Should My First-Grader Be Held Back for Reading Challenges? - California

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Should My First-Grader Be Held Back for Reading Challenges?

Ask the Experts: My child is a slow reader. Should he repeat first grade?

By Allison Gardenswartz, Consulting Educator

Question: My son finished first grade. For the better part of the year he has been assessed as a slow reader and the school wanted to have him repeat first grade.

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He does fine with all other subjects and the social aspects, but reading gives him trouble.

We don't feel he needs to be held back; partly because of self esteem, partly because it is not the whole curriculum he is struggling with. We read to him, have him read to us and have him spell words at random.

My question is, can children catch up or is it better to hold them back a grade?

Answer: First grade is typically a hard year to be held back due to social concerns. If your son seems to fit in socially and to do well academically in other areas, I would recommend doing some supplemental tutoring with him to help improve his fluency and comfort with reading. This could be done at home working with you or elsewhere with a private tutor. Your school and new teacher could be good resources in seeking out some extra help.

Children can certainly "catch up." It is quite common for slow and late-developing readers to become avid readers as they get older. Reading is developmental and thus can really click for some a little later.

With that said, reading is the foundation for all learning so it is essential that you support your son and enable him frequent opportunities to read to and with you so that he can perfect his skills. Why not ask the school if he can go on to second grade with the understanding that you will get him additional support, which you can evaluate at progress-report time with the new teacher in a face-to-face conference? This will allow you the opportunity to know at the start of the year how he is progressing and to have a full understanding of the new teacher's expectations.

Allison Gardenswartz, is the owner and director of The Learning Garden, a San Diego tutoring center specializing in gifted and remedial learning and test preparation studies. An educator for over 15 years, Allison is an expert in identifying and enhancing the learning abilities of school-age children. Allison has a teaching credential and has taught for several years in the public school system in Atlanta, Georgia. She has three children: Jacob, 11, Sofia, 7 and newly adopted Ryan, who is 2!

Advice from our experts is not a substitute for medical or other professional advice and services from a qualified health-care provider familiar with your unique situation. We recommend consulting a qualified professional if you have concerns about your child's medical or emotional condition.

August 2007

Comments From GreatSchools.net Users

04/10/2008:

"Can the parents choose to advance the child to 2nd grade if the texas school does not want to??"

04/4/2008:

"Thank you for the article, but does this also apply for a third grader?"

03/12/2008:

"This article is exactly where I am at this point with my 1st grader. He does well with all other subjects except for the reading. The school uses the DIBELS Assessment and the students are required to read 40 words per minute by the 2nd marking period. My son reads about 1/2 of the words per minute. The teacher recommends that we keep him back in 1st grade because of his reading and he is also a very young 6 year old, but we do not agree. So we had him evaluated and he will begin tutoring to help him with the reading. We strongly feel that he will be able to catch up and do well in 2nd grade."

11/14/2007:

"I have sort of the same problem the school wants to move my 1st grader back to kindigarden in the middle of the year but I asked him and he would rather take 1st grade over than to be moved back,I believe even though a child is youg a person should still ask his ideas but now my 3rd graer no problems ,the only thing we did was move so where were at now is more advanced in what they teach in school ,My first grader tells me he would rather repeat 1st grade than to go back now to what he calls the baby class and i sort of tend to go along with that idea I think it would be devistating to go back to kindigarden in the middle of the year than to just repeat a class next year ,even at this age I my self would feel more of a failure than just to repeat again than to say your not good enough to be here so you need to go back ,thats my thoughts ,I would like iseas thought too maybe I am wrong for involving my children in there lifes"

10/10/2007:

"I have two boys 6 and 4. My 4 year old reads on a 1st grade level (levels 1 and 2 book from the library) and my 6 year old, who just started 1st grade, reads on a 3rd grade level. What worked for me was employing different reading tactics. I of course read to them when they were babies and throughout the years. Once they knew the letters and letter sounds the things that I think impacted them most are: 1.Watching programs like Sesame Street, Between the Lions, Reading Rainbow, and other such programs on PBS. 2. LeapFrog DVDs series (about 4 of 5 titles) on reading and building words with catchy songs about the rules of reading; ex. 'when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking'. It's animated and my kids loved them. 3. Making up flash cards of the sight words (using 3x5 index cards). Sight words are memorized and once they know the sight words they become better readers and their confidence shoots way up. (You can google 'sight words' or 'Dolch sight wor! ds') 4. Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate! I constantly gave out hi-fives, told them 'what a great reader you are' or when they had a difficult time with a book I said 'what a wonderful reader you're becoming'. Praise every effort. It makes a world of difference. I'm sorry I can't offer more on whether or not to hold you child back; it is really a tough decision. I did want to offer some suggestions and hope something I've said will be of help to you."

09/13/2007:

"It would also be helpful to ask about the percentage of time his class has spent in reading instruction and whether the teacher used any interventions to help him with reading. This because if the class spent over fifty percent of their time in reading and he is still having difficulty, it could signal a processing problem of some sort, which should be addressed now. Often, schools see problems which parents don't, therefore I would recommend asking the school more questions before deciding what to do."

09/12/2007:

"In kindergarten my son was considered a 'good reader' for that grade, however not until I put him in first grade at a small private school did I realize how much he wasn't doing that he was. At his school this year they are very BIG on phonics, and I have worked with him as well, I have used 'phonics windows' and sight readers, and to see the difference in just three weeks is amazing. The Parent-Teacher stores have outstanding materials for this, but a strong phonics cirrcula is what I would recommend. It really works."

09/11/2007:

"We had the same issue and did not hold our child back. Luckily we are in a school that has IEP courses and assistance to help with the reading aspect. Extra help is a must if you move him forward. Our son is in 4th grade and is at 2nd grade reading level, but 4th or above in all other subjects and socially. He has a bit of a 'victim' syndrome with reading - tries to get too much help from others which we're trying to break him of. He has trouble with standardized tests, but our school has a program where he can get an equivalent grade or reading help during the test depending on the subject. We felt and feel that holding him back would have made him bored or lazy in all of the other areas and that was a much bigger drawback than having him strive to be a better reader so that he could show how much he really did know in other subjects. We have not been disappointed. Especially now that it has finally sunk in this year that he needs to be able to read road signs to drive, applications to work, etc. - we're hoping the reading will click a little more and become easier. We definitely made the right choice for our son. All the best for yours."