5 years old...cant read, please help

[katiesmum]

My daughter has been at the Soundwaves centre since she was 3 years old. She is now 4.5 years old. Her kindergarten teacher is very impressed with her reading. She sounds out the word from the Soundwaves teachings. My daughter is already receiving reading books home from Kindergarten and also reading words to practice. (Private kindergarten not local) Kate started reading eggs around 3 months ago and we have found this to be an excellent tool to practise what she has learnt at Soundwaves. I can?t speak highly enough about the Soundwaves course it has given my daughter an excellent foundation for her reading. You could onto you tube and research Soundwaves as there is a Monkok class doing there sounds. We use this to practise her Soundwaves card at home.

 

[marie313]

I don't think you need any of those programs, but you do need to invest time. It is really important to teach your child pre-reading skills, such as matching, rhythm and rhyme, the way language works. The larger your child's vocabulary, the easier it will be for her to read, so read books together, talk about the pictures, ask what she thinks will happen next.
Play games like "I spy' when you are on the bus or at home. Start simple. Use phonetic sounds rather than the letter name to begin with. use a white board and magnetic letters, and write simple 3 letter words like cat, then sound it out together.

 

[Gracey]

If it makes you feel any better, I barely spoke English when I began US kindergarten at age 5, and I presume I didn't learn to read until well after that. I became an avid reader as a child and now work in a field where I use the English language every day.
And my husband didn't start to learn to read till he was 7! And he turned out just fine, too.
I know you might feel hopelessly behind in super-competitive Hong Kong. But in the grander view, I'm sure your kid is fine. There are tons of children in the world who don't start studying words till they are 5-7 years old.

 

[Buckeroo]

We like Starfall.com, too. You could also check the Read Write, Inc. series. They have it available at the local library. The books (and the program) were developed by a UK school teacher (Ruth Miskin) and I really believe that the series have been instrumental in helping our daughter learn to read independently.

http://kiddietreasures.blogspot.com/2011/12/read-write-inc-phonics-series.html

 

[rs2000]

thanks a lot everyone. i will check out the options

Quasimother, how did you get the Sound Waves system. i really like it and cant pay the high fees they charge. perhaps i can teach it at home if I get the books somehow.

 

[bloominginHK]

In regards to your child being behind, please remember that most children here are in phonics classes by age 3. So while she may be behind them, she's probably still quite normal in many other parts of the world. To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that they said much my daughter attends there as well, started Feb 2010, and when she started she couldn't read at all. Her teacher just told me to work with her on her phonics and not to worry, she would catch up next year.

If you are really concerned, ask for a copy of their phonics chart or perhaps you can ask them to teach you the phonics chant. Understanding phonics is the key to reading... my daughter turned out to be dyslexic and no matter how hard we tried to get her to memorize certain words, she still struggles with those but now that she gets phonics, she can read by sounding out.

Jolly Phonics is available in the public libraries, you could check that out. Starfall, Tumblebooks and Raz Kids (I think this may have to be through the school though) are what we use.

Keep in mind that they will review all that they are learning again in Grade 1 at only a slightly faster pace. You are doing the right things with her, you could also do a google search for 'popcorn' words and games... this will give you some fun game ideas to play with her to help her recognize words.

 

[yvonnemommy]

DD has been doing extra online reading on beestar. I think it is nice and easy to use. I like the simple presentation: text has nice simple fonts, the pictures and graphs are to the point not distracting and the stories are interesting. The honor roll, ranking, award programs are effective. DD always can't wait to do the exercises.
Lisa

 

[satay sue]

I would not be worried. My son is really only just starting to read, he will be 7 in a couple of months. He fell behind his classmates when we moved here as he was out of school for over 2 months and he was not a good reader before we left the previous place. He had a similar "problem" (for want of a better word) where he knew the phonic sounds but couldn't combine. Of course I was concerned (some classmates with older siblings were reading short stories!) but the teachers were relaxed about it. He is catching up now, we haven't forced the issue and he is starting to enjoy reading more.
Just a note - in some countries children don't attend school until age 6.

In the last 2 weeks my son jumped 3 levels in reading and is now more or less level with most of his peers. Would reiterate that there really is nothing to worry about!

 

[peainpod]

I was thinking the same thing! Plus young children all learn at different rates so it's not all up to the school anyway. Also I believe for early reading in preschoolers, it's as much about the home environment as it is about the school.

 

[Lydia1155]

Public Libraries have many resources. Have you tried there?

Hi all,

My 5 years old daughter can not read much. She goes to CAIS (started in Sep 2011) and her teacher also mentioned in the meeting that she is a bit behind when compared to her classmates.
Her teacher is also working on it and she has now picked up some words like the, is...

but I want her to be able to read soon. I am thinking of some supplementary program (preferebly at home) that I can use. I see that her phonics are weak. She knows the sounds of alphabets but somehow can not combine them when in words.

there is this (sounds waves close to us www.soundwaves.com.hk). has someone tried it? they are expensive (200$/75 mins lesson) so I want to research a bit before I enroll her

Seperately I have been trying to read books to her and also ask her to read some words for past 2 months but progress has been slow. I have to admit that I am not very well structured into how to make a 5 years old understand the reading. We ordered lots of level 1 reading boosk from US. Is there any home based program that I can use for her (5years age), jolly phonics? leapfrog? letterland? Also please let me know about how can I get the relevant material at reasonable cost?

PS: she speaks english well and has got fair vocabulary as well but that does not translate into reading skills
thanks a lot!

 

[meilengyong]

Just saw this and hope it is not too late.

My son only started talking at 3 and really at 4. He is now 4+. Though his speech is behind, he seems to be able to read. Anyway, I did send him for a speech assessment and they (HK) said he has the level of a 2 years old. That got me panic!!! Then I sent him home for an assessment in Malaysia and they said not to worry, just slightly behind. Anyway, he caught up a lot lately!!!

I guess what I am trying to tell you is to go for an assessment. It does not mean anything. Maybe gives you a piece of mind. I sent mine to St James settlement in Central. They are semi-private. About HKD900 for an hour assessment. Can be conducted in English. I guess the only thing you wanna rule out is dyslexia, ie they sometimes see left to right and the other way round too...so it is complicated and they decided not to read!!!

If everything is fine, then just continue reading with your kids daily. I would actually do away with all those learning to read books. I find them boring and no story line to attract kids. I started reading with my kid very young but I usually just verbalise the story for him and he loves the sounds I make. After a while, when the joy of reading is cultivated, they will want to know how to read and just read one day. I probably read 2-3 fun book and one boring learning to read book during our bedtime story time!!

good luck!

 

[yingie]

I am an international school teacher and my recommendation would be to make sure that reading/writing is introduced as a fun activity, not something that is being "drilled". It is especially important when young children are experiencing difficulty in this area. Starfall is a fantastic website that I often recommend to my parents. There are many readers that encourage decoding/reading using phonics, with simple pictures that provide background information to the text. One-on-one help may also give your child a little push and support in areas that she may be stuck in. If, after a period of time, she is still experiencing difficulty, you can always consult the class teacher and seek professional advice. I hope that helps.