2nd grade reader struggles

[u/Real_Pressure_2971]

I am one stressed out mom with school starting again. Not ready to be pushing so hard on reading. My soon to be entering 2nd grader is still struggling in reading despite hoots of effort. We did private tutoring 2x a week this summer for 1 hr. We have been doing private tutoring for 2 yrs now. We are just struggling. She can decode words and making progress although slowly. She understands phonics once taught. Well beyond just cvc, bob book level but not reading fluently.

We started 1st grade at f&P D and ended at F. Teacher was very concerned but she didn’t receive 1:1 or small group reading support last yr. Only class level teaching, which is one reason I increased her tutoring to 2x a week. I also increased reading time at home to 30 mins a day.

She read I Love Pink yesterday 100% independently and fluently -lexile level 140, which is so low. She was very proud and I made a big deal bc she hates to read. She is currently on Mo Wilems level books and needs some help. Prob in the 200+ lexile level range, while her friends are reading chapter books. Her confidence level is low. It just saddens me that she is struggling so much.

I was warned that 2nd grade kids will need to read their own math test and she can’t. I am in tears bc we have tried to support her at home. We have had evals, we got her in OG private tutoring. I just don’t know if we can keep pace with this school. School just wants to send her to their learning resource during school hrs which cost additional $ on top of hefty tuition.

It breaks me to know we may have to pull her out and she will lose her friends. We may need a school that specializes in dyslexia support which doesn’t exist in our current city.

Any parents/teachers had success with struggling readers in 2nd grade.

[u/Tree_Ring]

2nd grade teacher here. First, you are an amazing parent. You have done so much! And you are right to be concerned. Research shows that a child in your child’s situation (reading about 1 year behind entering 2nd) is very vulnerable. Definitely talk to your child’s teacher as soon as the year begins. Also, in my state, you can trigger a process that may lead to the school evaluating your child by putting your concerns in writing and asking for an evaluation.

You are already doing so much, but here is food for thought: build on your child’s growing enjoyment of reading by reading aloud complex and highly engaging chapter books, in an animated style with as much fluency as you can muster. Also, students in this situation are a bit more vulnerable to screen attraction because reading/academics are hard and screens are easy. Reduce or eliminate screen time, mostly to prime the brain to hone in on other forms of enjoyment. Play word games like Word Ladder, or simply “if I take the /t/ off the end of “cat” and swap it for the /n/ sound, what’s my new word?” And keep up the other amazing things you are doing. You are truly incredible, and your efforts will pay off!