[ConfusedInAK]

I feel like a horrible mother at times. I don't understand why it is hard for her to learn to read. I could read at the age of 4... she is still having problems sounding out 4 and 5 letter words.

This is the only area she struggles in as an 8 year old. In fact it seems to have stumped her teacher. She is at a 3-1/2 grade level in math (she just got done with 2nd grade) and yet she is stuck at a low 1st grade reading level.

This summer I have signed her up for intensive tutoring 2 hours a day 5 days a week.

Do any of you have any recommendation for me to help teach her to read?

I feel as though I have tried everything...

[Wondergirl]

Please don't obsess over it. My mother tells me I wasn't even two yet when I started reading, so you see that the ability to read varies tremendously. It is very much a readiness skill. No one can make someone read if that person isn't "ready."

Ok, then. How do you get "ready"? Read to your daughter. Visit the library and bring home stacks of books that she helps pick out. Don't worry about ability level. If she is attracted to a book for whatever reason, bring it home. Set aside time maybe before her bedtime when the two of you snuggle up on the couch and read together. Change your voice to project different characters and animals. Point out things of interest in the pictures. Count things. Talk about colors and facial expressions and clothing and vehicles and other objects that are pictured. You read to her. She reads to you. Give her help as needed, but don't obsess over how she reads and how correct she might be. The main thing is to encourage her to read, to enjoy reading. Make it fun!

Other times of day, make up and tell her stories about the robin hopping in the back yard or the dog barking next door or especially stories about her--her birth, her early years, her first step and first tooth. Tell stories about her now and about her in the future. Tell stories about yourself and growing up. Get her excited about telling stories about things around her. Listen to her.

Encourage her to write. She can help you with writing grocery lists and thank-you notes to relatives and letters to grandmas. Help her write her own book and draw pictures for it. Make a front and back cover and put it in a binder or one of those plastic things for term papers.

Also, have you had her eyes checked? Does she squint when looking at things far away? Does she complain about headaches? Has she been taught phonics? If not, make sure the tutor knows what phonics are and will include them in the lessons. Knowing phonics is the best way to decode English and be able to read.

Please keep us informed about her progress. And remember, RELAX and have fun with reading. Don't make it an obligation or something one has to learn and do.

[ConfusedInAK]

Thank you for your kind words.

I put her in private school for the 2007-2008 school year and in all honesty I think she did progress. However she is highly distractable and public school classrooms with 30 kids in them were not working out.

She finally started learining phonics 1 month ago, when she started going to the tutor.

I have to tell you... I think her reading would be much better if her teachers hadn't been lazy and kept pawning her off on other people. Example (even at the private school which we have to pay for!) Her teacher pawned her off on the kindergarten/1st grade teacher. It was supposed to be temporary/limited time. An hour a day for a couple of months... come to find out my 2nd grader was put in that class 6 hours a day and separated from kids her own age. I am PO'd to say the least. All year long her teacher assured me Emma had caught up to a 2nd grade reading level and was progressing towards a 3rd grade level.

Then a week before school ends her teacher has the nerve to sit me down and tell me she is at a low 1st grade level and she doesn't think Emma can go in to third grade! Here I am paying big bucks every month to have these awesome teachers teach my kids and she didn't even try!

So... I have been working with her soooooooo hard. No more kindergarten books! (5 word sentences 5 page books). We are now reading Alice in Wonderland together... a real book with words and very few pictures.

I know once it clicks she's going to love reading. But I have 4 kids... and spending 3 hours a day (in the evening mind you) working with just one of them is near impossible.

I don't understand how these teachers keep dropping the ball and letting it slide. She is SO smart... if I could just find someone who wasn't lazy in teaching her.

I'm even concerned about other kids teasing her because every school she has gone to has made it blatently onvious that Emma can't read...

[starfirefly]

Try finding a book that she would be very interested in... than it may make her want to learn, I know this sound weird but I was the same way I couldn't read, than my mom got the chronicals of narnia, and I started to enjoy learning to read cause it started to excite me

[Liasdaughter]

I read an interesting article many years ago about learning disability. I do not know whether it could help your daughter, but if you want to try, you can.

If you draw big letters of the alphabet on the ground, and let her WALK on the letters, following their turns and lines, it might trigger some recognition in her brain, and helps to memorize those letters. If she can do that it might help her to connect those letters into words.

I honestly don't know whether it will work or not, but it is a rather simple method to try.

And, please, don't blame yourself, she still could be a very smart, loving little person, just as much as you could be a very good, caring mother. Otherwise you wouldn't care, would you?

[DoulaLC]

Smart to get her the extra support in the summer. Does the school offer any tutoring? Do you know what sort of testing she has had? Has there been any determination to a specific area of concern?. fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness, etc.

How is she doing with Alice in Wonderland? Depending on the version, it can be quite challenging. One quick way to find a book that is challenging enough to help her, but not too difficult to frustrate her is to have her read a page outloud. If she makes more than 4 or 5 mistakes, it may be too difficult for her. Difficulty in fluency will have an effect on comprehension. Can she retell you what happened in detail after reading several pages?

It can be very helpful to focus also on building her confidence in her reading ability. Find any sort of book she would like to read... even easier books, with repeated readings, can boost her confidence.

It can be helpful to have a student participate in another classroom, either lower or higher, to meet their needs. However, it should only be used for the subject area of concern, not the entire school day. For example, I have a boy in my third grade class who goes to fourth grade for writing. He is exceptional in his writing and more than ready for higher instruction.