows me, time and time, again that a child struggling to make progress in reading or spelling has got left behind somewhere at this stage and is then relying on guess work. Many programmes tell the teacher which days to teach which lesson. Sadly not all children fall into this structure. Some needed more time on a skill and didn't get it. The programme moved on and the child was left with a handicap which then holds them back from their true potential. I have produced this simple test to find that place where your child got left behind
This kit is like having me there to assess your child. Your child need not even know it is a test. The instructions are easy to follow and the results easy to interpret and all the information you need is included in the Diagnostic Phonic Assessment Tool Kit. If you do the test and then have trouble interpreting it, despite the guidance, please contact me. Reading Made Simple is easy to use and as many parents say, it is so easy that you could be forgiven for thinking that your child is not learning until you see the progress that has been made. It structures the learning process so carefully so that all can succeed, given support from a parent who has read the programme and has followed it closely. Success* is built into the programme. Your child need not fail any longer! There are many resources, also for FREE, that you can use if they are helpful. *Reading Made Simple has helped many children of varying degrees of difficulty, from profound to no known difficulties, to learn to read successfully, however I cannot guarantee success as there are too many factors outside of my control. The programme is simple, but because it is so simple, every component of the programme is essential - none can be missed out. Please do read the teaching notes carefully. There are many resources, also for FREE, that you can use if they are helpful. Reading Made Simple. To be able to read, first a child must hear initial sounds, and then s/he must be able to hear sounds in words - in the middle and at the end in order for him/her to be able to read words such as d-o-g. A Suitable method of teaching oral blending for all childrenNot all children will need intensive help to blend sounds, but others will. Teaching should go at the speed of the child, not at an arbitrary speed set by a programme. Therefore, these strategies can be used by all children of any ability, but some will quickly grasp what is required and not need to spend much time at all at this stage and will be able to move on to sounding out cvc words. I like to start oral blending by using syllables, starting with words with just two syllables. Actions Actions can be very helpful to emphasise the different parts of the word. There are various strategies used by teachers, and you can find one that works for your child. Some use the arm, touching the shoulder for the first sound, the front of the elbow for the second and the wrist for the third and then sweep down the arm as the whole word is said. For children with coordination difficulties, which is many children with a special need of some kind, I like to use big movements, and I use the head, shoulders and stomach. Always work in this way. 1. Explain to the child that you are going to say a word together and tell the child the word. For example robot. This is because we are going to talk like a robot. 2. Demonstrate to the child how to touch the head as you say 'ro' and the shoulders as you say 'bot'. Leave a gap of about one second between the two parts of the word. Have the child do it with you several times. 3. Finish by saying the complete word 'robot'. So: ro (touch head) - bot (touch shoulders) : robot. Let's do it again, ready? ro (touch head) - bot (touch shoulders): robot. Then choose another word. Find one that is meaningful to your pupil. You can use compound words like 'foot -ball', or any other two syllable word. Here are some my pupils like: rocket Lego story rainbow table seven snowman donkey sausage rabbit Once your pupil has the idea, try just saying the word with the actions, and see if the child can say the whole word without being told. Once this happens consistently, we know it is time to move on to the next stage. Oral blend words with two soundsNow we can break one syllable words into two parts. I like to use words with long vowel sounds to start with. Use the same approach and the same actions, but use words like these, broken as indicated: t-ie p-ay s-ea g-o (go) t-oe p-ie s-ay d-ay t-ea p-ea s-o (so) m-e (me) Oral blend words with three syllablesOnce these are being heard consistently, go back to syllables again, but this time use words with three syllables: tel-e-phone cho-co-late sat-ur-day com-pu-ter bu-ter-fly ham-bur-ger Now oral blend word with three soundsNow you can take the plunge and try breaking words into three syllables. Here are some ways to try. With special needs children particularly it can be a matter of finding out what works with your child. I like to start with words with the short vowel 'a' and a nice clear ending sound of 't', to help to make it easier for the child to hear the word. You might also decide it is best to start with words with initial sounds that can be held on to like: m-a-t s-i-t s-a-t f-i-t r-a-t v-e-t Then you can move onto other words with other final/middle sounds, such as m-a-n, m-a-p, v-a-n, m-e-n, r-u-n, m- o-p etc..., still with an initial sound that can be held on to. Some children have more success with some final/middle letters better than others, so keep trying different words and noting the response. One lad I taught, with severe needs, found any words ending with 'g' easy, even if they did not start with a sound that could be held onto: big, dig for example. You may find that your child hears the final two sounds, e.g 'at' of c-a-t, but not the first sound, in which case, help him/her to put the initial sound with 'at': c-at, m-at, etc... and then another day try again. If the child guesses too much, then revert back to a stage of oral blending from above in which s/he was successful. Always aim to build confidence. Try again in a few days time, after more practice at a previous stage. In all situations be patient! Always praise and be ready to change tactic, to put it aside for the day if the child still does not grasp what is necessary. You are sowing seeds, showing the child what can be done, but you might not see a 'shoot' for a while yet. But never think nothing is happening. One day it will, but it might take many weeks. Moving on to sounding out wordsOnce you feel that your child is consistently oral blending these cvc words, it is time to start introducing him/her to more words. If you want help to do this please see our video below. Our CVC words gamesHead over to our CVC words games to find ways to take the tedium out of learning. Our games are all free and have been made for real children who have needed help. I hope you find something to help your pupil! Do let others know if they work, and tell us if they don't! What are initial sounds?
Look at these words. The first letter is the initial sound. When you say each word, your mouth, teeth and tongue move into position to make the initial sound.
cat man danger house zebra light
We don't stop to think about it as it happens instinctively. Learning to read through phonics means becoming aware of the sounds that make words.
In order to learn to read and spell with phonics, a child first needs to learn the sounds for which the letters of the alphabet stand for and which can be heard at the beginning of words - the initial sounds. Having learnt to read with phonics, children will eventually be able to read many words that they have never seen before, by themselves. Teaching by phonics is a powerful method! It creates readers. No wonder it has not been liked by many progressives through the years! Take care when teaching initial sounds
It is very important that care is taken to teach this stage well, as it is the foundation for the development of all future reading and spelling.
Three things are necessary when teaching a child the initial sounds:
If any of these three are neglected, or only partially taught, then the child will not make progress. Despite this seeming very simple, many teachers and parents go wrong at this point. Many children fail to learn the sounds that each letter stand for sufficiently well to be able to recall them instantly. Others learn the sounds the letters stand for, but do not hear them at the beginning of words. These children can then appear to be in need of catch up work - when the truth is they were not taught properly to start with. First, make sure that you yourself know the initial sounds.How to teach initial sounds
Progress is quickest when the above three aspects are taught hand in hand together.
As a sound is learnt the child can be taught to apply his/her knowledge to find things that begin with that sound. If the child is also taught to write the letter, this further reinforces his/her knowledge and helps to develop spelling skills as well. It is best is, once you have decided that your child is ready to start learning to read, to keep the momentum going by teaching one new sound a day, five days a week. Follow this simple procedure. You will need:
You can also use our video (below) which provides pictures for each letter of the alphabet and is phonetically correct. Pause the video on a sound. You can use it to say the alphabet rhyme each day too (see below).
1. Introduce the new sound on a flashcard, or in an alphabet book. Tell your child:
This is the letter '_' and it makes the sound '_'.
2. Then look and see how many things on the 'a' page begin with that sound (or if using flashcards, how many things you can think of between you beginning with that sound).
To begin with you will have to help – if not tell - your child which words begin with the given sound. Emphasise the first sound as you say a word.
Here is an apple. Apple begins with ă' (sound not name). ' a..a.....a...apple. ' 'Here is an arrow, a..a...arrow'. 'What can you see that starts with 'a'?' a...a.............. See if the pupil can fill in the blank with a word beginning with the sound 'a'. If the pupil says another word, not starting with 'a', say: 'Yes, I can see a house too, but listen...hhhhhouse. Does 'hhhouse start with 'aaaaa'? No it doesn't. Listen, aaaaapple, aaanchor. Here's a word. (Point to another picture starting with 'a'). What's this? Child: 'ant' Teacher: 'Yes!' aaant starts with 'a'. Some children will sit for a while happy to look, others will be eager to go! Either way, keep the session short. We don't expect pupils to grasp this in one lesson. What must happen is that the pupil starts to learn that this symbol stands for the sound 'a' and some words begin with that sound. Watch for signs that the child is beginning to hear the intial sound for him/herself. Optional: Jolly Phonics assigns an action to the sound which many children find helpful. You don't need to use the same actions as Jolly Phonics to do this; simply find a word that is meaningful to your student that can be mimed and make the action along with saying the alphabet sounds. My class used to mime eating an apple, or making an ant crawl up their arms. They would pretend to bounce a ball for 'b', drive a car for 'c' and so on. If you wish to use the Jolly Phonics actions you can find them free here.
PLUS - every day say the alphabet rhyme
Practice the sounds already taught by saying the Alphabet Rhyme before you teach the new sound. Go through the flashcards of the initial sounds taught and say the alphabet rhyme, stopping at the letter that was last taught, ready to learn a new one. So: Day 2: Show the 'a' flashcard: Together say: Ay says 'a'. And then learn about the sound 'b'. Day 3: Show the 'a' flashcard and together say: Ay says 'a'. Show the 'b' flashcard and say together: Bee says 'b' - and then learn about the sound 'c'. Day 4: As before: Ay says 'a', Bee says 'b', See says 'c' - and then learn about the sound 'd'. And so on, adding a new card each day until you are saying it all the way to 'z'! This repetition is vital to the success of the programme. Continue to recite the Alphabet Rhyme in this way while the knowledge is cemented and until you are sure the pupil can give you the correct letter for any sound you make, or tell you which sound each letter stands for.
Then:
1. Throughout the day keep emphasising ‘AY says 'a'. Encourage the pupil to finish the sentence: ’AY says…?’ Say it for the pupil if s/he can’t remember. Encourage your child to look for things around the house that start with each day’s sound. It is a good idea if you can be constantly emphasising the first sound of words at suitable moments. Here are some ideas: ‘Where is your bbball? ‘Are you playing with your dddoll?’ 'Time for bbbbed!' 'Where is your ccccup?' 2. When you see words around and about, point to the first letter of the word (if it says the right sound, e.g not 'c' for 'circle') and say (for example) : 'Look, 't' for tomato.' This will help to train the child's ear to hear initial sounds.
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Assessment is the key
a) the child is beginning to learn which letter stands for which sound
b) the child is hearing sounds at the beginning of words
Then do whatever is necessary to help the child grasp the bits s/he is having trouble with. There is a useful video here explaining how to help children who have trouble hearing initial sounds of words.
For example, if it is a particular sound, then focus on that sound. Paint it, draw it in the sand, pin it up around the house/classroom and make frequent reference to it. Use your imagination and think what will help THIS child to get this point.
**Do not try to teach the child to blend cvc words until you are sure s/he is hearing the initial sounds of words.** Otherwise you will risk confusing the child and stalling progress.
Go at the child's pace, not the pace of a 'curriculum'.
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Our programme can be tailor fitted to any child. You are in control of how fast or slow you go and how you teach. We give guidance, but remember - when teaching phonics you need to fit the programme to the child, not the child to the programme.
Find a way of helping the child to reach the goals.
We help you to do just that - succeeding where others fail.
Welcome
Hello, I'm Lilibette, qualified teacher (B.Ed Hons). I have taught phonics in mainstream education, followed by have home-educated my two sons to 18, and am now a private tutor.
Reading Made Simple (a completely free systematic phonic reading programme) and Sound-it-out are the results!
I aim to bring advice and resources aimed at enabling parents and teachers to EASILY teach phonics effectively. That is: to help children become life-long readers, forming a bedrock on which all further education can be built. My mother helps to draw the pictures and between us we have many years experience of teaching KS1, special needs and ESL. We hope you enjoy browsing our site!
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