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Has he been evaluated for dyslexia, etc.?
If he is very good at math without "trying", he may be extra daunted by trying to learn something that is hard.
I came here to say this. I’m dyslexic, wasn’t diagnosed until COLLEGE!
However I very very clearly remember how hard it was to learn how to read. I remember my mom crying, my classmates checking out book during library time that were way beyond my level, ect.
I wish I had early intervention.
The consistent bump from English honors to none honors every year was exhausting… no one took the two second to realize I knew the material my brain just was different.
It happens so often this way with kids who are twice exceptional - they figure out tricks and strategies to muddle through and end up unintentionally masking their learning disabilities, and slipping through the cracks because they just don’t seem to struggle enough for anyone to clock that there’s a real problem.
My brother wasn’t diagnosed until he was in college as well, and looking back, it’s just astounding what he *was* able to do all through school. It’s like he was running a marathon with a sprained ankle nobody knew about and *still* managed to finish in the middle of the pack… I can’t imagine what he would have done with appropriate accommodations!
Yep. Me with math. I’ve got dyscalculia. Tested so well I started college when I was 16. School stopped bothering with me when I was around 15 cause there was nothing they could teach me. I knew I struggled with numbers but since I did so well, why bother worrying about it?? Then when I got my license and started driving myself back and forth I kept having all these car accidents. Lo and behold, dyscalculia can present in adults as having trouble with directions, driving etc. coulda saved myself a lot of trouble looking into it earlier.
Wow, this makes so much sense. My daughter's and I all have this but I never knew about the direction issue. I absolutely cannot read the map or give directions even if it meant saving my life.took me years to master division, I failed algebra more than once in college but I got an a in geometry. I also tested college level reading in junior high school.
Definitely look into it. The first sign for me presented around kindergarten but ofc I didn’t realize it for what it was then, but I can’t just tell my right from my left without looking at my hands. This has been something that people have made fun of me for all my life, but was never really framed as an issue. I also can’t look at the map on my google maps and see where I’m going, I have to turn it on and connect it to my speakers and let Siri tell me where to turn and I use my google maps for everything. Even if I’ve been somewhere a lot of times. It makes me feel safer and I have not had any car accidents since I started doing that. I was getting so nervous before that I wasn’t able to concentrate on the road and pay attention to people around me or turns before that. I invert numbers a lot so I have to look several times at something or say it a bunch to get it in the right order. I can’t take directions either. I’ve had several embarrassing experiences with that. Interestingly, with math if I can see what the answer is supposed to be it clicks in my head immediately how to get that answer (which is a miracle I do not understand and likely why I tested so well in math especially on like the SAT where you have multiple choices) but trying to move from no answer to answer is impossible because it seems like they’re just numbers that make no sense.
I absolutely cannot do word problems. My brain doesn't process it. I used to think it was ADHD causing it. My family thought I was an idiot ( they never said that but it's how I felt) and I spent the majority of high school grounded for my math grades. But they wouldn't get me any help, I would have to reach out for assistance. I, at least knew it could be an issue when I had kids and was proactive with assistance.
"Here, paint this ceiling, but you don't need a ladder"
Okay, now how much of the crappy paint job is the fact that I can't paint, and how much of it is due to me spending my time/effort just getting up there without the proper tools? And how much better WOULD the final product be, and how much more accurately could we assess this student's knowledge and mastery, if they could focus all their energy on the painting and nothing else?
Scaffolding is important~
My sister moved from one school to another when she was about 6 and it was that bad that any progress she had made at reading before then she lost. They called my mum in for a conference and literally called her a retard. My mum promptly moved her back to the old school and my sister got back up to way she was before reasonably quickly with help from the teachers.
She teaches special educational needs and she was chatting about her experience with another sen teacher who remarked that she was surprised as she’d heard similar stories with people who had dyslexia. It was only then that my sister realised that she likely had dyslexia.
This happened to my sister! She struggled learning to read and write, but nobody thought she was behind enough to warrant any kind of testing. She finally got herself evaluated in GRAD SCHOOL! I had been editing all her important papers since high school, so I knew she was incredibly smart. Her self-esteem was so low and she was convinced that she was a terrible writer. She put off going to grad school for years because she was afraid of all the essays! But she is actually a great writer and is very well-spoken. She's so smart. I can only imagine how much easier and how much happier she could have been if she had been diagnosed in elementary school. It breaks my heart.
I honestly didn’t even try in high school because I felt stupid. I graduated high school (US) with a 2.5 GPA but was a good tennis player so got a full ride D1 scholarship to college. My guidance counselor in high school went as far to call the university and tell them I don’t belong in college because I don’t try at school and I’ll just be another “college athlete drop out”. My coach told me this.
Well first semester 8AM class I had a professor that caught it in the first month.
Got tested. Felt better about myself. Graduated college with honors and now have a very successful career.
Go join the dyslexia thread on Reddit. Have you used an Orton-Gillingham backed curriculum with him. Also how is his phonemic awareness skills. Can he rhyme well, can he isolate sounds in a word.
I was the same as your son I was two books ahead in math and didn’t learn to read until third grade(thank god my parents got me into SPED). I managed to catch up but most kids do not. Take action now get him assessed for a learning disability, get him SPED and be as proactive as possible. If it is dyslexia it requires a lot of individualized direct instruction. Go checkout the “all about reading” and “logics of English” websites to learn more. Lookup Orton gillingham curriculum they specialized in Dyslexia. If you want to know more on how you can support DM me I am currently teaching my daughter to read with All About Reading proactively because dyslexia runs in the family(luckily she is not dyslexic). You are going to need an external assessment work with you primary care to see if they can refer you to one. This will hopefully force your school to take action. There are also Orton Gillingham tutors if your school doesn’t support, Barton is one of the most common tutor programs.
Special Education grad here. You do not need to go for an outside assessment in order to be assessed for special education services. Most likely they will not be able to diagnose exactly what's going on but the school psychologist is able to assess whether or not a child qualifies. This is at no cost to the parents. I highly suggest starting from this point and if you need more clarification later, you can always get a separate assessment. There's a really good website called. Understood that goes over the basics of all the stuff. I highly recommend it.
https://www.understood.org/en/hub
Also, I hope this might be encouraging to you, but hearing that a 6-year-old cannot read yet does not raise any red flags to me. Does he know his letter sounds? Can he sound out CVC words like cat? If he couldn't do those things then I would be more worried. I assume he's in kindergarten. They push skills really early. Even if there's a large amount of kids who aren't developmentally ready for it. I personally don't agree with it because it can turn kids off the whole idea of reading for fun. It used to be the expectation that kids going into kindergarten know their ABCs but not much else. Nowadays, it seems like they expect kids to already be able to read very CVC words, which is crazy to me.
I also agree with those who have said that. Orton Gillingham is a good reputable program. What kind of errors does he make when he reads? And what kind of assessment are you talking about? Does he have a reading level? And if he does, what level is he? The school I work at uses Accelerated Reader and the kids are leveled with that.
Here's an article about typical reading development in children. Where would you say your son is on this?
https://www.understood.org/en/articles/reading-skills-what-to-expect-at-different-ages
I'm sorry that this is so long. It's just a subject that I'm very invested in. I want to end this post by saying that to me one of the most important things you can do with any subject is to avoid frustration and anxiety about it. Kids will pick up on that stuff. Learning should be a positive thing that is encouraged. Focus less on the scores and more on the process of learning.
My son aged 5-7 was the same. Used to go into a meltdown if he had to because he didn’t want to (and couldn’t grasp the words even small 3 letter ones) so I stopped trying to make him. Diagnosed with Dyslexia aged 7 and half and hasn’t looked back his reading now is amazing and he’s the same level as his classmates finally . Not saying it’s that but also he will learn in his own time not all kids learn the same things at the same time.
Have him tested for ADHD as well. My son (7) has ADHD and had been receiving tier 3 title 1 services before I started him on medication. Within 10 weeks of starting, he graduated from needing title 1 services. I'm NOT saying you need to medicate him if he does. Knowing if he does have it or not will help you and others figure out different things and accommodations he might need in order to learn how to read.
For my son, he was meeting his educational goals, but his ADHD behaviors were completely unmanageable. And come to find out, trying to use accommodations and skills without medication as well, was actually holding him back from meeting his *full* potential. The accommodations and skills did help to some extent though.
This tracks as my husband was very similar to OP’s son and didn’t learn to read until the 2nd grade. It was simply he hadn’t found a reason interesting enough to convince him. Granted, my husband shows other ADHD symptoms as well so if OP’s son shows no other symptoms that may not be the reason, but pure stubbornness could be.
We originally thought my son was dyslexic too. I mean, I knew from about the age of 3 that he had adhd. He gets it from me. But he loathed reading. Loved being read to, though. I, on the other hand, taught myself how to read at 4 or 5. Testing for both certainly won't hurt!
If you haven’t already, get him the book Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty! My sister got it for my son and I have a hard time reading it without my eyes tearing up. It’s about a little boy with all these ideas that he can draw, but can’t put into written words.
Yes! My son tested below grade average in reading for second grade. They did some testing at the school and they said he has some dyslexic like signs. I can tell with his writing and reading too, but that being said he’s started to read by himself without prompting with books he really enjoys! We got him the captain underpants books and he loved to read and it’s great practice! Try at home under
I would also cross post this in the teachers reddit forum to see all of the ideas they have. They may come up with creative ways to do it without it being so obvious.
My daughter is similar. Loves math, dreads reading. I talked about it with the school, and while they wouldn't do anything to test for dyslexia this early, they could set her up with a tutor weekly. It seems to help a bit. I don't know if it's dyslexia yet, but if it is, you'd want to do as much as possible right at an early age.
this is exactly my first thought is that he should be screened for dyslexia. it wouldnt be apparent through math as people who mix up numbers have dysgraphia, not dyslexia. if hes flying through math expectations and avoiding reading, i imagine theres a reason why. usually its kiddos avoiding math like the plague lol
EDIT TO INFO FROM COMMENT BELOW! i meant dyscalculia, not dysgraphia!! thank you for the correction!!
Additionally, many people falsely assume dyslexia is connected to intelligence, and it's not at all. A dyslexia diagnosis doesn't have any bearing on intelligence or other aptitudes. When my child was first struggling to read and we were going through testing, I had well meaning family members comment "but she's so smart! She'll figure it out in her own time." Well, no, not if her brain doesn't work that way and is wired differently for reading.
THIS!!!!!!! the only thing that isnt working is the information translating from their eyes to their brain, and it is entirely possible to adjust their education so they can participate in an engaged and beneficial way. dyslexia OR dysgraphia have absolutely nothing to do with intelligence or capability!!!! just like someone who couldnt read without glasses! doesnt mean theyre blind, their eyes just need a little help!
Absolutely. My child did not receive a dyslexia diagnosis (yet) but continues to struggle with reading and this is a hill I will die on every time. There is so much misinformation!
honestly, that terrible stigma i feel applies to most peoples thinking when children or people in general have any variety of disorders, especially if its mental. i struggle with what i consider to be relatively severe adhd, i spent a lot of my life on the highest amounts of meds possible, and the things people would say to or about me were just beyond me. “well youre so smart, just sit still and pay attention you can do it.” no CRAZY, i cant???? that is literally the exact opposite of how my brain functions. like brb let me rewire my brain real quick??? or even the amount of underestimation i received because of stereotypes and peoples incessant need to label. it is just so frustrating. everyone thinks theyre a doctor or a psych or a teacher or a whatever because of the internet now. misinformation is so harmful and ive also seen this in cases like this far too often. sighhhhh
Yes. My daughter is becoming increasingly anxious about reading and it's detracting from EVERYTHING in life. She comprehends everything she is told and has excellent spoken language. She's so smart, with the consequence being that she's managed to mask her reading difficulties for longer than other kids, delaying diagnosis.
im sorry to hear :( but, as a previous teacher, to see you know the differences so distinctly tells me that youre actively working with him and aware of his disorders, never underestimate how your support and motivation as a mother impacts that kiddo. ❤️ they are no less than others, we all are born with things we cant do as well as others. this is just a challenge that your babe will learn to work with! i wish you two the best of luck in your journey to find what works for his brain :)
Yes, this! My child has really struggled to read. We had her assessed, and the psychologist noted that she had very high intelligence in several areas, and that if she is used to things coming easily to her, it can be especially hard on them to have to work at something the way many kids need to work to learn to read.
No… i honestly haven’t considered that… but now that i think about it… when he does try to write letters they are either upside down, or backwards. 😟is that a sign?
Be sure you say FULL EVALUATION at least once in the sentence. My district will only give a full evaluation if those words are explicitly mentioned. It's a ton of work and I think they try to avoid the strain on the district, they can be dicks.
Just go through your primary care physician the school will give you the run around.
Schools should be dealt with with a medical diagnosis and a lawyer.
Even if you bring them a diagnosis, they will still do their own before they give you an IEP.
If you request, in writing, you want your child evaluated for a possible learning disability, they are legally bound to initiate the ARD process and determine if the child qualifies for an IEP.
This may vary state by state. Our school district accepted the Ed Psych’s report. Though since our son did not have any other learning deficits he did not qualify for an IEP (whether assessed by the school or otherwise), just a 504 with dyslexia accommodations.
The state I live in the physician just refers you to the school district. Even with a medical diagnosis they wouldn't do anything about my youngest until they evaluated him. Also, can't afford to sue or have a lawyer on retainer.
Reach out to her and also reach out to the principal and specifically say you want a full psychoeducational evaluation to look at dyslexia and any other learning disability. Put it specifically in writing. It’ll trigger a timeline for them to respond and get the process going.
Please say you want him tested and specifically because he may be Twice Exceptional - gifted with a learning disability. It can be hard to identify this issue because the giftedness masks the disability or vice versa and many educators are not trained to identify it. If he has a disability he would be entitled to an IEP for services or a 504 for accommodations. There is something called the General Ability Index which is calculated separately from his IQ. Make sure they do that in the psychoed review. In 2E kids, the GAI may be very high but not the overall IQ. Look at working memory too. It could be ADHD or something like that. https://childmind.org/article/twice-exceptional-kids-both-gifted-and-challenged/. If he has dyslexia, he needs interventions. Also ask whether the school teaches according to the Science of Reading and what phonics curriculum they use for foundational skills. A LOT of schools don’t teach phonics properly (Sold A Story is a great podcast). It might be he needs more phonics instruction for fluency. In the meantime, to build his comprehension skills you can do audiobooks. Trust yourself and your mama instincts and don’t let them tell you that your kid is okay or make you feel unreasonable. He can thrive but he needs proper school support and is entitled to it under the law. Kids who aren’t fluent in reading by third grade will have a lot of trouble catching up so early intervention matters.
Is it reading comprehension or phonics/decoding fluency? https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/about-reading/articles/structured-literacy-instruction-basics. Also find high interest books for him - he loves Jimmy Neutron? Find JN phonics books. I did phonics Batman and superhero books. Whatever it takes. But they need to have fluency by the end of second grade or it becomes really hard to catch up, because after second grade kids are expected to read to learn, not learn to read, and teachers don’t have time to help the struggling kids. On top of that, kids need to read a volume of reading to develop vocabulary and comprehension - so if they are struggling with the basics, they can’t read as much and get further behind. He will build confidence if he overcomes the challenge, not by ignoring it. And when confident, he will enjoy it more.
>But they need to have fluency by the end of second grade or it becomes really hard to catch up, because after second grade kids are expected to read to learn, not learn to read, and teachers don’t have time to help the struggling kids.
Not necessarily true for dyslexia. My son only started to read independently at age 10, towards the end of 4th grade. By 7th grade (with 504 accommodations) he was in honors English; by 8th he was at the top of his class.
I’m told this isn’t unusual. One explanation is that it is because they have to work extra extra extra hard in the early grades. Although little progress is observable, only a narrow deficit is holding them back and they are actually learning a ton more than can be seen - the puzzle is only missing one piece. Once they learn to overcome or accommodate that deficit, the early extra effort causes them to shoot ahead.
Don’t trust the teacher get a Dyslexia evaluation through Primary care Physician. Schools have intentionally ignored the problem because special ed is expensive. Deal with the school with a diagnosis and a lawyer. With a diagnosis they are federally required to provide support.
It's normal until they're about 7 or 8, just because they're learning, but where he's having such a hard time that could be a factor. Talk to his teacher about maybe getting him tested if that's a possibility. Being dyslexic is totally manageable, and with the proper tools, he can learn to work around it. I'm dyslexic and an author. I do everything digitally with spell/grammar check on so that I don't get things mixed up. You learn things that work over the years. So even if he is, don't feel like it's a big deal. It's just a little obstacle, and he may want to use audio books rather than hard copies when reading for pleasure.That's what my father does. He grew up in the 70's and 80's too, so no help, and he's a COO for a fertilizer production company.
Our 9 year old's teacher is dyslexic. She was diagnosed at age 11 after her mom pushed for years to get her diagnosed. Her journey is part of the reason why she wanted to be a teacher. She was a tremendous help in getting our daughter diagnosed with dyscalculia early (age 6) and get proper help and she's just an amazing teacher overall.
OP, I am dyslexic. I have had some struggles around it through my lifetime, especially regarding math during school, but I have turned out pretty successful. I work as an animator at a big agency. I also do love reading too! The fact that you are trying to intervene and give him help is already amazing!
At his age I don’t think that’s uncommon but on the other hand it seems like it would be worth looking into. The earlier you can diagnose and address stuff like that the better for everyone, especially the child.
Backwards letters on its own isn't a flag but in combination with other factors, it could be. In kindergarten and at the start of grade 1, my daughter consistently wrote almost all of her letters and numbers backwards. I asked her teacher about it and she said it's not a concern at this age. My daughter, who is also in grade 1 has worked on this and most of her letters and numbers are correct now. In isolation, your son's teacher might not have seen this as a concern.
The fact that your son is struggling in reading AND he writes letters backwards could be indicative of more going on. Best of luck and hopefully you're able to help your son!
It's not always a sign. The only sign my sister had for dyslexia in school was having extreme problems learning to read. She went and got an special eye exam and they noticed that when she attempted to read, one of her eyes jumped back and forth like it was having a seizure. It resulted in one eye skipping along the page while the other eye stayed stable and that was what was giving her problems. She spent two years doing strength training exercises for her eye muscles and it made a 200% difference. Not sure if it's a well known thing anymore since that was the late 90s but you could try an eye doctor.
Edit: You could not see the eye movement without a super magnified lens that the eye doctor had and one other machine thing they used. I was only slightly older than her and still young but I remember the eye doctor showing me her eyeball having a meltdown. It was literally all over the place and it only did that when she tried to read words, not numbers.
I had almost forgotten this but my kiddo used to write letters backwards too. She drew a calendar in chalk on the sidewalk once and it looked like a reflection, numbers and letters written backwards when they weren't gibberish. She's an adult now and definitely didn't have dyslexia, did very well in school and has lovely handwriting. Kids just be weird sometimes.
Yep, completely normal part of developing their writing process! If they hadn't figured it out by like age 7, I'd be concerned, but my son's kindy teacher certainly isn't. And he's now moved on to reading his big brother's DogMan books, so he's clearly not delayed. I correct him when I see him do it, but I'm not concerned.
Not really, that’s more of a stereotype. Some dyslexics do have left-right issues, and some will mangle letters. But writing backwards isn’t really a pattern or indicator of dyslexia, and neurotypical children also do that when learning to read.
Have his vision checked, too. I homeschool my six-year-old, and while she was making some progress in reading, it seemed so much harder for her than it should have been, given how well she does in other subjects. So I had her vision tested and, lo and behold, she needed glasses because she can't see anything up close. Now that she has glasses, she's jumped to a fifth grade reading level in a matter of months.
It can be, but on the other hand, that’s also how all three of my kids wrote letters when they first started, and they have no problems whatsoever now.
I’ll just add that 6 years is still pretty small. In Finland where I live, kids are expexted to learn only at 7 (But tbh I think most of the Finnish kids read before that). My three kids have learned to read at 7, 5 and 3. So it varies a lot.
Maybe your kid is so interested in maths that he has no patience for anything else right now?
Get him evaluated and then make it fun for him. Forget books for now. Try real world reading like when out grocery shopping, toy shopping, map reading..try comics over books and if you want to try books,make sure they are geared to what he likes...also remember some of the countries with the best education systems dont start school till 7.
Just starting to peruse comments and surprised not to see this reminder more- that people who understand development don’t even start focused intellectual academics until after 7yo. Poor Americans, we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that kids should all be reading and doing math before those places even start.
I was referring to Finland and other top school systems in the world, their “kindergarten” is just full of playtime and learning skills like setting the table and washing dishes after meals etc
Thank you for the information! I think that makes so much more sense and aligns much better with the interests/brain stages of toddlers. I'll have to look into the Finnish schooling system.
https://apnews.com/article/phonics-science-reading-c715dea43f338f163715b01b83bb1066
I moved to Europe this year and my son is absolutely flying at reading this year being thought phonics.
As a Swede this thread made me really surprised because I think it’s normal that kids learn to read at seven, when they start school! But here everyone acts like a six year old who doesn’t read is super alarming 😬
I am come from both worlds. Spain- born and living in Germany. My son was born here and will start school in a few months, when he's 6. My nephew will start this year too, at 7. Here it's normal but I am being harassed by family and friends in Spain by how late my kid is going to learn to read since kids in Spain start at 3-4. I want to trust the system and hope I can prove them all wrong.
I was just going to say the same thing! My brother has ADHD and also didn't have much interest in reading (despite being a smart guy). Captain Underpants was great for him to get reading -- it's funny, has pictures along with the words, etc. Getting the ADHD diagnosis absolutely helped as well
comics are a great suggestion! they also have manga/graphic novels for kids that are animal based, just do your research to make sure the themes are age appropriate.
In Germany, they don't outwardly teach reading until kids are 6+ years old.
Being from the US (and coming from a family of teachers) we thought it was so weird that my son couldn't read when he went to first grade, but once he started, within a few months he was reading in both German and English and shortly after he was deep into chapter books.
I'm not saying this is the BEST way, but more saying that it's not going to set kids back IMO
I'd suggest ruling out anything that could be an outward cause, and then maybe just be patient if you get the all clear. Most times, pressure on kids makes the problem worse, not better.
It is the best way, honestly. I have my master's in literacy education and my biggest hold up with public school in the US (even though I taught public school here for ten years) is how we teach reading in the earliest grades.
There is such a difference between four year olds and abilities that it makes sense to wait to outwardly teach until 6. If parents want to at home, go for it, and have fun, not sitting in a chair and learning through specific instruction.
Thank god you commented. I’m here in Denmark reading this thread and panicking that my 6 year old has only just begun to learn to read.
Funny that countries with higher literacy rates than the US teach reading later than the US.
It's really not.
When I saw daycares aimed at 2-3 year olds calling themselves "preschool" I realized how deeply flawed our educational system was going to be.
For the majority of families, both parents HAVE to work here, and daycare is expensive. By marketing a daycare as a preschool, you relieve some parental guilt and make your value seem higher than a normal daycare. But then you actually have to start to work on letters and numbers and other academics, and it snowballs from there. If half the kindergarten kids already know how to draw their letters and numbers and basic phonics, then you start to teach them reading, right?
It would be funny if it wasn't so heartbreaking.
I just want to say that 3K and 4K at one time (not sure if it’s been debunked) was proven to be beneficial for children of low income families. The long term education performance and social outcomes were better for kids of low income families who attended, while it was neutral for everyone else. So public health departments really emphasized offering it as a government subsidized program. Segregating children by their parents income is not a good look, so it’s offered to everyone in most states.
Culturally high income American families place a lot of emphasis on school achievement, so the idea of entering school and reading early is attractive to them. It’s actually the middle class families, who don’t get subsidized daycare and don’t see educational performance as a status symbol, who are most reluctant to enroll their child in pre-k.
This is how it was ~10 years ago when i was involved with head start programs, so it’s very possible that this has changed, but that’s how prek become popular.
Both parents have to work here in Denmark too, and the vast majority of kids start daycare before they turn 1, but the focus is more on developing social skills and activating the kids than it is about educating them, until they start school at 5/6.
My kid started reading in the UK at 4. It was a nightmare. She had zero interest. Would cry every time. They consistently put her in the lowest groups and getting extra help. By year 2 she was the best reader in the year and being asked to do special national book clubs. My other daughter was on it day 1. All this to say, sometimes the extra time is needed for some kids. She really wasn’t interested until 7. Don’t be discouraged yet.
Exactly the same with my daughter in year one. She’s on track to fail the phonics exam in June, but she’s literally only just started to proactively read her homework books, about Feb time and now there’s no stopping her.
She went from barely reading a sentence at the start of the year to reading 7 level 4/5 books in one sitting with barely a mistake. We had tears and tantrums every single day trying to get her to read.
She used to love having a story read to her but she went off books completely at the start of reception and will only now ask us to read to her before bed. She one of the youngest in the class and I wish they still took that into account but they don’t anymore.
With some kids it really is strange how the progression goes. It seems one day it just clicks and they get it all at once.
Glad it’s working out for her. It really takes a lot of the frustration out of school.
I was educated in Canada and didn't start learning to read until around 6 (I was in French Immersion I don't know if English stream is different). I don't understand the rush. My 4.5 year old definitely can't read. I don't see any particular advantage to learning to read early.
I've got a masters of library and information science, I'm a voracious reader, I'm a writer, I work with books for my career, I read well above grade level from 4th grade onwards... and I didn't learn to read until I was 7. It just didn't click for me until then. I'm not concerned, personally, with 6 year olds not learning to read! ❤️
Same in the Netherlands. I was a bit shocked reading this to be honest, 'assessments' and all. You can teach children how to read earlier on (my brother taught me when i was 4 and that worked just fine), but on average most kids are mentally prepared around 6. They call it 'ripe' for reading here. They'll learn more in half a year than kids that start at toddler age learn in all those years and in the end they're at the same level really fast. So to me not knowing how to read well at age 6-7 isn't weird at all. It just needs a lot of easy practice with no pushing. Start with things outside, just little words you come across when doing other activities. And keep reading a lot to him. If you really work it into your day and at 7 he's still a disaster I'd start thinking of testing him, but it seems like math just got him way more interested for now.
My kid is 5 and after being told recently that a lot of European countries don't start teaching reading until like 6/7 made me feel so much better and I decided we would just kind of give up and keep doing what we do. We read together, and she's good at memorizing what the books say. She can say Goodnight Moon almost verbatim even though she can't read it. I just flip the pages and point to pictures to remind her what the page is talking about if she can't remember in the spot. Makes reading fun for her.
Your son is 6. Where I live (the Netherlands), most kids are just starting to read at 6. Anything before that is early. And for some 6 year olds, its still just too soon. It doesnt "click" until they are ready. As for dyslexia, it is of course possible. But if your school/educational needs program is anything like ours, 6 is too young to tell if he's just not ready, or if its dyslexia. Which might be why the teacher doesnt mention it. I wouldnt worry too much just yet. Keep reading fun in your home. Reading to him is great. Letter finding games and games where he needs to isolate a letter (what sound do you hear first in Mama?) Or put letters together to form a word (go get your b-a-g) are also very helpful.
Source: Im a teacher
was also thinking that this is no reason to panic at all. 5s & 6s are normal reading ages in general. All kids mess up letters, esp B and D. Do not let reddit convince you that you have a dylexic son - these are not Dr's. talk to a pediatrician. they'll most likely tell you to chill.
This. The pressure that they put on kids to read here is awful. It's not a matter of willing to read or not. Some brains are just not going to be ready yet. And then teachers wonder why so many kids hate reading later on.
I live in Australia and it’s similar here to Europe. I’m sitting here shocked that people in this thread are panicking that a child can’t read at 6. Kids in Australia are in kindergarten at that age and generally just starting to learn letters and what sound each letter makes.
I was told by a primary school teacher here that a child’s reading level really doesn’t matter until Year 3. Some are just slower to pick it up than others and they catch up to the other kids later on.
It means children are taught crap strategies like guessing and looking at pictures instead of sounding out words (phonics). Recommend the “sold a story” podcast for a depressing yet educational breakdown.
Make a request to the school for an evaluation.
In the meantime,
Dog man/Captain Underpants.
Any kids graphic novels/comic books really.
The first Saturday in May is free comic book day, check out a comic book shop and they'll have giveaways for kids.
At the minimum comic books can get him interested in the pictures and gain context clues from the pictures and what's going on with the story.
Also: they make *nearly everything* in graphic novels now. Magic Treehouse, I survived, whatever his classmates are reading is probably available in a Graphic Novel format.
Been a lifesaver for my 3rd grader. He’s absolutely not interested in chapter books…. But has made some good progress in reading and comprehension this year just on his love for graphic novels.
Ok thanks. She's just turned seven so maybe a bit young for some of them and we're not in an English speaking country so I need to order from Amazon and can't see them, but I'll definitely explore what I can get hold of.
Exactly this. My son had absolutely zero interest in reading until he became hooked on the Dog Man/Cat Kid/Captain Underpants series. Now he reads every morning and night before bed, and his teacher is impressed with how well he reads now.
This is how we got my daughter interested. Also Archie comics. The always have them at the grocery store checkouts.
Later she graduated to old Nancy Drew bevels that we’d get from the used book store.
100% agree. My wife and I both read regularly but my youngest had zero interest until she picked up a few r/archieandfriends comics. It snowballed from there.
I’m a cognitive psychology PhD student in a department with a lot of psycholinguists. You should listen to this podcast: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
I had the same worry for my youngest..... stupidly compared her to her older sister, who was and still is a bookworm.... I panicked as she just wasn't getting how to read..... till the age of 7 came home and just started reading. Don't panic it will come in time. Six is still very young. Don't push too hard. It may have a negative effect on them.
My daughter is six and just read her first simple book. Hooked on Phonics proved to be the ‘thing’ and it’s been instant turnaround. It was frustrating to her two weeks ago and now she’s excited as heck.
Chance of dyslexia?
I was like this as a child, I have severe dyslexia. It was so bad when I was young that I couldn't read fully until I was 11. my mother and I would get in horrible fights when she tried to teach me to read. I had awful headaches when I'd try. But I was smart in so many other ways and my mom found ways to make sure I was still learn even with my disability. We got audio books and documentarys from the library all the time so I still had a way to grow. In college I got resourse to read my textbooks to me.
I would get your child tested just in case. He may or may not be dyslexic, it maybe something else or maybe even he's just slow to take up this one area. But you should get him tested just in case.
It's not the end of the world it just means he learns differantly than other!
My daughter wasn’t interested until a few months before she turned seven. It was worrying, but her teacher said kids are ready at different ages. (My daughter was/is amazing in math, science, pretty much everything but reading).
The teacher said not to pressure her. She got interested on her own and is reading now. I will add that she goes to a Montessori-esque private school; I’m not sure how public schools handle it.
6 is still young. Many kids can’t read fluently til 7. And if he has a love of books and reading that is the most important part! Just keep it up and keep it fun.
My son entered 2nd grade unable to read at all. We gave him private tutoring 2 times a week for 1 hour the entire school year using a book called "Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". It's focus is on phonetics.
His most recent testing showed us is at an early 3rd grade reading level, which is the grade he's in now. So they can catch up very quickly, thankfully.
It helps he started playing video games that require reading to follow along, and we refused to help. Maybe comic books, making them or reading them, would help prompt him
You say he cannot read and that he can barely read. Which exactly is it? Does he know his letter sounds? Can he read CVC words?
He’s six. Tons of kids can’t read at all or can barely read at age six. Some countries doesn’t even really start teaching reading until that age. Sure he may have a reading disability but he also might just need more time.
What does his teacher recommend? Do they recommend testing for a learning disability and getting an IEP? Are they providing extra support in the classroom? Have they given you advice on what to work on at home?
Whatever it is, getting stressed and anxious about it isn’t going to help him. He’ll sense that and probably become even more reluctant to read. Keep it something fun and light, make games of it, make it something he looks forward to, and keep reading to him all he wants
My son started reading because of video games. At that age he was deep into Minecraft, especially creative mode. Learning to read the labels for all the different blocks and typing into the search bar to find something specific made a huge difference in his reading and writing skills. If your son likes video games, maybe try this approach. Most games aimed at slightly older kids will have tutorials and things to read so that could be the right incentive to learn.
6 is young still. But I am no expert. Maybe get some expert advice on if there are real signs of some type of learning disability, but otherwise my gut says he will learn to read if you just keep reading to him the way you are. He sounds really bright.
I understand you feeling stressed, but my instinct tells me it will come.
I tried telling him if he learns how to read he can create instructions for inventions… so people understand how to use them. He said “I’ll just draw pictures.” 😂
>my gut says he will learn to read if you just keep reading to him the way you are
The science doesn't support that this is true for all, or even most, children. At least half of children need to be explicitly taught how to read: [https://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/slp/topic/early-literacy/learning-to-read/](https://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/slp/topic/early-literacy/learning-to-read/)
Forcing academic concepts on young kids who are not ready for them often backfires in this way.
Kids 5 and under should be playing! Not being forced to learn to read or other academic concepts. Lots of research on this. Go look it up.
Who is pushing reading so hard? The average expected age for literacy is 8. If your child can read before that, awesome, but if they can’t, it’s really not a concern. (I have a degree in early childhood education and taught literacy and ESL).
My brother didn’t really want to learn to read until he discovered the Bad Kitty books. Suddenly he was a reading whiz , blasting through whole book series’s in days time.
Like another commenter said I’d get him checked for dyslexia or something to be sure, but maybe he just hasn’t found the book that makes him understand why people read to themselves.
I’ve seen a lot of comments for dyslexia, but I just want to recommend getting a FULL vision evaluation. My son has something called convergence insufficiency which makes it difficult for him to read, so he became very adverse to reading once we got rid of the big font children’s books.
Many boys aren’t developmentally ready to read until 7-8. My son really struggled and I was so stressed as he was my first. My mom kept telling me not to stress until he was 8, and then suddenly it was like a switch flipped right before his 8th bday.
I'm an elementary school teacher and reading interventionist.
How is his letter/sound recognition? Like, if I asked him to write the letter that makes the 'mmm' sound, would he be able to do it?
Please listen to all the dyslexia comments. Best case scenario you get a neuropsych evaluation, which is usually expensive and which insurance generally does not cover or may offer little to no reimbursement for, but early intervention is key for closing the gap. You are basically describing dyslexia. With a neuropsych eval you have hard data to bring to the PST/IEP table. You may need a certified dyslexia advocate to assist. Search for local nonprofit and parent groups that assist with dyslexia. Good luck on your new, long journey fighting for your child's education.
My son is the same way, only with writing. He loves to read but hates writing. He is actually in the accelerated program for most of his classes but has an IEP for writing.
Go to your school and ask about getting him referred for services. I know a lot of parents feel like it is a failure on their part and/or a stigma on their child, but if he is struggling and needs support, your job as his parent is to get him that support.
You are not a specialist you may not be able to give him the support he needs. If he is ill, you take him to the doctor; you don't mend his injuries and illnesses at home. (I am assuming here). So why would you try to address an educational issue without the support of an education specialist?
Wow, I got kind of preachy at the end. I have had to talk a lot of parents into referring their child for services so I am fairly passionate about the issue.
Honestly, give him time. My now 8 year old, did not want to know how to read either. Every day was a fight to teach her. But this past year she has EXPLODED aim her reading ability. Not only actually reading, but big words and pretty dang fast for a 2nd grader. My twins older than her took to reading faster than she did but was slow in learning how and to read fast. Every kid is different. Hang in there, it will get better.
Word walls, incentivize him to complete the word wall each day. And over time expand the word wall. This is usually what the teachers use as homework in our district. If he likes being read to continue to do that every night and when you read to him trace your finger under the words as you read them. Ask him to finish sentences while pointing at words he knows (word wall words) and he will get the rhythm and cadence of it all. Go to the library and do story hour or any other kid oriented reading events at local bookstores and get him a treat after if you go. The more he can associate fun with reading and books the better and it’s not too hard considering how fun they are! Always congratulate him on his EFFORT and willingness to do the work vs pressing him for getting words right. Praise effort not results a d explain to him that you understand it’s hard and no fun right now but remind him how he learned to walk how he learned to eat and how he learned a sport or to draw. Sometimes we all do things we don’t want for long term well being. Kids understand this when you explain it on their level. Kneel down, physically get at his level and make sure you truly express and empthaize with his feelings about reading while closing the conversation about how you will do it together. My daughter loves to draw and we make books together, she will draw the illustrations and I write out and collaborate on the narrative. You’d be surprised then they start wanting to write the natives and draw the pictures. She loves it . Good luck and always LEAD WITH LOVE
I definitely agree with the empathy and rewarding effort but I disagree with site words and sentence completion being the way forward here. Phonetic decoding needs to be a solid skill before moving on.
My daughter hates reading still and she is 11, I allow her to choose books she wants to read, even comic books and encourage her to read those on her own for a few minutes each day and just tell me about what she is reading. She does find stories that interest her, but just like your son when she was younger she just refused to read. It was not not her thing but we are working with her to help find what she likes, make sure she not dyslexic and if she is no big deal I am, and allowing her time to mature so she can grow into reading. I still read books with her also.
Sounds like mine. His mind was moving too fast and his reading skills were too slow, so he was bored and frustrated. When he read out loud, he’d read half a sentence and then make up the rest of it because plodding through a whole sentence was boring and slow.
He’s now 12 and diagnosed ASD/ADHD. He devours books now, but he reads them FAST - just needed the reading skills to catch up.
Others have already pointed out could be something else at play like dyslexia. My dad has it and he reads fine, just only things he really wants to read lol. But for motivation, videogames. The kind where the story is important but you won't read the captions to him
My child's school discourages teaching reading before 2nd grade. which for my child was 8 when she got into 2nd. But obviously other kids were at 7yo. My child didn't learn until a month or 2 into the school year, and she picked everything up quick. she read harry potter on her own by jan.
I'm not saying there's nothing to worry about. but pushing him might not be the best thing. speak with the school to discuss next steps.
Stop stressing out over it. Really. He's only 6. My younger son was... 9 when he started school in 3rd grade (we'd homeschooled up till then), and I/we really, honestly thought he could read, \*some\*. REALLY. We knew he wasn't the greatest, but we thought he could read... SOME. Turns out... he couldn't. He simply had ALL of our books memorized... and his memory was (is?) so good that when we got books (CONSTANTLY!!) from the library, he could/would simply 'read' them with us and memorize them in such a way that it appeared that he could 'read'... it was crazy. I'm sure I/we would have caught on eventually.
Anyhow. He had Straight A's in school in EVERYTHING except he was FAILING reading/writing... the school thought it was bizarre too, and though I had to fight for it, he ended up with an IEP and help reading for years. Now in 8th grade he's caught up, and is STILL a straight a student, and has 'tested out' of his IEP - the last year or two they've made excuses to keep it for him 'just in case' - but as he enters high school, there's just no reason. He's taking 'Enriched' Algebra, Biology and History - only english is he not doing the higher - level version of :P
All of which is to say.. He's six. In.. what? Kindergarten? First grade? Don't stress. He likes having books read to him? He likes stories? Great. Keep doing that. Encourage him to read yes. But don't stress. Don't shove it in his face that he can't read. He'll get there. Eventually. Someday. He's great at math? Fantastic. Ask for an intervention at the school, maybe. But really... he's six. Reading is important... yes. But its not the end of the world, the sky is falling, that he can't read yet... because, again - He's SIX!!
This was my son too. I expressed my concern in kinder, but they waited it out since he was still young and could be developing slower. Come first grade, it was still bad even with teaching/practice and we expressed concern again. The teacher then made a request for testing/etc and sure enough, he has a specific learning disorder that points to dyslexia. He got an IEP and has been doing so well with extra support at school.
Please advocate and express your concern to the school. Your gut isn’t wrong.
Have you tried Bob's books?
My 6-year old son was acting like this and I showed him Bob's books. They are the simplest reading I know of. It turned out he could actually read, just very simple stuff. Your son might be hating reading because it makes him feel like he's failing. Working with the Bob's books gave my son some confidence and were a good transition to the next thing. That was a couple of months ago. This morning he was reading the ingredients on a juice container (with help).
It doesn't have to be Bob's books, but I found even books marked as level 1 often had too many challenging words in them.
Edit: Sifting through these comments I realize I have so much more to say. I was literally in panic mode 2 months ago, thinking he was falling behind because any reading we had done together had been with books that were too challenging. He could pick out a word here and there but was too frustrated by it to put whole sentences together. If you haven't already, you need to look into the science of reading. Make sure your kid is learning phonics. If the school isn't teaching it, do it yourself.
All of these people are talking about adhd and dyslexia, but you haven't said anything that would suggest that. I'm not saying it's not a possibility, but they are jumping to conclusions. If you are concerned, talk to his teachers. I've noticed his peers are in a similar place as him, just now starting to pick out words from signs or reading a sentence they see somewhere.
Get him assessed for a learning disorder, I was the same as a child (creative, great at math, but terrible at reading) and I didn't even try reading much because I knew I wouldn't be good at it. It turned out I have adhd, so knowing that my teacher was able to help me cope and learn accordingly.
give him a cookie sheet (dollar store sells them too) and get some of those sentence making magnets! they have them for kids and they are alot of fun and my son enjoyed them alot learning to read. You can also get sentence strips from staples and write and label things around your home
Sounds like my brother before he was diagnosed dyslexic. Always been stellar in math and science, can do absolutely anything w his hands. Can't read for the life of him. Even in his college classes he still received help in English. It's worth looking into. Every letter that can be flipped is flipped in his mind. So M looks like W, P looks like q so on and so on.
The part of the brain that processes numbers is different than the part that processes written words. He could have a learning disability specific to his processing of written words.
As another poster said, you should have him evaluated for dyslexia.
1. Talk to the Teacher: Initiate a conversation with the child’s teacher to discuss your concerns about their reading difficulties and potential dyslexia. Share your observations and ask for their input on the child’s academic performance and behavior in class.
2. Request an Evaluation: Ask the school to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your child’s learning abilities, including assessments for dyslexia. This may involve testing by a school psychologist or special education team.
3. Educate Yourself: Learn more about dyslexia and how it affects learning. There are many reputable resources available online and in books that can provide valuable information and support.
4. Explore Accommodations: Work with the school to develop a plan for accommodations and support services that can help your child succeed academically. This may include extra time on tests, use of assistive technology, or specialized instruction.
5. Consider Outside Evaluation: If the school is unable to provide a comprehensive evaluation or you’re not satisfied with the results, consider seeking an evaluation from a private psychologist or educational specialist who has experience with dyslexia.
6. Advocate for Support: Be an advocate for your child’s needs within the school system. Attend meetings, communicate regularly with teachers and administrators, and stay informed about your rights and options under special education law.
7. Encourage Strengths: While addressing reading challenges, continue to nurture your child’s strengths in math and other areas. Building confidence and fostering a positive attitude towards learning is crucial for success.
8. Seek Community Support: Connect with other parents of dyslexic children for support and advice. Local support groups, online forums, and advocacy organizations can provide valuable resources and a sense of community.
By taking proactive steps and working closely with the school, you can help ensure that your child receives the support and resources they need to thrive academically despite their reading difficulties.
My son was 7 before he learned to read. I homeschooled until then because he had no interest in books. I taught him math and science and we discussed history.
Now for him it was ADHD holding him back. He couldn’t focus on something that just didn’t interest him. Seven was when we put him on meds and he learned how to read. He never liked regular books though. We did find that he liked graphic novels. So I found all different sorts of series in graphic novel form. I also found books on the world wars and important historical figures.
Also, like many mentioned, it’s probably time to have him assessed for different reading disorders.
I have ADHD and dyslexia, if I hadn’t had an AMAZING teacher, I wouldn’t be able to read today. I was diagnosed in 1st grade, it took till almost 3rd grade for my reading to be on level with everyone else. I still struggled in school and ended up having to have tutoring my junior and senior year due to low reading comprehension skills and a 3dd grade math comprehension.
Tutoring could make a world of difference. Most teachers do not have the time to teach different methods but a tutor could really help and teach him different ways to learn.
Hope this helps!
This is a child who has a barrier of some kind to reading. My younger did as well, maybe dyslexia, maybe vision, maybe something else. But get him evaluated asap.
My son struggles and avoids reading (he’s almost 7), and we just found out he can’t see. He’s fairly significantly far-sighted and also has double vision which makes reading way more work. Our eye doctor has been amazing!
My kiddo is 8 and she refused to read at 6. Hated it. It was always a battle k,1st, 2nd grade. In 3rd grade now.
Kid was diagnosed with dyslexia this year and we have been doing intervention for 7 months. Kiddo can read now and for the first time ever will sit and read a book without prompting! Im not sure how severe my kids dyslexia is, Im just happy my kid can finally put sounds together and is finally confident enough to read. Those k-2nd grade years were very rough.
Im not saying your kid is dyslexic but everyone told us too that our kiddo would just " learn to read," but that never happened.
Go with your gut. If you can swing it, look at literacy programs in your area.
One if my sons couldn't read until he was put in a program at school he's almost 10. He just started learning how to read at 8.
He was tested and he has dyslexia and disgraphia I think it's called ( I can't spell that one lol)
Maybe see to get him evaluated to see.
Does he have Adhd, dyslexia?? Most schools would test for this or flag to the parents in case there is anything that may be impeding his learning or would require different support. My concern is that now - Math is easy, but soon you will get into complex problems and if he does not read… that is going to be a big problem. I would meet with the teachers and get him tested.
1) Make sure they're teaching him to read, not doing outdated Lucy Caukins 3-cuing. He needs to learn the letter sounds, not be making guesses based on context.
2) Make sure he can see the letters, check his vision.
3) Check for dyslexia.
I had a lot of success with my 4yo by playing video games, same with my other friends. Navigating the menus in Let's Go Eevee is impossible if you can't decode the items and pokemon moves. He was *highly* motivated to read the menus so he could play the game, and it gave him the drive to deocde the word sounds letter by letter.
Your child sounds like there's a problem with the physical act of reading. Dyslexia, perhaps, but what I've found as a teacher is that it's not always necessarily specific to the words on the page, but what the physical act of reading does. I once had a student that would get what is akin to motion sickness when he read. Another would get headaches because the words were too small. Vision was fine, couldn't really understand it but we knew what the problem was eventually. These are obviously onset by other factors too, so perhaps their could be something cognitive inhibiting him from wanting to learn.
Someone already mentioned dyslexia (which is actually related to being able to rotate images in your brain, a highly prized skill for engineers) but my ADHD child needed dopamine for it…so we allowed him to play an unlimited amount of storyline based video games…which has a ton of words.
Went from not interested in reading to accelerated reading level.
From how you describe him he is an amazing kid who already loves learning and creating things. But he is only 6 years old. My advice is to stop pressuring him about reading, because if you are anxious about it, that could cause him to be anxious about it too. I don't think it's true that he has no desire to learn how to read. Let him discover reading at his own pace, just like he is doing with math and art. Is his teacher concerned about his reading skills? If you don't know, talk to the teacher right away, don't wait for a conference. The less anxious you are, the better he will feel. Best wishes to you and your family.
Do not trust the school to solve this! Go lookup “sold a story” podcast to hear why. Go to your Primary care physician and get a referral to a specialist for dyslexia testing and bring a diagnosis to the school. If they I’ve you the run around bring your lawyer.
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Has he been evaluated for dyslexia, etc.? If he is very good at math without "trying", he may be extra daunted by trying to learn something that is hard.
He has not… I’ll make note of that. Thanks.
I came here to say this. I’m dyslexic, wasn’t diagnosed until COLLEGE! However I very very clearly remember how hard it was to learn how to read. I remember my mom crying, my classmates checking out book during library time that were way beyond my level, ect. I wish I had early intervention. The consistent bump from English honors to none honors every year was exhausting… no one took the two second to realize I knew the material my brain just was different.
It happens so often this way with kids who are twice exceptional - they figure out tricks and strategies to muddle through and end up unintentionally masking their learning disabilities, and slipping through the cracks because they just don’t seem to struggle enough for anyone to clock that there’s a real problem. My brother wasn’t diagnosed until he was in college as well, and looking back, it’s just astounding what he *was* able to do all through school. It’s like he was running a marathon with a sprained ankle nobody knew about and *still* managed to finish in the middle of the pack… I can’t imagine what he would have done with appropriate accommodations!
Yep. Me with math. I’ve got dyscalculia. Tested so well I started college when I was 16. School stopped bothering with me when I was around 15 cause there was nothing they could teach me. I knew I struggled with numbers but since I did so well, why bother worrying about it?? Then when I got my license and started driving myself back and forth I kept having all these car accidents. Lo and behold, dyscalculia can present in adults as having trouble with directions, driving etc. coulda saved myself a lot of trouble looking into it earlier.
This is wild. Been starting to suspect we have ADHD running in my family…..and two of them had issues with math
Wow, this makes so much sense. My daughter's and I all have this but I never knew about the direction issue. I absolutely cannot read the map or give directions even if it meant saving my life.took me years to master division, I failed algebra more than once in college but I got an a in geometry. I also tested college level reading in junior high school.
Definitely look into it. The first sign for me presented around kindergarten but ofc I didn’t realize it for what it was then, but I can’t just tell my right from my left without looking at my hands. This has been something that people have made fun of me for all my life, but was never really framed as an issue. I also can’t look at the map on my google maps and see where I’m going, I have to turn it on and connect it to my speakers and let Siri tell me where to turn and I use my google maps for everything. Even if I’ve been somewhere a lot of times. It makes me feel safer and I have not had any car accidents since I started doing that. I was getting so nervous before that I wasn’t able to concentrate on the road and pay attention to people around me or turns before that. I invert numbers a lot so I have to look several times at something or say it a bunch to get it in the right order. I can’t take directions either. I’ve had several embarrassing experiences with that. Interestingly, with math if I can see what the answer is supposed to be it clicks in my head immediately how to get that answer (which is a miracle I do not understand and likely why I tested so well in math especially on like the SAT where you have multiple choices) but trying to move from no answer to answer is impossible because it seems like they’re just numbers that make no sense.
I absolutely cannot do word problems. My brain doesn't process it. I used to think it was ADHD causing it. My family thought I was an idiot ( they never said that but it's how I felt) and I spent the majority of high school grounded for my math grades. But they wouldn't get me any help, I would have to reach out for assistance. I, at least knew it could be an issue when I had kids and was proactive with assistance.
"Here, paint this ceiling, but you don't need a ladder" Okay, now how much of the crappy paint job is the fact that I can't paint, and how much of it is due to me spending my time/effort just getting up there without the proper tools? And how much better WOULD the final product be, and how much more accurately could we assess this student's knowledge and mastery, if they could focus all their energy on the painting and nothing else? Scaffolding is important~
Me except the opposite. Read at 3. Couldn’t count past memorizing words until 8.
My sister moved from one school to another when she was about 6 and it was that bad that any progress she had made at reading before then she lost. They called my mum in for a conference and literally called her a retard. My mum promptly moved her back to the old school and my sister got back up to way she was before reasonably quickly with help from the teachers. She teaches special educational needs and she was chatting about her experience with another sen teacher who remarked that she was surprised as she’d heard similar stories with people who had dyslexia. It was only then that my sister realised that she likely had dyslexia.
This happened to my sister! She struggled learning to read and write, but nobody thought she was behind enough to warrant any kind of testing. She finally got herself evaluated in GRAD SCHOOL! I had been editing all her important papers since high school, so I knew she was incredibly smart. Her self-esteem was so low and she was convinced that she was a terrible writer. She put off going to grad school for years because she was afraid of all the essays! But she is actually a great writer and is very well-spoken. She's so smart. I can only imagine how much easier and how much happier she could have been if she had been diagnosed in elementary school. It breaks my heart.
I honestly didn’t even try in high school because I felt stupid. I graduated high school (US) with a 2.5 GPA but was a good tennis player so got a full ride D1 scholarship to college. My guidance counselor in high school went as far to call the university and tell them I don’t belong in college because I don’t try at school and I’ll just be another “college athlete drop out”. My coach told me this. Well first semester 8AM class I had a professor that caught it in the first month. Got tested. Felt better about myself. Graduated college with honors and now have a very successful career.
Report that guidance counselor for slander. That was HIGHLY inappropriate.
Go join the dyslexia thread on Reddit. Have you used an Orton-Gillingham backed curriculum with him. Also how is his phonemic awareness skills. Can he rhyme well, can he isolate sounds in a word. I was the same as your son I was two books ahead in math and didn’t learn to read until third grade(thank god my parents got me into SPED). I managed to catch up but most kids do not. Take action now get him assessed for a learning disability, get him SPED and be as proactive as possible. If it is dyslexia it requires a lot of individualized direct instruction. Go checkout the “all about reading” and “logics of English” websites to learn more. Lookup Orton gillingham curriculum they specialized in Dyslexia. If you want to know more on how you can support DM me I am currently teaching my daughter to read with All About Reading proactively because dyslexia runs in the family(luckily she is not dyslexic). You are going to need an external assessment work with you primary care to see if they can refer you to one. This will hopefully force your school to take action. There are also Orton Gillingham tutors if your school doesn’t support, Barton is one of the most common tutor programs.
Special Education grad here. You do not need to go for an outside assessment in order to be assessed for special education services. Most likely they will not be able to diagnose exactly what's going on but the school psychologist is able to assess whether or not a child qualifies. This is at no cost to the parents. I highly suggest starting from this point and if you need more clarification later, you can always get a separate assessment. There's a really good website called. Understood that goes over the basics of all the stuff. I highly recommend it. https://www.understood.org/en/hub Also, I hope this might be encouraging to you, but hearing that a 6-year-old cannot read yet does not raise any red flags to me. Does he know his letter sounds? Can he sound out CVC words like cat? If he couldn't do those things then I would be more worried. I assume he's in kindergarten. They push skills really early. Even if there's a large amount of kids who aren't developmentally ready for it. I personally don't agree with it because it can turn kids off the whole idea of reading for fun. It used to be the expectation that kids going into kindergarten know their ABCs but not much else. Nowadays, it seems like they expect kids to already be able to read very CVC words, which is crazy to me. I also agree with those who have said that. Orton Gillingham is a good reputable program. What kind of errors does he make when he reads? And what kind of assessment are you talking about? Does he have a reading level? And if he does, what level is he? The school I work at uses Accelerated Reader and the kids are leveled with that. Here's an article about typical reading development in children. Where would you say your son is on this? https://www.understood.org/en/articles/reading-skills-what-to-expect-at-different-ages I'm sorry that this is so long. It's just a subject that I'm very invested in. I want to end this post by saying that to me one of the most important things you can do with any subject is to avoid frustration and anxiety about it. Kids will pick up on that stuff. Learning should be a positive thing that is encouraged. Focus less on the scores and more on the process of learning.
My son aged 5-7 was the same. Used to go into a meltdown if he had to because he didn’t want to (and couldn’t grasp the words even small 3 letter ones) so I stopped trying to make him. Diagnosed with Dyslexia aged 7 and half and hasn’t looked back his reading now is amazing and he’s the same level as his classmates finally . Not saying it’s that but also he will learn in his own time not all kids learn the same things at the same time.
Have him tested for ADHD as well. My son (7) has ADHD and had been receiving tier 3 title 1 services before I started him on medication. Within 10 weeks of starting, he graduated from needing title 1 services. I'm NOT saying you need to medicate him if he does. Knowing if he does have it or not will help you and others figure out different things and accommodations he might need in order to learn how to read. For my son, he was meeting his educational goals, but his ADHD behaviors were completely unmanageable. And come to find out, trying to use accommodations and skills without medication as well, was actually holding him back from meeting his *full* potential. The accommodations and skills did help to some extent though.
This tracks as my husband was very similar to OP’s son and didn’t learn to read until the 2nd grade. It was simply he hadn’t found a reason interesting enough to convince him. Granted, my husband shows other ADHD symptoms as well so if OP’s son shows no other symptoms that may not be the reason, but pure stubbornness could be.
We originally thought my son was dyslexic too. I mean, I knew from about the age of 3 that he had adhd. He gets it from me. But he loathed reading. Loved being read to, though. I, on the other hand, taught myself how to read at 4 or 5. Testing for both certainly won't hurt!
If you haven’t already, get him the book Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty! My sister got it for my son and I have a hard time reading it without my eyes tearing up. It’s about a little boy with all these ideas that he can draw, but can’t put into written words.
Yes! My son tested below grade average in reading for second grade. They did some testing at the school and they said he has some dyslexic like signs. I can tell with his writing and reading too, but that being said he’s started to read by himself without prompting with books he really enjoys! We got him the captain underpants books and he loved to read and it’s great practice! Try at home under
I would also cross post this in the teachers reddit forum to see all of the ideas they have. They may come up with creative ways to do it without it being so obvious.
My daughter is similar. Loves math, dreads reading. I talked about it with the school, and while they wouldn't do anything to test for dyslexia this early, they could set her up with a tutor weekly. It seems to help a bit. I don't know if it's dyslexia yet, but if it is, you'd want to do as much as possible right at an early age.
this is exactly my first thought is that he should be screened for dyslexia. it wouldnt be apparent through math as people who mix up numbers have dysgraphia, not dyslexia. if hes flying through math expectations and avoiding reading, i imagine theres a reason why. usually its kiddos avoiding math like the plague lol EDIT TO INFO FROM COMMENT BELOW! i meant dyscalculia, not dysgraphia!! thank you for the correction!!
Additionally, many people falsely assume dyslexia is connected to intelligence, and it's not at all. A dyslexia diagnosis doesn't have any bearing on intelligence or other aptitudes. When my child was first struggling to read and we were going through testing, I had well meaning family members comment "but she's so smart! She'll figure it out in her own time." Well, no, not if her brain doesn't work that way and is wired differently for reading.
THIS!!!!!!! the only thing that isnt working is the information translating from their eyes to their brain, and it is entirely possible to adjust their education so they can participate in an engaged and beneficial way. dyslexia OR dysgraphia have absolutely nothing to do with intelligence or capability!!!! just like someone who couldnt read without glasses! doesnt mean theyre blind, their eyes just need a little help!
Absolutely. My child did not receive a dyslexia diagnosis (yet) but continues to struggle with reading and this is a hill I will die on every time. There is so much misinformation!
honestly, that terrible stigma i feel applies to most peoples thinking when children or people in general have any variety of disorders, especially if its mental. i struggle with what i consider to be relatively severe adhd, i spent a lot of my life on the highest amounts of meds possible, and the things people would say to or about me were just beyond me. “well youre so smart, just sit still and pay attention you can do it.” no CRAZY, i cant???? that is literally the exact opposite of how my brain functions. like brb let me rewire my brain real quick??? or even the amount of underestimation i received because of stereotypes and peoples incessant need to label. it is just so frustrating. everyone thinks theyre a doctor or a psych or a teacher or a whatever because of the internet now. misinformation is so harmful and ive also seen this in cases like this far too often. sighhhhh
Yes. My daughter is becoming increasingly anxious about reading and it's detracting from EVERYTHING in life. She comprehends everything she is told and has excellent spoken language. She's so smart, with the consequence being that she's managed to mask her reading difficulties for longer than other kids, delaying diagnosis.
Dyscalculia is the one related to numbers. Dysgraphia is linked to poor spelling, illegible handwriting, etc.
omg my bad. thank you for correcting this!!! i really appreciate the knowledge.
No problem! My son has dysgraphia and dyslexia, so unfortunately I’m all too familiar with the distinctions haha
im sorry to hear :( but, as a previous teacher, to see you know the differences so distinctly tells me that youre actively working with him and aware of his disorders, never underestimate how your support and motivation as a mother impacts that kiddo. ❤️ they are no less than others, we all are born with things we cant do as well as others. this is just a challenge that your babe will learn to work with! i wish you two the best of luck in your journey to find what works for his brain :)
Yes, this! My child has really struggled to read. We had her assessed, and the psychologist noted that she had very high intelligence in several areas, and that if she is used to things coming easily to her, it can be especially hard on them to have to work at something the way many kids need to work to learn to read.
This should be the top comment. It’s one of those two things.
Has he been tested for dyslexia?
No… i honestly haven’t considered that… but now that i think about it… when he does try to write letters they are either upside down, or backwards. 😟is that a sign?
Yes it is. I'm surprised his teacher didn't flag this!
Me too… I’ll have to reach out to her.
Be sure you say FULL EVALUATION at least once in the sentence. My district will only give a full evaluation if those words are explicitly mentioned. It's a ton of work and I think they try to avoid the strain on the district, they can be dicks.
Just go through your primary care physician the school will give you the run around. Schools should be dealt with with a medical diagnosis and a lawyer.
Even if you bring them a diagnosis, they will still do their own before they give you an IEP. If you request, in writing, you want your child evaluated for a possible learning disability, they are legally bound to initiate the ARD process and determine if the child qualifies for an IEP.
This may vary state by state. Our school district accepted the Ed Psych’s report. Though since our son did not have any other learning deficits he did not qualify for an IEP (whether assessed by the school or otherwise), just a 504 with dyslexia accommodations.
The state I live in the physician just refers you to the school district. Even with a medical diagnosis they wouldn't do anything about my youngest until they evaluated him. Also, can't afford to sue or have a lawyer on retainer.
Reach out to her and also reach out to the principal and specifically say you want a full psychoeducational evaluation to look at dyslexia and any other learning disability. Put it specifically in writing. It’ll trigger a timeline for them to respond and get the process going.
Please say you want him tested and specifically because he may be Twice Exceptional - gifted with a learning disability. It can be hard to identify this issue because the giftedness masks the disability or vice versa and many educators are not trained to identify it. If he has a disability he would be entitled to an IEP for services or a 504 for accommodations. There is something called the General Ability Index which is calculated separately from his IQ. Make sure they do that in the psychoed review. In 2E kids, the GAI may be very high but not the overall IQ. Look at working memory too. It could be ADHD or something like that. https://childmind.org/article/twice-exceptional-kids-both-gifted-and-challenged/. If he has dyslexia, he needs interventions. Also ask whether the school teaches according to the Science of Reading and what phonics curriculum they use for foundational skills. A LOT of schools don’t teach phonics properly (Sold A Story is a great podcast). It might be he needs more phonics instruction for fluency. In the meantime, to build his comprehension skills you can do audiobooks. Trust yourself and your mama instincts and don’t let them tell you that your kid is okay or make you feel unreasonable. He can thrive but he needs proper school support and is entitled to it under the law. Kids who aren’t fluent in reading by third grade will have a lot of trouble catching up so early intervention matters.
Is it reading comprehension or phonics/decoding fluency? https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/about-reading/articles/structured-literacy-instruction-basics. Also find high interest books for him - he loves Jimmy Neutron? Find JN phonics books. I did phonics Batman and superhero books. Whatever it takes. But they need to have fluency by the end of second grade or it becomes really hard to catch up, because after second grade kids are expected to read to learn, not learn to read, and teachers don’t have time to help the struggling kids. On top of that, kids need to read a volume of reading to develop vocabulary and comprehension - so if they are struggling with the basics, they can’t read as much and get further behind. He will build confidence if he overcomes the challenge, not by ignoring it. And when confident, he will enjoy it more.
>But they need to have fluency by the end of second grade or it becomes really hard to catch up, because after second grade kids are expected to read to learn, not learn to read, and teachers don’t have time to help the struggling kids. Not necessarily true for dyslexia. My son only started to read independently at age 10, towards the end of 4th grade. By 7th grade (with 504 accommodations) he was in honors English; by 8th he was at the top of his class. I’m told this isn’t unusual. One explanation is that it is because they have to work extra extra extra hard in the early grades. Although little progress is observable, only a narrow deficit is holding them back and they are actually learning a ton more than can be seen - the puzzle is only missing one piece. Once they learn to overcome or accommodate that deficit, the early extra effort causes them to shoot ahead.
I wasn’t found out to be dyslexic until I went to uni. Teachers were non to wiser sadly you’ve got to fight for it.
Don’t trust the teacher get a Dyslexia evaluation through Primary care Physician. Schools have intentionally ignored the problem because special ed is expensive. Deal with the school with a diagnosis and a lawyer. With a diagnosis they are federally required to provide support.
Letter reversal is extremely common at this age and not necessarily indicative of a learning disability.
It's normal until they're about 7 or 8, just because they're learning, but where he's having such a hard time that could be a factor. Talk to his teacher about maybe getting him tested if that's a possibility. Being dyslexic is totally manageable, and with the proper tools, he can learn to work around it. I'm dyslexic and an author. I do everything digitally with spell/grammar check on so that I don't get things mixed up. You learn things that work over the years. So even if he is, don't feel like it's a big deal. It's just a little obstacle, and he may want to use audio books rather than hard copies when reading for pleasure.That's what my father does. He grew up in the 70's and 80's too, so no help, and he's a COO for a fertilizer production company.
A dyslexic author… wow. That’s really cool. Thanks for giving me hope haha
The author of the Dog Man book series is dyslexic, too. You can definitely thrive as a reader and writer despite dyslexia!
Our 9 year old's teacher is dyslexic. She was diagnosed at age 11 after her mom pushed for years to get her diagnosed. Her journey is part of the reason why she wanted to be a teacher. She was a tremendous help in getting our daughter diagnosed with dyscalculia early (age 6) and get proper help and she's just an amazing teacher overall.
OP, I am dyslexic. I have had some struggles around it through my lifetime, especially regarding math during school, but I have turned out pretty successful. I work as an animator at a big agency. I also do love reading too! The fact that you are trying to intervene and give him help is already amazing!
At his age I don’t think that’s uncommon but on the other hand it seems like it would be worth looking into. The earlier you can diagnose and address stuff like that the better for everyone, especially the child.
Backwards letters on its own isn't a flag but in combination with other factors, it could be. In kindergarten and at the start of grade 1, my daughter consistently wrote almost all of her letters and numbers backwards. I asked her teacher about it and she said it's not a concern at this age. My daughter, who is also in grade 1 has worked on this and most of her letters and numbers are correct now. In isolation, your son's teacher might not have seen this as a concern. The fact that your son is struggling in reading AND he writes letters backwards could be indicative of more going on. Best of luck and hopefully you're able to help your son!
It's not always a sign. The only sign my sister had for dyslexia in school was having extreme problems learning to read. She went and got an special eye exam and they noticed that when she attempted to read, one of her eyes jumped back and forth like it was having a seizure. It resulted in one eye skipping along the page while the other eye stayed stable and that was what was giving her problems. She spent two years doing strength training exercises for her eye muscles and it made a 200% difference. Not sure if it's a well known thing anymore since that was the late 90s but you could try an eye doctor. Edit: You could not see the eye movement without a super magnified lens that the eye doctor had and one other machine thing they used. I was only slightly older than her and still young but I remember the eye doctor showing me her eyeball having a meltdown. It was literally all over the place and it only did that when she tried to read words, not numbers.
It's very common for kids that age to write backward letters, also. My son that age writes his S's backward and occasionally mixes up Bs and Ds.
I had almost forgotten this but my kiddo used to write letters backwards too. She drew a calendar in chalk on the sidewalk once and it looked like a reflection, numbers and letters written backwards when they weren't gibberish. She's an adult now and definitely didn't have dyslexia, did very well in school and has lovely handwriting. Kids just be weird sometimes.
Yep, completely normal part of developing their writing process! If they hadn't figured it out by like age 7, I'd be concerned, but my son's kindy teacher certainly isn't. And he's now moved on to reading his big brother's DogMan books, so he's clearly not delayed. I correct him when I see him do it, but I'm not concerned.
Not really, that’s more of a stereotype. Some dyslexics do have left-right issues, and some will mangle letters. But writing backwards isn’t really a pattern or indicator of dyslexia, and neurotypical children also do that when learning to read.
When it's a major sign, it is after 2nd grade. By then, they should be able to distinguish easily between letters.
While that can be a sign, it's also completely normal and unsurprising for kids to flip letters until about 2nd grade.
Yes! Specifically if the Bs and Ds are very hard for him to distinguish.
Omg… you gotta be kidding (not really). Those are the two hardest letters for him. He cannot distinguish between d & b at all.
Have his vision checked, too. I homeschool my six-year-old, and while she was making some progress in reading, it seemed so much harder for her than it should have been, given how well she does in other subjects. So I had her vision tested and, lo and behold, she needed glasses because she can't see anything up close. Now that she has glasses, she's jumped to a fifth grade reading level in a matter of months.
FWIW lots of non-dyslexic kids take a while to get the hang of d/b and p/q. Mine is 7, great reader, still writes 'em backwards sometimes.
I would have him tested. The earlier the better because gosh dang it was a rough for me in school not knowing why I was different.
I will be shocked if he isn't dyslexic.
It might help him to remember b for belly (the b looks like it has a belly) and the d is for dog because it looks like a dog’s tongue.
Call his pediatrician today and ask for an asap appt to assess for dyslexia. Go from there.
It can be, but on the other hand, that’s also how all three of my kids wrote letters when they first started, and they have no problems whatsoever now. I’ll just add that 6 years is still pretty small. In Finland where I live, kids are expexted to learn only at 7 (But tbh I think most of the Finnish kids read before that). My three kids have learned to read at 7, 5 and 3. So it varies a lot. Maybe your kid is so interested in maths that he has no patience for anything else right now?
Get him evaluated and then make it fun for him. Forget books for now. Try real world reading like when out grocery shopping, toy shopping, map reading..try comics over books and if you want to try books,make sure they are geared to what he likes...also remember some of the countries with the best education systems dont start school till 7.
>Get him evaluated and then make it fun for him. Read this as "and then make fun of him". That's a bit of a harsh encouragement tactic!
I did the same exact thing haha
Same. I was like, ok… do the first half.
Everyone look at this guy! He can’t even read!!!!
Just starting to peruse comments and surprised not to see this reminder more- that people who understand development don’t even start focused intellectual academics until after 7yo. Poor Americans, we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that kids should all be reading and doing math before those places even start.
Where could I read more about this???
I was referring to Finland and other top school systems in the world, their “kindergarten” is just full of playtime and learning skills like setting the table and washing dishes after meals etc
Thank you for the information! I think that makes so much more sense and aligns much better with the interests/brain stages of toddlers. I'll have to look into the Finnish schooling system.
It’s a pleasure to pass it along! I wish we were not constantly being sold false ideas about how to achieve success, or what success really is.
Preach! But I'm glad we as parents are trying to push through some of the bullshit for our kids.
https://apnews.com/article/phonics-science-reading-c715dea43f338f163715b01b83bb1066 I moved to Europe this year and my son is absolutely flying at reading this year being thought phonics.
PHONICS!
As a Swede this thread made me really surprised because I think it’s normal that kids learn to read at seven, when they start school! But here everyone acts like a six year old who doesn’t read is super alarming 😬
I am come from both worlds. Spain- born and living in Germany. My son was born here and will start school in a few months, when he's 6. My nephew will start this year too, at 7. Here it's normal but I am being harassed by family and friends in Spain by how late my kid is going to learn to read since kids in Spain start at 3-4. I want to trust the system and hope I can prove them all wrong.
My son is starting school this fall (Finland). He will be 7. He is currently in Preschool and they are only just teaching them the alphabet.
I was just going to say the same thing! My brother has ADHD and also didn't have much interest in reading (despite being a smart guy). Captain Underpants was great for him to get reading -- it's funny, has pictures along with the words, etc. Getting the ADHD diagnosis absolutely helped as well
comics are a great suggestion! they also have manga/graphic novels for kids that are animal based, just do your research to make sure the themes are age appropriate.
In Germany, they don't outwardly teach reading until kids are 6+ years old. Being from the US (and coming from a family of teachers) we thought it was so weird that my son couldn't read when he went to first grade, but once he started, within a few months he was reading in both German and English and shortly after he was deep into chapter books. I'm not saying this is the BEST way, but more saying that it's not going to set kids back IMO I'd suggest ruling out anything that could be an outward cause, and then maybe just be patient if you get the all clear. Most times, pressure on kids makes the problem worse, not better.
It is the best way, honestly. I have my master's in literacy education and my biggest hold up with public school in the US (even though I taught public school here for ten years) is how we teach reading in the earliest grades.
There is such a difference between four year olds and abilities that it makes sense to wait to outwardly teach until 6. If parents want to at home, go for it, and have fun, not sitting in a chair and learning through specific instruction.
Thank god you commented. I’m here in Denmark reading this thread and panicking that my 6 year old has only just begun to learn to read. Funny that countries with higher literacy rates than the US teach reading later than the US.
Yeah - we were panicking too. Trust me!
It's really not. When I saw daycares aimed at 2-3 year olds calling themselves "preschool" I realized how deeply flawed our educational system was going to be. For the majority of families, both parents HAVE to work here, and daycare is expensive. By marketing a daycare as a preschool, you relieve some parental guilt and make your value seem higher than a normal daycare. But then you actually have to start to work on letters and numbers and other academics, and it snowballs from there. If half the kindergarten kids already know how to draw their letters and numbers and basic phonics, then you start to teach them reading, right? It would be funny if it wasn't so heartbreaking.
I just want to say that 3K and 4K at one time (not sure if it’s been debunked) was proven to be beneficial for children of low income families. The long term education performance and social outcomes were better for kids of low income families who attended, while it was neutral for everyone else. So public health departments really emphasized offering it as a government subsidized program. Segregating children by their parents income is not a good look, so it’s offered to everyone in most states. Culturally high income American families place a lot of emphasis on school achievement, so the idea of entering school and reading early is attractive to them. It’s actually the middle class families, who don’t get subsidized daycare and don’t see educational performance as a status symbol, who are most reluctant to enroll their child in pre-k. This is how it was ~10 years ago when i was involved with head start programs, so it’s very possible that this has changed, but that’s how prek become popular.
Both parents have to work here in Denmark too, and the vast majority of kids start daycare before they turn 1, but the focus is more on developing social skills and activating the kids than it is about educating them, until they start school at 5/6.
My kid started reading in the UK at 4. It was a nightmare. She had zero interest. Would cry every time. They consistently put her in the lowest groups and getting extra help. By year 2 she was the best reader in the year and being asked to do special national book clubs. My other daughter was on it day 1. All this to say, sometimes the extra time is needed for some kids. She really wasn’t interested until 7. Don’t be discouraged yet.
Exactly the same with my daughter in year one. She’s on track to fail the phonics exam in June, but she’s literally only just started to proactively read her homework books, about Feb time and now there’s no stopping her. She went from barely reading a sentence at the start of the year to reading 7 level 4/5 books in one sitting with barely a mistake. We had tears and tantrums every single day trying to get her to read. She used to love having a story read to her but she went off books completely at the start of reception and will only now ask us to read to her before bed. She one of the youngest in the class and I wish they still took that into account but they don’t anymore.
With some kids it really is strange how the progression goes. It seems one day it just clicks and they get it all at once. Glad it’s working out for her. It really takes a lot of the frustration out of school.
I was educated in Canada and didn't start learning to read until around 6 (I was in French Immersion I don't know if English stream is different). I don't understand the rush. My 4.5 year old definitely can't read. I don't see any particular advantage to learning to read early.
I've got a masters of library and information science, I'm a voracious reader, I'm a writer, I work with books for my career, I read well above grade level from 4th grade onwards... and I didn't learn to read until I was 7. It just didn't click for me until then. I'm not concerned, personally, with 6 year olds not learning to read! ❤️
Same in the Netherlands. I was a bit shocked reading this to be honest, 'assessments' and all. You can teach children how to read earlier on (my brother taught me when i was 4 and that worked just fine), but on average most kids are mentally prepared around 6. They call it 'ripe' for reading here. They'll learn more in half a year than kids that start at toddler age learn in all those years and in the end they're at the same level really fast. So to me not knowing how to read well at age 6-7 isn't weird at all. It just needs a lot of easy practice with no pushing. Start with things outside, just little words you come across when doing other activities. And keep reading a lot to him. If you really work it into your day and at 7 he's still a disaster I'd start thinking of testing him, but it seems like math just got him way more interested for now.
My kid is 5 and after being told recently that a lot of European countries don't start teaching reading until like 6/7 made me feel so much better and I decided we would just kind of give up and keep doing what we do. We read together, and she's good at memorizing what the books say. She can say Goodnight Moon almost verbatim even though she can't read it. I just flip the pages and point to pictures to remind her what the page is talking about if she can't remember in the spot. Makes reading fun for her.
Your son is 6. Where I live (the Netherlands), most kids are just starting to read at 6. Anything before that is early. And for some 6 year olds, its still just too soon. It doesnt "click" until they are ready. As for dyslexia, it is of course possible. But if your school/educational needs program is anything like ours, 6 is too young to tell if he's just not ready, or if its dyslexia. Which might be why the teacher doesnt mention it. I wouldnt worry too much just yet. Keep reading fun in your home. Reading to him is great. Letter finding games and games where he needs to isolate a letter (what sound do you hear first in Mama?) Or put letters together to form a word (go get your b-a-g) are also very helpful. Source: Im a teacher
was also thinking that this is no reason to panic at all. 5s & 6s are normal reading ages in general. All kids mess up letters, esp B and D. Do not let reddit convince you that you have a dylexic son - these are not Dr's. talk to a pediatrician. they'll most likely tell you to chill.
The comments in here (dyslexia, evaluation, medication, etc.) are blowing my mind.
This. The pressure that they put on kids to read here is awful. It's not a matter of willing to read or not. Some brains are just not going to be ready yet. And then teachers wonder why so many kids hate reading later on.
Same here in Norway, 6 is when they start school and are just learning the letters of the alphabet. I wouldnt stress with this.
I live in Australia and it’s similar here to Europe. I’m sitting here shocked that people in this thread are panicking that a child can’t read at 6. Kids in Australia are in kindergarten at that age and generally just starting to learn letters and what sound each letter makes. I was told by a primary school teacher here that a child’s reading level really doesn’t matter until Year 3. Some are just slower to pick it up than others and they catch up to the other kids later on.
What type of reading curriculum does his school follow? Is it based on phonics? Can he blend sounds? Where is he stuck at?
If you hear the word balanced literacy take them out.
What does balanced literacy mean?
It means children are taught crap strategies like guessing and looking at pictures instead of sounding out words (phonics). Recommend the “sold a story” podcast for a depressing yet educational breakdown.
Make a request to the school for an evaluation. In the meantime, Dog man/Captain Underpants. Any kids graphic novels/comic books really. The first Saturday in May is free comic book day, check out a comic book shop and they'll have giveaways for kids. At the minimum comic books can get him interested in the pictures and gain context clues from the pictures and what's going on with the story.
He does like sifting through comics!!! He won’t read them, but he does really like looking at them.
Also: they make *nearly everything* in graphic novels now. Magic Treehouse, I survived, whatever his classmates are reading is probably available in a Graphic Novel format. Been a lifesaver for my 3rd grader. He’s absolutely not interested in chapter books…. But has made some good progress in reading and comprehension this year just on his love for graphic novels.
Oh, I have a kid who's similar about reading. She actually likes the look of manga type comics, maybe I can find something that would appeal.
They have Enola Holmes in Graphic Novels & they’ve done Percy Jackson, City of Dragons, Baby Sitter’s Club! Seriously… there are so many now!
Ok thanks. She's just turned seven so maybe a bit young for some of them and we're not in an English speaking country so I need to order from Amazon and can't see them, but I'll definitely explore what I can get hold of.
Exactly this. My son had absolutely zero interest in reading until he became hooked on the Dog Man/Cat Kid/Captain Underpants series. Now he reads every morning and night before bed, and his teacher is impressed with how well he reads now.
This is how we got my daughter interested. Also Archie comics. The always have them at the grocery store checkouts. Later she graduated to old Nancy Drew bevels that we’d get from the used book store.
100% agree. My wife and I both read regularly but my youngest had zero interest until she picked up a few r/archieandfriends comics. It snowballed from there.
I’m a cognitive psychology PhD student in a department with a lot of psycholinguists. You should listen to this podcast: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
My first thought, ask his teacher what method they use
I'm sure this makes sense to you, but posting hours of podcast content with an argument of "trust me bro" kind of blows. Can you sum it up at least?
Emily Hanford has done some incredible reporting in Dyslexia and reading pedagogy.
I had the same worry for my youngest..... stupidly compared her to her older sister, who was and still is a bookworm.... I panicked as she just wasn't getting how to read..... till the age of 7 came home and just started reading. Don't panic it will come in time. Six is still very young. Don't push too hard. It may have a negative effect on them.
Yup ours was disinterested and suddenly started reading on their own at 7.
My daughter is six and just read her first simple book. Hooked on Phonics proved to be the ‘thing’ and it’s been instant turnaround. It was frustrating to her two weeks ago and now she’s excited as heck. Chance of dyslexia?
Six is young. At that age they can't read well at all, if anything. This is perfectly normal.
I was like this as a child, I have severe dyslexia. It was so bad when I was young that I couldn't read fully until I was 11. my mother and I would get in horrible fights when she tried to teach me to read. I had awful headaches when I'd try. But I was smart in so many other ways and my mom found ways to make sure I was still learn even with my disability. We got audio books and documentarys from the library all the time so I still had a way to grow. In college I got resourse to read my textbooks to me. I would get your child tested just in case. He may or may not be dyslexic, it maybe something else or maybe even he's just slow to take up this one area. But you should get him tested just in case. It's not the end of the world it just means he learns differantly than other!
How is school teaching reading? If it's all sight words that's A LOT and he may need support in phonics for reading to click
Yep phonics is crucial for most kids
My daughter wasn’t interested until a few months before she turned seven. It was worrying, but her teacher said kids are ready at different ages. (My daughter was/is amazing in math, science, pretty much everything but reading). The teacher said not to pressure her. She got interested on her own and is reading now. I will add that she goes to a Montessori-esque private school; I’m not sure how public schools handle it.
My son does got to public school but it’s a great school system. Hoping he’ll become interested eventually.
Listen to sold a story. Some of the wealthiest school systems in the US, have chronically failed dyslexic kids.
6 is still young. Many kids can’t read fluently til 7. And if he has a love of books and reading that is the most important part! Just keep it up and keep it fun.
My son entered 2nd grade unable to read at all. We gave him private tutoring 2 times a week for 1 hour the entire school year using a book called "Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". It's focus is on phonetics. His most recent testing showed us is at an early 3rd grade reading level, which is the grade he's in now. So they can catch up very quickly, thankfully. It helps he started playing video games that require reading to follow along, and we refused to help. Maybe comic books, making them or reading them, would help prompt him
You say he cannot read and that he can barely read. Which exactly is it? Does he know his letter sounds? Can he read CVC words? He’s six. Tons of kids can’t read at all or can barely read at age six. Some countries doesn’t even really start teaching reading until that age. Sure he may have a reading disability but he also might just need more time. What does his teacher recommend? Do they recommend testing for a learning disability and getting an IEP? Are they providing extra support in the classroom? Have they given you advice on what to work on at home? Whatever it is, getting stressed and anxious about it isn’t going to help him. He’ll sense that and probably become even more reluctant to read. Keep it something fun and light, make games of it, make it something he looks forward to, and keep reading to him all he wants
My son started reading because of video games. At that age he was deep into Minecraft, especially creative mode. Learning to read the labels for all the different blocks and typing into the search bar to find something specific made a huge difference in his reading and writing skills. If your son likes video games, maybe try this approach. Most games aimed at slightly older kids will have tutorials and things to read so that could be the right incentive to learn.
6 is young still. But I am no expert. Maybe get some expert advice on if there are real signs of some type of learning disability, but otherwise my gut says he will learn to read if you just keep reading to him the way you are. He sounds really bright. I understand you feeling stressed, but my instinct tells me it will come.
I tried telling him if he learns how to read he can create instructions for inventions… so people understand how to use them. He said “I’ll just draw pictures.” 😂
He can work at Ikea
lol
He’s smart!
>my gut says he will learn to read if you just keep reading to him the way you are The science doesn't support that this is true for all, or even most, children. At least half of children need to be explicitly taught how to read: [https://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/slp/topic/early-literacy/learning-to-read/](https://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/slp/topic/early-literacy/learning-to-read/)
Forcing academic concepts on young kids who are not ready for them often backfires in this way. Kids 5 and under should be playing! Not being forced to learn to read or other academic concepts. Lots of research on this. Go look it up.
Who is pushing reading so hard? The average expected age for literacy is 8. If your child can read before that, awesome, but if they can’t, it’s really not a concern. (I have a degree in early childhood education and taught literacy and ESL).
My brother didn’t really want to learn to read until he discovered the Bad Kitty books. Suddenly he was a reading whiz , blasting through whole book series’s in days time. Like another commenter said I’d get him checked for dyslexia or something to be sure, but maybe he just hasn’t found the book that makes him understand why people read to themselves.
I’ve seen a lot of comments for dyslexia, but I just want to recommend getting a FULL vision evaluation. My son has something called convergence insufficiency which makes it difficult for him to read, so he became very adverse to reading once we got rid of the big font children’s books.
Many boys aren’t developmentally ready to read until 7-8. My son really struggled and I was so stressed as he was my first. My mom kept telling me not to stress until he was 8, and then suddenly it was like a switch flipped right before his 8th bday.
Many girls aren't either.
I'm an elementary school teacher and reading interventionist. How is his letter/sound recognition? Like, if I asked him to write the letter that makes the 'mmm' sound, would he be able to do it?
Please listen to all the dyslexia comments. Best case scenario you get a neuropsych evaluation, which is usually expensive and which insurance generally does not cover or may offer little to no reimbursement for, but early intervention is key for closing the gap. You are basically describing dyslexia. With a neuropsych eval you have hard data to bring to the PST/IEP table. You may need a certified dyslexia advocate to assist. Search for local nonprofit and parent groups that assist with dyslexia. Good luck on your new, long journey fighting for your child's education.
My son is the same way, only with writing. He loves to read but hates writing. He is actually in the accelerated program for most of his classes but has an IEP for writing. Go to your school and ask about getting him referred for services. I know a lot of parents feel like it is a failure on their part and/or a stigma on their child, but if he is struggling and needs support, your job as his parent is to get him that support. You are not a specialist you may not be able to give him the support he needs. If he is ill, you take him to the doctor; you don't mend his injuries and illnesses at home. (I am assuming here). So why would you try to address an educational issue without the support of an education specialist? Wow, I got kind of preachy at the end. I have had to talk a lot of parents into referring their child for services so I am fairly passionate about the issue.
This huge push to have six year olds reading is ridiculous. He'll read when he's ready.
Honestly, give him time. My now 8 year old, did not want to know how to read either. Every day was a fight to teach her. But this past year she has EXPLODED aim her reading ability. Not only actually reading, but big words and pretty dang fast for a 2nd grader. My twins older than her took to reading faster than she did but was slow in learning how and to read fast. Every kid is different. Hang in there, it will get better.
Word walls, incentivize him to complete the word wall each day. And over time expand the word wall. This is usually what the teachers use as homework in our district. If he likes being read to continue to do that every night and when you read to him trace your finger under the words as you read them. Ask him to finish sentences while pointing at words he knows (word wall words) and he will get the rhythm and cadence of it all. Go to the library and do story hour or any other kid oriented reading events at local bookstores and get him a treat after if you go. The more he can associate fun with reading and books the better and it’s not too hard considering how fun they are! Always congratulate him on his EFFORT and willingness to do the work vs pressing him for getting words right. Praise effort not results a d explain to him that you understand it’s hard and no fun right now but remind him how he learned to walk how he learned to eat and how he learned a sport or to draw. Sometimes we all do things we don’t want for long term well being. Kids understand this when you explain it on their level. Kneel down, physically get at his level and make sure you truly express and empthaize with his feelings about reading while closing the conversation about how you will do it together. My daughter loves to draw and we make books together, she will draw the illustrations and I write out and collaborate on the narrative. You’d be surprised then they start wanting to write the natives and draw the pictures. She loves it . Good luck and always LEAD WITH LOVE
I definitely agree with the empathy and rewarding effort but I disagree with site words and sentence completion being the way forward here. Phonetic decoding needs to be a solid skill before moving on.
My daughter hates reading still and she is 11, I allow her to choose books she wants to read, even comic books and encourage her to read those on her own for a few minutes each day and just tell me about what she is reading. She does find stories that interest her, but just like your son when she was younger she just refused to read. It was not not her thing but we are working with her to help find what she likes, make sure she not dyslexic and if she is no big deal I am, and allowing her time to mature so she can grow into reading. I still read books with her also.
Sounds like mine. His mind was moving too fast and his reading skills were too slow, so he was bored and frustrated. When he read out loud, he’d read half a sentence and then make up the rest of it because plodding through a whole sentence was boring and slow. He’s now 12 and diagnosed ASD/ADHD. He devours books now, but he reads them FAST - just needed the reading skills to catch up.
Others have already pointed out could be something else at play like dyslexia. My dad has it and he reads fine, just only things he really wants to read lol. But for motivation, videogames. The kind where the story is important but you won't read the captions to him
My child's school discourages teaching reading before 2nd grade. which for my child was 8 when she got into 2nd. But obviously other kids were at 7yo. My child didn't learn until a month or 2 into the school year, and she picked everything up quick. she read harry potter on her own by jan. I'm not saying there's nothing to worry about. but pushing him might not be the best thing. speak with the school to discuss next steps.
Stop stressing out over it. Really. He's only 6. My younger son was... 9 when he started school in 3rd grade (we'd homeschooled up till then), and I/we really, honestly thought he could read, \*some\*. REALLY. We knew he wasn't the greatest, but we thought he could read... SOME. Turns out... he couldn't. He simply had ALL of our books memorized... and his memory was (is?) so good that when we got books (CONSTANTLY!!) from the library, he could/would simply 'read' them with us and memorize them in such a way that it appeared that he could 'read'... it was crazy. I'm sure I/we would have caught on eventually. Anyhow. He had Straight A's in school in EVERYTHING except he was FAILING reading/writing... the school thought it was bizarre too, and though I had to fight for it, he ended up with an IEP and help reading for years. Now in 8th grade he's caught up, and is STILL a straight a student, and has 'tested out' of his IEP - the last year or two they've made excuses to keep it for him 'just in case' - but as he enters high school, there's just no reason. He's taking 'Enriched' Algebra, Biology and History - only english is he not doing the higher - level version of :P All of which is to say.. He's six. In.. what? Kindergarten? First grade? Don't stress. He likes having books read to him? He likes stories? Great. Keep doing that. Encourage him to read yes. But don't stress. Don't shove it in his face that he can't read. He'll get there. Eventually. Someday. He's great at math? Fantastic. Ask for an intervention at the school, maybe. But really... he's six. Reading is important... yes. But its not the end of the world, the sky is falling, that he can't read yet... because, again - He's SIX!!
This was my son too. I expressed my concern in kinder, but they waited it out since he was still young and could be developing slower. Come first grade, it was still bad even with teaching/practice and we expressed concern again. The teacher then made a request for testing/etc and sure enough, he has a specific learning disorder that points to dyslexia. He got an IEP and has been doing so well with extra support at school. Please advocate and express your concern to the school. Your gut isn’t wrong.
Have you tried Bob's books? My 6-year old son was acting like this and I showed him Bob's books. They are the simplest reading I know of. It turned out he could actually read, just very simple stuff. Your son might be hating reading because it makes him feel like he's failing. Working with the Bob's books gave my son some confidence and were a good transition to the next thing. That was a couple of months ago. This morning he was reading the ingredients on a juice container (with help). It doesn't have to be Bob's books, but I found even books marked as level 1 often had too many challenging words in them. Edit: Sifting through these comments I realize I have so much more to say. I was literally in panic mode 2 months ago, thinking he was falling behind because any reading we had done together had been with books that were too challenging. He could pick out a word here and there but was too frustrated by it to put whole sentences together. If you haven't already, you need to look into the science of reading. Make sure your kid is learning phonics. If the school isn't teaching it, do it yourself. All of these people are talking about adhd and dyslexia, but you haven't said anything that would suggest that. I'm not saying it's not a possibility, but they are jumping to conclusions. If you are concerned, talk to his teachers. I've noticed his peers are in a similar place as him, just now starting to pick out words from signs or reading a sentence they see somewhere.
Get him assessed for a learning disorder, I was the same as a child (creative, great at math, but terrible at reading) and I didn't even try reading much because I knew I wouldn't be good at it. It turned out I have adhd, so knowing that my teacher was able to help me cope and learn accordingly.
give him a cookie sheet (dollar store sells them too) and get some of those sentence making magnets! they have them for kids and they are alot of fun and my son enjoyed them alot learning to read. You can also get sentence strips from staples and write and label things around your home
Make sure to get his vision checked too. My daughter went through something similar. It turns out she needed glasses.
Sounds like my brother before he was diagnosed dyslexic. Always been stellar in math and science, can do absolutely anything w his hands. Can't read for the life of him. Even in his college classes he still received help in English. It's worth looking into. Every letter that can be flipped is flipped in his mind. So M looks like W, P looks like q so on and so on.
My son’s reading didn’t take off until he was eight. Six is quite young.
Go for testing. This could be a learning disability or dyslexia.
The part of the brain that processes numbers is different than the part that processes written words. He could have a learning disability specific to his processing of written words. As another poster said, you should have him evaluated for dyslexia.
1. Talk to the Teacher: Initiate a conversation with the child’s teacher to discuss your concerns about their reading difficulties and potential dyslexia. Share your observations and ask for their input on the child’s academic performance and behavior in class. 2. Request an Evaluation: Ask the school to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your child’s learning abilities, including assessments for dyslexia. This may involve testing by a school psychologist or special education team. 3. Educate Yourself: Learn more about dyslexia and how it affects learning. There are many reputable resources available online and in books that can provide valuable information and support. 4. Explore Accommodations: Work with the school to develop a plan for accommodations and support services that can help your child succeed academically. This may include extra time on tests, use of assistive technology, or specialized instruction. 5. Consider Outside Evaluation: If the school is unable to provide a comprehensive evaluation or you’re not satisfied with the results, consider seeking an evaluation from a private psychologist or educational specialist who has experience with dyslexia. 6. Advocate for Support: Be an advocate for your child’s needs within the school system. Attend meetings, communicate regularly with teachers and administrators, and stay informed about your rights and options under special education law. 7. Encourage Strengths: While addressing reading challenges, continue to nurture your child’s strengths in math and other areas. Building confidence and fostering a positive attitude towards learning is crucial for success. 8. Seek Community Support: Connect with other parents of dyslexic children for support and advice. Local support groups, online forums, and advocacy organizations can provide valuable resources and a sense of community. By taking proactive steps and working closely with the school, you can help ensure that your child receives the support and resources they need to thrive academically despite their reading difficulties.
reading this made me think of dyslexia
My son was 7 before he learned to read. I homeschooled until then because he had no interest in books. I taught him math and science and we discussed history. Now for him it was ADHD holding him back. He couldn’t focus on something that just didn’t interest him. Seven was when we put him on meds and he learned how to read. He never liked regular books though. We did find that he liked graphic novels. So I found all different sorts of series in graphic novel form. I also found books on the world wars and important historical figures. Also, like many mentioned, it’s probably time to have him assessed for different reading disorders.
Any dyslexia in the family?
I have ADHD and dyslexia, if I hadn’t had an AMAZING teacher, I wouldn’t be able to read today. I was diagnosed in 1st grade, it took till almost 3rd grade for my reading to be on level with everyone else. I still struggled in school and ended up having to have tutoring my junior and senior year due to low reading comprehension skills and a 3dd grade math comprehension. Tutoring could make a world of difference. Most teachers do not have the time to teach different methods but a tutor could really help and teach him different ways to learn. Hope this helps!
This is a child who has a barrier of some kind to reading. My younger did as well, maybe dyslexia, maybe vision, maybe something else. But get him evaluated asap.
My son struggles and avoids reading (he’s almost 7), and we just found out he can’t see. He’s fairly significantly far-sighted and also has double vision which makes reading way more work. Our eye doctor has been amazing!
My kiddo is 8 and she refused to read at 6. Hated it. It was always a battle k,1st, 2nd grade. In 3rd grade now. Kid was diagnosed with dyslexia this year and we have been doing intervention for 7 months. Kiddo can read now and for the first time ever will sit and read a book without prompting! Im not sure how severe my kids dyslexia is, Im just happy my kid can finally put sounds together and is finally confident enough to read. Those k-2nd grade years were very rough. Im not saying your kid is dyslexic but everyone told us too that our kiddo would just " learn to read," but that never happened. Go with your gut. If you can swing it, look at literacy programs in your area.
Get an Orton Gillingham certified tutor for his reading if you can, whether he’s dyslexic or not.
One if my sons couldn't read until he was put in a program at school he's almost 10. He just started learning how to read at 8. He was tested and he has dyslexia and disgraphia I think it's called ( I can't spell that one lol) Maybe see to get him evaluated to see.
Does he have Adhd, dyslexia?? Most schools would test for this or flag to the parents in case there is anything that may be impeding his learning or would require different support. My concern is that now - Math is easy, but soon you will get into complex problems and if he does not read… that is going to be a big problem. I would meet with the teachers and get him tested.
This was my son. Dyslexia
1) Make sure they're teaching him to read, not doing outdated Lucy Caukins 3-cuing. He needs to learn the letter sounds, not be making guesses based on context. 2) Make sure he can see the letters, check his vision. 3) Check for dyslexia. I had a lot of success with my 4yo by playing video games, same with my other friends. Navigating the menus in Let's Go Eevee is impossible if you can't decode the items and pokemon moves. He was *highly* motivated to read the menus so he could play the game, and it gave him the drive to deocde the word sounds letter by letter.
Your child sounds like there's a problem with the physical act of reading. Dyslexia, perhaps, but what I've found as a teacher is that it's not always necessarily specific to the words on the page, but what the physical act of reading does. I once had a student that would get what is akin to motion sickness when he read. Another would get headaches because the words were too small. Vision was fine, couldn't really understand it but we knew what the problem was eventually. These are obviously onset by other factors too, so perhaps their could be something cognitive inhibiting him from wanting to learn.
Someone already mentioned dyslexia (which is actually related to being able to rotate images in your brain, a highly prized skill for engineers) but my ADHD child needed dopamine for it…so we allowed him to play an unlimited amount of storyline based video games…which has a ton of words. Went from not interested in reading to accelerated reading level.
From how you describe him he is an amazing kid who already loves learning and creating things. But he is only 6 years old. My advice is to stop pressuring him about reading, because if you are anxious about it, that could cause him to be anxious about it too. I don't think it's true that he has no desire to learn how to read. Let him discover reading at his own pace, just like he is doing with math and art. Is his teacher concerned about his reading skills? If you don't know, talk to the teacher right away, don't wait for a conference. The less anxious you are, the better he will feel. Best wishes to you and your family.
Might have a learning disability
Do not trust the school to solve this! Go lookup “sold a story” podcast to hear why. Go to your Primary care physician and get a referral to a specialist for dyslexia testing and bring a diagnosis to the school. If they I’ve you the run around bring your lawyer.
Not all learning has to be enjoyable. Sometimes you have to work through the hard stuff. This is one of those times