Hi Catharine,
My K2 boy was unable to read about 4 months ago. I took a more drastic measure by resigning, withdrawing him from childcare and homeschooled him.
I started with phonics, then high frequency words. I play games with him to help recall n recap the words.
I progressed to Peter and Jane, starting with Book 1 and then slowly to level 10. I recommend Peter and Jane as the words are high frequency words and are repeated throughout the books. My son got a sense of satisfaction from able to read the simple books on his own and with lotsa encouragement, he went on to read more.
Dr Suess books are good for teaching him to form words using Phonics. I tend to laugh with him when he read the funny parts in Dr Suess' books and this motivates him further.
We are now reading Enid Blyton's books. He is also writing stories, with at least 7 sentences and doing open ended comprehension.
Yes, very drastic and intensive but no choice as in the past, after he had returned from childcare and we, from work, we were too tired to do anything. It was simply not productive to teach him at night. We were easily short-fused too.
After quitting my job, I teach him in the morning when he is in a good mood and even on days when he is cracky, I can easily postpone the lessons to after his nap. More relaxed environment = better learning.
You may want to try teaching him on Sat or Sun morning. Start from the basics. Also take him to the doctor to rule out hearing loss. THe wait to be diagnosed by specialists is rather long, so parents may hv to try teaching on our own.