kindergarten

I'm just a mom, but I would watch your son very closely. Do you feel like there's a problem? Sometimes moms know something is awry long before the teachers. Keep a close watch on him and how he's doing with sounds, etc. Any other problems developmentally, like tying shoes, rhyming or riding a bike?

The teachers on the board can probably give you some good advice on ways to help the "letter sound association". You've come to a good place!

It is hard to know. My daughter was a lot like that and she just chugged along for a couple years. Then she took off at the end of second grade and has been an excellent student ever since.

My LD son did not know his letters by the end of K, despite lots of teaching.

There is a lot of pushing these days so hard to sort out. It can't hurt to work with your child and keep an eye on things.

Beth

You said he is in K? I think we have all gone off the deep end in this country pushing academic skills this hard and fast on young children.

Did the teacher present him as being significantly below the rest of the class? Or, is she giving this advice to almost everyone so they can support her efforts at home?

Go to Comp USA or other software store and look in educational software section. There are programs geared for beginning reading that are pretty good. They are not overly expensive and are fun to use. Some do more phonics than others. I used to use and like Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey. It is eclectic, but does work with letters and sounds, in addition to reading simple CVC words in simple stories. There are others that really hit letter sounds and blending. Read the boxes, they usually give a clue as to the activities inside.

A small investment surely cannot hurt and you child will probably be spending his time on the computer productively.

www.cogcon.com

The book is called Reading Reflex, the program it teaches is called Phonographix, and their website is readamerica.net!

It confused me to!! Search for the book Reading Reflex, or go to their website and it will directly link you to amazon.

K.

My younger dd who has no reading issues did Earobics with her speech thereapist (delayed/garbled due to frequent ear infections). It is a great program. I don't know if it has sound/symbol on the more advanced games (we only did the first levels), dd's speech therapist at ages 3-4 just wanted her to be able to hear/distinguish and reproduce sounds (phonemic awareness).

I've been told that sound/symbol (letters and their corresponding sounds) is the greatest predictor for reading success/difficulty. My 4th grade now remediated moderately dyslexic dd had virtually no sound/symbol in Kind. and 1st grade. She may have known letters but couldn't put the sounds together with the letters. It was a long road, but she is now reading brilliantly (IEP, expensive tutoring). So, alarm bells would be going off for me based on my history with this. I would take what the teacher says seriously and make sure he masters it by hopefully end of Kind. It may be nothing - maybe pre-emptive or he just needs a little boost there....or it may be something if you don't see progress.... I would watch it closely.

Good luck.