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Tips To Help My Child To Learn To Read

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My 6 year old daughter, is having difficulty in learning to read.  Do anyone have any good tips on how to help her?  I do read to her, but she doesn't sit still long enough to really work with her.  If anyone can drop any tips, I would really appreciate it.  Thanks.

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My daughter's kindergarten teacher uses flash cards with what she calls "sight words" -- words that kids should know on sight.
a, an, the, then, than, for, is, you, I, me, we, us, and words that are so common like that.  It really does help.  She also recommends when you are reading to follow along with your finger so that kids get an idea of how we read from left-to-right, top-to-bottom.  Sound out words, don't just read them.  My daughter has made real progress with this, and is able to sound out or recognize a lot more words now.  She'll be 6 in a few weeks, and is starting first grade on Monday.  Very exciting!

I wish you luck with your daughter!  This is a very magical time for kids this age -- everything is new, and they get such a sense of accomplishment with each step forward.

Roz

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Unfortunately, this is my daughter's second time through Kindergarten this year.  She just wouldn't settle down to learn or write in school or at home.  What I couldn't understand was that she was the smartest child in her headstart class.  She knew all of her colors, basic shapes, A B C's, and she could count to 20.  Then we tried to work with her last summer so she wouldn't forget what she had already learned.  She then started kindgarten only to have a teacher that wasn't very patient with her and dubbed her a 'problem child' and telling me that my child was 'mentally challenged'.  (Which wasn't true, we even had her tested and she tested fine.)  We changed her to a different school, but she only became more withdrawn in school.  The teacher told me she would pass her on the the first grade, (but my child didn't know half of what she was supposed to know).  It was my decision to keep her in kindergarten again this year.  Unfortunately, Sylvanna was crushed to see her friends go on and she have to stay behind.  But she knows that she has to do better this year, so she can go on to the next grade.

The good news is, she has a got new teacher this year.  Syl seems to have taken more of an interest in school, than last year.  But she gets frustrated quite easily.  Her new teacher sends homework assignments home for her to with me and my husband.  She seems to be doing quite well.  We've bought flash cards for letters and numbers to help her to learn them a little better.  But she still gets frustrated when it comes to trying to learn to read.

Thanks for the tips, Roz.  :D  I will make some 'sight word' flash cards and work with her on those.  Hopefully, she will catch on.  I have just recently purchased some of the easy-to-read books to work with her also.  Thanks again for the tips.  :D

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Mss, I just crossed with this thread I have a couple of questions if you don't mind to answer to understand a bit better the situation. We are talking about Syl right who is 6 years old, isn't she supposed to be in first grade? What I mean is when a child turns 6 isn't he/she automatically goes to first grade?. I'm a bit confused about how is done in the USA. In Argentina a kid goes to kindergarden at 4, then pre-school at 5 and then starts first grade at 6. But there are kids like my sister who never went to kindergarden or pre-school before, she went straight into first grade. How it is in the USA?.
Second, I think that her first teacher not being patience with her must cause her to fee very frustrated (you really don't know what the teacher may have told her like 'you're not very smart' and those awful things some teachers say behind the backs of the parents : ) Just try to praise her for every little effort she does, keep reminding her how smart she is. When you changed schools, that may have also affect her (for what I get it seems like Syl has a problem with adapting to new situations and of course she is only 6 years old! she's allow to ). If she likes to sing, play as much music as she likes and make her read the lyrics! . What kind of problems she has on reading? do you think she may suffer from dislexia? it will not hurt to just test her to see if she doesn't have it. I will wait for your answers to give more insight on this thread.

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Thanks LDS and I will be glad to answer some of the questions you have asked.  :D

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We are talking about Syl right who is 6 years old, isn't she supposed to be in first grade? What I mean is when a child turns 6 isn't he/she automatically goes to first grade?

She is supposed to be in the first grade this year.  Her birthday is late in the year (November) and they have this guideline that a child must be 5 years at before the start of the first day of school or the child will have to wait until the next year.  Of course, with me already knowing this, I waited until the year before she started to enroll her in headstart, so she would get into the habit of a school day and learning.

As for the automatically sending her to the first grade, she has to know a certain level of things, (i.e. A B C's, counting, shapes, colors) if I had let the teacher put her up in the first grade, I felt that it would not have been fair to her.  I didn't want her to end up failing first grade and having to do that all over again.  The school that she goes to, has a higher ciriculum (education standards) than most of the other schools around in the area.

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How it is in the USA?

Well, in some states, they don't require a child to go to headstart.  It's not required here, but they encourage parents to send their children to help them get the feel of a school day and learning to interact with other children.  They have to be 5 years old to be able to go to kindergarten.

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What kind of problems she has on reading? do you think she may suffer from dislexia?

She makes up her own words, while I am trying to work with her on her reading.  Or she will find other things to do, while we are reading to her and trying to get her to follow along with the story.  I don't know if she is dislexic or not.  I do know that her biological father has a learning disorder, but I am not sure which one.  But I didn't think that learning disorders were inherited???  I do know that when she gets frustrated while she is practicing her writing, she will write everything backwards.  I don't know if she is doing that on purpose or just because she if frustrated.  I do know that all of her papers that the teacher sends home everyday, she writes everything going the right way.

So, I hope that helped to clear up a few of your questions.  :)

Tips To Help My Child To Learn To Read

Thanks for the answers Mss!.

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She makes up her own words, while I am trying to work with her on her reading.  Or she will find other things to do, while we are reading to her and trying to get her to follow along with the story.  I don't know if she is dislexic or not.  I do know that her biological father has a learning disorder, but I am not sure which one.  But I didn't think that learning disorders were inherited

Yes, actually several learning disorders are inherited but this is not something 100% sure, she seems very frustrated to me because of the pressure I suppose since you are sending her to a school that has a high cirricullum may be she is not up to yet? (you know, some kids need maybe the kind of schools where the teachers can work on an individual basis rather than high academic expectations)

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I do know that when she gets frustrated while she is practicing her writing, she will write everything backwards

That sounds exactly like dyslexia!!!!! You may want to do a search on google.com for the signs of dislexia and see if that describes how your daughter reacts. Actually I have met several kids/adults with dyslexia and your daughter seems to fit the description of the people I know of. Dyslexia is a very common disability in childhood, actually many kids fail at school every year because the parents cannot recognize the signs of it.  Dislexic kids actually are highly intelligent kids who need other methods of learning than the classical methods, they are very visual.  
The dyslectic person is using his right hemisphere of the brain instead of his left to read and spell. I found also that phonological training in Kindergarten and 1st grade, is vital for this children and they  will have significantly fewer problems in learning to read at grade level than do children who are not identified or helped until 3rd grade. The causes for dyslexia are neurobiological and genetic. Individuals inherit the genetic links for dyslexia. Chances are that one of the child's parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles is dyslexic.
Is there a cure for dyslexia? No, dyslexia is not a disease. There is no cure. With proper diagnosis, appropriate instruction, hard work and support from family, teachers, friends, and others, individuals who are dyslexic can succeed in school and later as working adults.

Common Signs of Dyslexia: K - 4th Grade Students

The difficulties noted below are often associated with dyslexia if they are unexpected for the individual's age, educational level, or cognitive abilities. A qualified diagnostician can test a person to determine if he or she is truly dyslexic.

May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds.

Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation).

Has difficulty spelling phonetically.

Makes consistent reading and spelling errors such as:
Letter reversals - "d" for "b" as in: "dog" for "bog"
Word reversals - "tip" for "pit"
Inversions - "m" for "w," "u" for "n"
Transpositions - "felt" for "left"
Substitutions - "house" for "home"

May confuse small words - "at" for "to," "said" for "and," "does" for "goes."

Relies on guessing and context.

May have difficulty learning new vocabulary.

May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs (+ - x / =).

May have trouble remembering facts.

May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding.

May have difficulty planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks.

Often uses an awkward pencil grip (fist, thumb hooked over fingers, etc.).

May have poor "fine motor" coordination.

This is what I found, I hope it helps, it seems to me that she may be dyslexic. You may want to take her to the doctor to test her on that and maybe use more phonetic methods of teaching. Remember as early as you take her the better. I think Felipe has some signs of dyslexia too even though he doesn't speak very well as yet. Hope it helps.

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I will look more into finding a doctor around here that can test her for dyslexia.  I think I can take her to the same place, where she was tested for ADHD.

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some kids need maybe the kind of schools where the teachers can work on an individual basis

This is true.  The one good thing about her teacher this year, is her new teacher does take the time to help.  There are actually two teachers in the Kindergarten classrooms.  Her teacher believes in involving the parents to help with the child's education.  Which is pretty cool.  I have even offered to volunteer in the classroom, when the teacher needs volunteers to help out.  ;)

But I am going to look into the dyslexia testing and see what that turns up.  Thanks again.  :)

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Ok, here's an update on how things are going with my oldest child learning to read.  

She is finally recognizing her 'sight words' (thanks Farseer for that tip ).  She seems to be doing better in class, but we still have some problems with her trying to read those easy to read books.  But we are still working with her on this.  

She is also scheduled to be tested for Dyslexia and ADD the second week in October.  I am hoping it's just a phase of having a disruptive behavior and not ADD.  

I will post more once I get the test results back on it.  Thanks again, LDS and Farseer for you tips and help.  :)