My son is going into the seventh grade and on his fcat and other mastery tests he is at a third grade level. Do you have anything that might help?

Phonics programs are typically developed to help young children learn how to read (ages 3-7). As a teacher of young children, I love this program and use it everyday in my classroom. However, your child is a bit older and may have difficulty going all the way back and learning from “baby books”. However, that’s what needs to happen. But there are ways that he can do this without being subjected to such juvenile material.

I would immediately investigate any and all adult literacy programs that are available to you in your area. They do marvelous testing to evaluate where your reader is and then structure a program that will take him from where he is to the next level, and so on. A benefit to this approach is that adult literacy programs are located off site from his school. He can work on improving his reading skills away from the eyes of his peers, in a private and confidential situation.

There are also many programs available at teacher supply stores that may be of benefit to him. Third grade reading workbooks, third grade spelling workbooks, etc. These may be included with regular homework to help him improve and feel confident at his grade level instead of always being frustrated with not being able to completely understand and keep up with his 7th grade homework. Now is the time to act. Helping him catch up now will be such a blessing to him for the rest of his life. It’s not too late and there is help out there. Best of luck to you.