2Nd Grade Son Is Behind in Reading

B is giving you a great response. Keep with it. And don't act like you are worried in front of him. That will just make him more anxious.

For myself and our son - reading really took off the 2nd half of 2nd grade.
What was a struggle before became very easy - and we won ribbons for the progress we made.
Keep reading with him - make it fun and something to enjoy.
Make games around it.
At first I'd ask son to point out one word he knew per page.
After awhile he'd read the even pages to me and I'd read the odd pages to him.
At one point I came down with laryngitis - I couldn't read the bedtime story - so he read it to me.
Be sure to get books that are about his interests - don't worry about what they want him to read at school.

When Harry Potter came out I read it to him a chapter per night for bedtime story.
But then he liked the stories so much he began reading them on his own and doing well with it in the 3rd grade.
The point is to get so much enjoyment from the story that they don't mind reading above their official level.

We kept up with reading stories at bedtime for years - way beyond just the learning phase.
We really just enjoyed the reading together and the stories.

I wouldn't worry just yet.
Often it has to be just the right moment for concepts to gel in his brain - and then suddenly things just click and it becomes very easy.

I can share words of encouragement, though they are from only my experience. Our son didn't start reading well until the summer after second grade. Whenever we went to the library, he'd only look at books in the graphic novel section (they were kids' books, not anime!)--no chapter books, nothing like that. He did enjoy being read to and he was great at math. As well, he is bilingual (we use Swahili in the home) and spoke a bit later than others. He did not get any special tutoring during second grade because he was at a small private school and there was no issue about the teacher being able to work with him as needed. He started to get interested in improving his reading over the course of the year, but I know I was pretty nervous that he'd barely seem able to read through more than one sentence at a time. The real breakthrough occurred in the summer, when I happened on a series of books which grabbed his interest. His reading then took off and he was quickly way above grade level the next year. I think Diane B and others have great suggestions--a magazine about topics which interest him or a graphic novel or comic books could be just what he needs at the moment, to keep him working on that skill and not getting discouraged. If he LIKES looking through books, there are all sorts of ways you can make games out of reading together which let him practice reading in a low-pressure way. Good luck with it!

If the teacher said your son is reading at a first grade level, I'm glad she (or he) said something and is getting your son some extra help. But don't take that to mean this is a crisis situation.

It's actually not that uncommon for some kids to still be learning how to read. When my son was in 2nd grade he started doing book reports. They had to read a book and then do a project about the book (with really helpful directions). I was volunteering one time and the teacher asked me to take the book reports off the bulletin board. Wow am I glad she did, because it helped me put things in perspective. Some kids were reading chapter books (Notebook of Doom, Captain Underpants) and some kids were reading Dr. Seuss. That helped me to really relax. The teacher even said, just have them read. Don't worry about what they are reading and let them choose.

My youngest is in 4th grade, and he was reading Captain Underpants last year. I know he can read more challenging books, but he's happy.

The important thing right now is to make reading fun. You can show him comic books or magazines (Highlights is good). Even Captain Underpants, if you think you can put up with extra potty talk. But make it fun.

The more he reads, the faster he will progress. But really, the more he reads the more he will read. And that's really the goal.

Sometimes teachers say your child is behind, and it's so easy to think that means that all the other kids in the class are miles ahead of your child. It doesn't. It just means that you might need to emphasis one skill for a bit. But it also says great things about your school. The teachers are on top of things, and the school has the resources to help.

Has he been tested for dyslexia? If not have the school test him.

I think it's very sad that your son is a month into 2nd grade, reading at the first grade level, and they're already on you for him being behind and needing tutoring. This pressure just doesn't help kids develop a love of reading!

I think you have some good suggestions below. I think you might add in a magazine subscription or 2 - Mamapedia moms were very helpful to me in recommending Highlights and National Geographic magazines for our young cousin. He's 5 and we got the NG one for those 4-7, which is where your son should start. There are puzzles, word games, animal descriptions, and so on. Getting something in the mail is so exciting and doesn't feel like homework! If he likes a topic in the magazine, go to the public library and ask the librarian for help/suggestions to find a book that follows up on a topic of interest.

I also like the idea of repetition raised below - you could go back and forth between the book and the magazine to compare - and you could gently ask him to look at what you already read together to "remind Mom" what it said.

Make it fun fun fun. Also consider comic books - the graphics help kids figure out the words. Try board games with instruction cards for the next move. Kids learn through play - make it playful!

My kid was sure, thanks to a horrible 1st grade teacher, that he couldn't read. I told the 2nd grade teacher about it, and she was great about finding other things - plays, science experiments with written instructions but diagrams to help decipher them, and more.

Try cooking fun things - cookbooks have written instructions and some math/fractions to boot.

I would even ask about deferring the tutoring if he's already discouraged. Pick 5 of the best suggestions on this Mamapedia page and try those. It's only September.

Two of my kids have printing issues. One quite badly (also happens to be left handed). One teacher mentioned it as if it was a significant problem. I got stressed and enlisted the help of OT. She was a wonderful resource. Honestly, it was mostly because she put things into perspective for me. She said my kid was fine and so long as she made progress and we kept it fun - it was fine.

Kids will have areas they struggle in, and so long as you keep at it and keep it fun (and don't let them see you are concerned), they will do ok. Those early years are about learning at different paces and a lot of it depends on what they are interested in.

One of mine still doesn't like novels. He didn't even like being read to after preschool, whereas siblings loved hearing bedtime stories. He preferred checking out Guiness Book of World Records and shark facts. Comic books are another alternative. All my kids loved Captain Underpants.

When you read to him, can he follow along - mine would read along the page with me. That helps.

Have him read to you for about 20 minutes a night. The same 4 simple books every night for 4-7 days... Then choose a different set of books.
This is what They do at our school... They call it bag of books. They come home on Thursday night with 4 books at their reading level. They are to read them every day. (A minimum of 4 times) the first day you can read them to the child the second time you read together. third they read with help and the 4 th time they should be able to read it to you. The repetition helps them build fluency and gain confidence in their ability to read. It is just practicing reading but as they master each set of books they feel good about it. When they master 3 sets of books the teacher picks slightly more challenging books. My kids barely ever realized that the books were getting longer and had more words. They just progressed by doing it consistently.
My son entered third grade reading at a 5 th grade level. and this bag of books system was how he learned to read and get practice at it. My daughter is in first grade reading at grade level but with the bag of books she is progressing quickly

It is very common for bilingual kids to be behind in reading and writing in English at this age. I would not be discouraged but continue to do what you are doing. Personally, I think the biggest thing is to continue to read to him and continue to give him experiences. He'll be ok!

My son was behind in reading and finally caught up his fourth grade year, for some kids it just takes a little bit longer and that's OK. It's good he's getting the support, my son had extra reading support that really helped him catch up, but it's also really important to remind him that kids in elementary school are at all different levels and it's OK if he's a little bit behind.

Have you taken him to an eye dr to get his eyes checked. My youngest & I both had strabismus. Our eyes did not work together when so would make it really difficult to read. The only think my mom found to help me was vision therapy and we did the same for my son to get our eyes to work together. Vision therapy has come a long way since I did it. My son still not the greatest reader but it has improved. There are other issues that can cause them to be behind. Just keep encouraging him, don't let him feel he's doing something wrong.

I appreciate the details in your question. I noticed that he was a late talker and from my work with young children with language delays, I observed many of them had difficult with reading (especially comprehension) and later with writing comprehensive paragraphs. I don't mean this to be discouraging, but rather to point out that his learning profile might indicate that he would benefit from support from a speech/language pathologist. It would be entirely appropriate for you to ask for an evaluation by the school speech/language pathologist. The good news is that my former students who received support in elementary school typically did quite well later on, and many are now wonderful teachers!