So my child just turned 7 years old. Due to unfortunate events last year we had to take them out of school and they didn’t get to finish the 1st grade, only attended about 3 months. And now she will be in 1st grade again. I feel so guilty about all this, she cannot read or write words on her own. I worry she is too behind, and I feel sick about it. Anyone else kids late readers?
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They should have been able to read some long before age 7. There’s something else very wrong with the kid - or the situation.
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learning can take place at any point in time… nothing to feel sick about. Catch your kid up, read with them. Start tracing letters at home. You don’t have to be in school for any of these things.
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I just taught a kid to read aged nine. You will need to work hard to catch up but you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve! Student went from a reading age of five to eleven just by learning how to sound out words and checking they make sense in a sentence. Look at word shapes too.
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Get her into tutoring asap-start doing things w her at home every day -unless she was medically compromised she should have been getting some Sort of education such as homebound tutoring , etc. as a social worker this makes me very concerned about what’s going on at home
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I work with a kiddo that didn’t go to school until junior high. He’s catching up do fast. Kids are unbelievably resilient and she will read in no time. Read to her as often as you can. Read with her beside you and move your finger with each word. Encourage her to watch your finger. Spend an extra few minutes everyday practicing sight words. Visit your l9cal library as often as you’re able. All of these things will help her. Don’t share your thoughts and feelings with her. Vent your sadness here, we will help you feel better. Most importantly, make reading and books fun. You got this, Mama!
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Tutor, learning software or apps if you can, and you work with her every opportunity you can. Make learning experiences out of every day moments when you can, and make it fun.
English is one of the hardest languages to learn and read so, have some grace. My kid is also 7 and she’s been reading since kindergarten and still struggles. It’ll be okay as long as you work with her.
Get some sight word flash cards and work with her. Even if she learns 2 words each day, it’ll help her to catch up!
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5,6& 7 are normal ages to learn how to read. But if you didn’t have some sort of tutoring or learning activities for her when she was out of school then that’s why she’s behind. My daughter is 4 & can write her name at least . Still working on reading & writing words. She knows most of her letters. & numbers to 10. She’s not exactly ready when I see her do the activities but being repetitive with reading/writing activities can help them be ready.
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My grandkids live in the mountains of West Virginia. They are reading at 8, but one twin struggles. Read with your child and model reading on your own. See if your school offers remedial reading help and summer school programs to help get your kiddo up to speed. See if your local library has programs to help. Often in summer there are reading contests for some incentive prize or certificate.
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She will catch up, don’t beat yourself up. And you can practice at home with her and that will help a lot.
She’s not a late reader she had neglectful parenting. A child doesn’t have to go to school to learn to read and write furthermore there’s been plenty of time for her to learn.
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Ask for a complete educational evaluation immediately and get the child the extra helps they need to succeed. Don’t just brush it off as late reader or situation delay even if it is just one of those. Have child evaluated and get a IEP in place.
I Can Read books, they come in levels. My daughter started to read in pre school and I bought her these books to help. Now she’s in 6th grade with a 8th grade reading level
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My son has speech delay and was pulled out of class often for speech therapy and missed a lot of class. He caught up quickly. She will catch-up. She may need an IEP.
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Use phonics - get a tutor asap . READ to your child all the time . Your child will be ok ! Patience and practice makes perfect! I do wish I could help . Buy books not Toys ! The more you read to your child the better off they will be . Also . Apply for the Dolly Parton imagination book program - it’s free and each month your child will get a new book !
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Get hooked on phonics app for $6 month. My child was in kindergarten during Covid and it was a nightmare. It’s like a video game and they start from basics. It works
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Read to your child everyday. Get books that interest them and read to her every night. Not sure where you’re located but in Australia we use an app called reading eggs at school, they can login at home too. It’s really helpful, each activity they complete they get a little reward in the app before moving onto the next activity. Look into decodable readers and go by her level, not where she should be at by her age, you should be able to download and print online or borrow from the library. She will get there. Don’t feel bad, have the teachers mentioned about her being behind in other areas? Wouldn’t be a bad idea chatting to the doctor if she’s having difficulties.
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We took our kids to the library once a week, they picked 2 books at their reading level and 1 a level above… then an interest book that they wanted to read for fun. They all started out differently and some caught on quicker but they are all very strong readers now 
My youngest didn’t start really reading until 3rd grade. She has ID and it took a lot of work to get her reading. She’s a 6th grader now and loves reading and spelling. It will be fine.
I’m so concerned about this only.bc it’s actually “illegal” for your kids to not go to school and not at.least be doing home school. It’s not.ok.
I was held back in school as a kid I have dyslexia and no one new for three years. She will catch up. If they offer summer school enroll her in summer school and just take it one day at a time. Honestly one of the best things u can do is keep the subtitles on the TV and point at words and sound them out regularly. Like example
Your at the store and you need spaghetti and you say hey Kelly can u grab me the spaghetti. She will know the imagine and see it then u point at the word and slowly say spaghetti and spell it out. She’ll think it’s weird at first but at the end of the day it’s word recognition and getting used to always reading something
Is it possible to do homeschooling? Depending on the state, the requirements may be 0 to just a yearly evaluation. Use one of the homeschooling programs, work on it every day, weekends and vacations included. She will catch up quickly. Also I understand situations happen, but there are plenty of free to low cost programs that you could’ve used to continue schooling. The school should have given you resources to help keep her from this situation.
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My son will be 9 this year and going into the 3rd grade and still can’t read complete sentences or books without help. He was speech delayed at 2.5 years old so we still working on stuff
It sounds like you guys had a rough year. You did what you had to do. Don’t feel guilty about it. I hope your situation is better now. Now you are able to focus and just work with her to catch up in school. She’s still 7, she is learning. A lot of kids actually read just sentences here and there with short “paragraphs” at that age. You know like 3 sentences a page. They don’t over work them. Kids take a lot in and she will do fine. Plus once she finds that one thing she loves knowing about, reading will go easy for her. She will want to read. Don’t feel like a failure, things were out of your control. Just read to her at bedtime if you don’t already and go to a library too. It can be fun. 
You both got this, keep your head up.
I was. We found out I had deslexia. My mom and I read sick and Jane books she had from child good and by the time I got 3 rd grade I was on a 6 grade reading level and by 7 a college reading level. She will be fine. I was also held back in 1st grade. Don’t feel guilty. She will be fine. I became a teacher so it goes to show you it doesn’t matter
We played matching games with cards from the dollar store , we bought two sets, and we spelled and said each match! Those dry erase phonic books helped a ton too !! All the best 
Work with them as much as possible at home. My 7 year old started first grade with some sight words but went up 9 reading levels throughout first grade and is a great little reader now. The fact that you held them back isn’t bad, it will give them a chance to catch up