Is anyone else beginning 2nd grade with a nonreader?

[Mama Lynx]

I just want to know that I'm not alone :)

He knows all his phonogram sounds. He reads CVC words. But reading is very, very difficult for him. We've got a lot of work to do before he'll be able to read any kind of book on his own. I strongly suspect that he is dyslexic. Watching him I now suspect that my oldest is dyslexic, too, but not as severely. My oldest started really reading at about 7.5; my current 2nd grader is about to turn 8. BTW, he does well in math, and with narration, and everything else. He sight-reads piano music, go figure.

Meanwhile, his younger brother, who will be starting 1st grade, can read, say, "Fox in Socks" with a fair level of fluency. :001_huh:

[Quiver0f10]

That was us last year and he is doing better, but still not on grade level. We did discover mid year that he is dyslexic ( no "offical" diagnosis yet though) and have been getting reading theraphy via our university speech and hearing clinic. We will be using Barton's this year with him.

[obiandelismom]

This was my ds last year, too. He had known the letter sounds FOREVER, and had some sight words (could read about 35 words at age 2!), but couldn't make the jump to real reading. We used Headsprout and Hooked on Phonics, and now he's reading on about a grade 3 level (Time Warp Trio books, for instance.) I highly recommend both programs!

Also (and I wouldn't have thought this would help as much as it did), I gave him copywork every day last year, and made a conscious effort to include passages that were funny or interesting to him. Jokes were the biggest help! He was motivated to "get" the joke, and writing as he read seemed to reinforce the words somehow.

Good luck to you, though! I know it's hard not to freak out when other kids in the same house are reading fluently at 5! But (as you already know) each kid has his own timetable (and his own way of giving you gray hairs!) :D

[Closeacademy]

That was us last year too. This year she is testing at 4th grade reading level and reads all the time. But I gave up on easy readers and such and gave her magazines and graphic novels. Some times you just have to find something that they are willing to read and it will come.

Hang in there and I hope you have a wonderful year.:001_smile:

[CalicoKat]

I just want to know that I'm not alone :)

He knows all his phonogram sounds. He reads CVC words. But reading is very, very difficult for him. We've got a lot of work to do before he'll be able to read any kind of book on his own. I strongly suspect that he is dyslexic. Watching him I now suspect that my oldest is dyslexic, too, but not as severely. My oldest started really reading at about 7.5; my current 2nd grader is about to turn 8. BTW, he does well in math, and with narration, and everything else. He sight-reads piano music, go figure.

Meanwhile, his younger brother, who will be starting 1st grade, can read, say, "Fox in Socks" with a fair level of fluency. :001_huh:
That's us too. DD7 can read, but only very basic stuff. Ds is 5 and he has surpassed her. She has been diagnosed with ADHD and she's making good progress, but it's hard on her to see him whizzing ahead.

We're discussing sending her to PS this year

[Homeschooling6]

I have a soon to be 2nd grader who will be 8 when we start. He is going through "The Reading Lesson". He can read cvc words and some long vowel word, but he is not fluent yet. He's getting there.

Blessings,

[klmama]

It took increasing my page requirements in ETC and changing the way we read together. First, I had to find an extremely easy book that thrilled this dc (based on topic). Then, I had to read the whole thing, so dc was familiar with the story. Next, I would read a page, then have dc read the same page. This went on for quite awhile. Then, I would read a page, and dc would read another page. That lasted a long time, too. It was hard work, but eventually, dc could read the whole book to me. We read other easy things, too, of course, but being able to read this "wonderful" book really increased dc's confidence and willingness to try. I had started to think dyslexia was the problem, but it doesn't seem to be so.

[sailmom]

I'm right there with you. My son reads CVC stuff, but that's about it.

It's been hard to plan for, because my girls had no trouble with learning to read. My oldest was reading fluently at 4, and my younger dd started K as a non-reader, but took off with reading the summer between K and 1st. Last spring, I realized that my ds wasn't reading much more than he had been at the start of the year.

My brother is dyslexic, but my ds doesn't show signs of what I'd consider dyslexia. Even so, if he doesn't pick up on things this year, I'll probably have him evaluated just to be sure.

[teacalm]

Your situation was the same as mine when my oldest dd was 7. Everytime she reads, it's almost like she's choking on the words when she's sounding it out. Almost like gagging on it. We belong to a charter school and our teacher kept on saying that she's dyslexic and all that stuff. I refused to put a label on my daughter so what I did was just made her read all the books that we were using at that time. Before I knew it, without keeping track of the time, she was reading a lot smoother and faster. She still has that Sean Connery lisp like sounding "ch" as "sh" and she pronounces "ar" like the British "aw" but I let that go.

It was hard for her since her younger sister passed her up in every subject.
It just took time and patience on my part and now our charter teacher doesn't even bring up my dd's reading issue.

[Prairie~Phlox]

Same thing CVC stuff here with my 7 year old, his siblings were all this way, my ds who will be 9 in November, just started reading well when he turned 8, so I'm not worried. Dd was the same way and she reads at a high school level now and is 10.

Phlox

[Martha]

My 7 yr old girl is sorta in this boat. Knows the letters and sounds, but struggles putting it all together. She can do it, but it's slow and stressful to her. My 3rd dc was the same way and reads perfectly fine now going into 5th grade.

She does 2nd grade math, although I have to read word problems to her.

For me, I don't take much stock by supposed "grade levels". I've seen the curriculum and tests for public schooled 2nd graders and let me assure you that MANY 2nd graders entering from any school setting are in the same cozy boat.

Usually it is NOT a sign of a genuine problem, they simply either aren't enthusiastic about it or simply have a development stone to step over. MOST children if not stressed get over the hurdle by the end of 2nd grade or the begining of 3rd grade.

Get their vision and hearing checked. (My 3rd needed glasses and I honestly didn't know it! Some kids aren't deaf, but they can't hear all the noances to blend properly. Can't hurt to get it checked and most of them find it fun to do.)
Relax.
Read to them lots.
Encourage them to try as best they can without stress.

:grouphug:

[Linny]

Definitely not alone and was I happy to see this thread! As a former 2nd grade teacher, I was not happy at the prospect that my number 2 daughter would be entering 2nd grade this year not reading!
But she is a very free-spirited kid and I have been very easy on her because of it. Didn't want to burn her out. Had the law not dictated, I wouldn't have even been doing much of anything with her prior to now.

She is very bright so I will have to be creative this year to find out what to do to get her interested. My only real concern is that I don't want her to feel behind in her Co-Op classes once per week.

[camibami]

I have a going-to-second, sort-of reader. She needs to gain fluency, but *can* read pretty well (at least on grade level or probably a bit above) if one can catch her at it. "Reluctant reader" is too light to describe her aversion to reading though, so I can't imagine handing her a book and expecting her to read it on her own- something her big sis would do in 1st.

We'll just keep plugging away, I guess.

[DIY-DY]

Oh, yeah. DH was a wreck over it, after the first child. ;) We're now starting third grade. He's 8 now. He's reading Harry Potter on his own, and enjoying every delicious page of it. Stay alert for problems. Assess. Adjust. Move on. Repeat ad nauseum. Keep loving him and try not to let him feel like there's something "wrong" with him. Hurdles are not wrong. They're just hurdles. KWIM? It will, honestly, be okay.

[dirty ethel rackham]

My dd (now 8) was pretty much a non-reader going into second grade last year. We continued with OPGTR through the year. By March, everything just clicked. She is now reading the Little House on the Prairie books on her own.

Based upon the sight reading music ability, I would be less inclined to think it was dyslexia. There may be vision tracking problems that need some tweaking. I think that was part of my daughter's problem.

Good luck to you.

[apond]

I don't know if this will help or not but a couple of months ago I had a long talk with my father who has dyslexia, I also have several brothers who have it as well. This is his experince. He said that when he hit college he learned to read the entire sentence as a whole not in parts so if didn't get one word he could usually figure it out through context. This was like a light bulb was finally turned on. He stopped focusing on just the one part and reading got easier. He is an avid reader now always has a book in his had. The other thing that helps him is that he reads lots of Science fiction books for fun. Then when he has to read something really technical (he is an engineer) it is so much easier to focus and understand. It doesn't have to be sciencefiction just fun books that require some concentration but if you miss a word here or there you are not lost. This would be for when they are older and can read better. My parents used these ideas with all three of my brothers and they are all avid readers.



Good Luck

Annmarie

[SheilaZ]

My rising 2nd grader sounds a lot like yours. He just turned 7 so he's a young 2nd grader.
He can read CVC and some CCVC and CVCC words with consonant blends. His writing skills are almost non-existant.
He loves science and history and has no issues with math other than writing the numbers.

It seems that he will need the same repetitive work to learn to read that he needed to learn to speak.
*That* is quite a daunting thought. :ohmy:
He's been in speech therapy since he was 2 years old. We had to wait until he could say the sounds before teaching him to read the sounds. I hope the reading comes along quicker than the speaking did. :(

[LizzyBee]

My 2nd grader is not reading and I am pretty sure she is dyslexic. She has an appt for an APD evaluation next week and we'll see where to go from there.

I borrowed How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons from the library, and she is actually making some progress with it because it includes phonemic awareness exercises in each lesson. If she doesn't continue to progress, I am going to switch to Barton Reading.

Here is a link to the best website on dyslexia that I've found:
http://www.dys-add.com/define.html

I hope we can all check back in at the end of 2nd grade to report that our children are reading!

[Mama Lynx]

My dd (now 8) was pretty much a non-reader going into second grade last year. We continued with OPGTR through the year. By March, everything just clicked. She is now reading the Little House on the Prairie books on her own.

Based upon the sight reading music ability, I would be less inclined to think it was dyslexia. There may be vision tracking problems that need some tweaking. I think that was part of my daughter's problem.

Good luck to you.

Really? I'm just learning about dyslexia. My family practitioner suggested it, but did not dx him. Just a suggestion. And many of the things I've read about dyslexia fit him. He's *different.* His brain works on a whole other level. He's terribly smart, but not in ways that are traditionally assessed :lol: He also talked late. And is ambidextrous.

The sight reading thing blew me away.

The family practitioner did a vision screening, pronounced his eyes to be "terrible," and sent us off to an ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist pronounced his vision to be fine. However, I don't know that he looked for any tracking issues.

And DH claims to have dyslexia, but I have no idea.

I'm not really *worried.* We'll just keep working. Right now he's doing Explode the Code, and Phonics Pathways, and we're going to start Writing With Ease and do lots of copywork. My main worry is that he's figured out that he doesn't have to try to read anything, because he can get his little brother to happily do it for him :glare:

But I'm glad to know we're not the only ones out here. I suspected as much, but it's nice to see :)

Well, okay. I do have one worry. Virginia requires annual testing, and I'm a bit worried about how that will go. You have to score *really* low for it to be a problem, but I have *no* idea how he'll test, you know? Perhaps I should look into an alternative evaluation for him.

[Mama Lynx]

Thank you for the link!

[Mama Lynx]

It took increasing my page requirements in ETC and changing the way we read together. First, I had to find an extremely easy book that thrilled this dc (based on topic). Then, I had to read the whole thing, so dc was familiar with the story. Next, I would read a page, then have dc read the same page. This went on for quite awhile. Then, I would read a page, and dc would read another page. That lasted a long time, too. It was hard work, but eventually, dc could read the whole book to me. We read other easy things, too, of course, but being able to read this "wonderful" book really increased dc's confidence and willingness to try. I had started to think dyslexia was the problem, but it doesn't seem to be so.

I can see that working. He definitely has a confidence problem with reading.

[elegantlion]

My ds was not reading in 2nd grade. And we had no support group or online forum to help us through this frustration. We repeated phonics in 3rd grade and worked hard over the last two years, he is making decent progress, but there were rough times.

Last year he read everyday and didn't enjoy it, but did it. This year I am using the LCC rec to allow some leeway in his reading selections. We have plenty here for him to choose. He stil would rather argue about it for twenty minutes than read for twenty minutes, but he's getting better.

My biggest roadblock was not allowing MY frustration to overflow to him.
We are still not counting out dylexia for him, but he has not been tested.
:grouphug: you are not alone.

[Faithr]

None of my kids so far have started 2nd grade reading. My last one, dd 7 yo is reading cvc and a couple of sight words and I'm ecstatic because my other kids didn't even get that far until there were 8 or 9!!!!!

I'm going to have her vision tested though. All of my older kids have vision problems which impacted their ability to read.

[TheJoyfulMom]

That is us. My 7 year old has the sounds down, she just has a really hard time getting them together. And she is really bad at sight words or remembering words from one sentence to another. It's what we're gong to be focusing on for awhile.

[Martha]

Really? I'm just learning about dyslexia.

And DH claims to have dyslexia, but I have no idea.

there are many different forms and degrees of dyslexia. Many people who have it don't even know it and go through school just fine. So I wouldn't worry about it right now, esp with dh. Sometimes when we have a worry, we start seeing problems that aren't there, kwim? Every time I feel like I've changed a bazillion pee diaper in one day I start worrying if the kid has type 1 diabetes like his father. I tend to over-compensate to get over it. I always really struggled with math and worry my kids will too. So I am HUGE about making it fun and easy and doable for them. I've NEVER told them it's hard and they all love math.:D

I'm not really *worried.* We'll just keep working. Right now he's doing Explode the Code, and Phonics Pathways, and we're going to start Writing With Ease and do lots of copywork. My main worry is that he's figured out that he doesn't have to try to read anything, because he can get his little brother to happily do it for him :glare:

I'd ditch the copywork and all but minimal writing. Writing really can be stressful for a child with difficulty reading. I wouldn't want you to end up with TWO difficult trouble areas.

Also, I am setting a special alone time in the evening with my 2nd grader to read to me for just about 10 or 15 minutes to encourage them and gentle force them to do it themselves.

Virginia requires annual testing, and I'm a bit worried about how that will go. You have to score *really* low for it to be a problem, but I have *no* idea how he'll test, you know? Perhaps I should look into an alternative evaluation for him.

I'd look at alternatives just in case, but I'd also look at when the testing is? He might be doing just fine by then or at least good enough to not have to worry about the really low scores.

[Mama Lynx]

I'd ditch the copywork and all but minimal writing. Writing really can be stressful for a child with difficulty reading. I wouldn't want you to end up with TWO difficult trouble areas.



I understand what you're saying here. However, first of all, I'm pretty laid back. I don't tend to make my young ones do work that is stressful for them.

Second, my oldest son was an extremely reluctant writer. I allowed him to do minimal writing, and guess what? Now I do have a trouble area with him, and am having to really focus on his writing. While it was right to go easy on him, it was not right, it turned out, to ditch the copywork and go as easy as I did.

So although I appreciate the spirit of what you are saying, we're going to do copywork. Actually, he enjoys copywork, and I don't believe the early levels of copywork in WWE will be stressful for him.

[TraceyS/FL]

Well, my 2nd grader is 9 - but is my special needs child.

She is doing BJU PHonics 1 - very slow - and doing VERY well with it. I just switched from self-teaching to the HOmesat version, Mrs Walker is AMAZING. I wish BJU would sell this standalone!

Keep working at it - it will click at some point.

I"m just hoping that we get to move forward faster than we have been able to at this point.

I also worry about about the now 4yo passing her up - it's going to happen in math at some point..... soon. Heck, she's almost there NOW.