“Now, I do expect to get better progress from him. But, meanwhile while I teach him every single little thing good readers do, some of it at an almost subconscious level, the good readers are sailing along, reading novels and content materials.
He will get there, in terms of being able to read independently.”
I think that I will print your post, Anitya, because it just sums up what I have been feeling from my 5 years of teaching special ed. My goal has always been for the child to read independently, never mind if he/she can’t catch up with others. Isn’t that what we all want anyway? For them to read and write independently? I also like what you wrote about laying down the foundations and that the second year is always the best. That is so true!!! A teacher asked me why a child who struggled to learn his alphabet and now knows them after 4 months has somehow plateaud. I said that the child is consolidating his learning and that learning the alphabet is just one step. He still needs to blend and segment etc… Now he can decode CVC words. Give him time!
It’s also interesting to share our individual cases. Sometimes I wonder if my student is progressing well or not. Also, each child is simply different, so when parents ask me if I can make their child read in 6 months, I am stumped and I say that it depends on so many factors. I do think though that I should begin to keep a journal of my cases and to date each entry although I doubt if I will have the time.