If you had a late or struggling reader...

[Tabrett]

...do you feel that they missed out on a lot? Things like good independent reading books (book subject too young once they could read), developing reading comprehension, lndependence in school work, writing skills.....

What did your child miss out on?

Did you feel like they were thrown into the next stage of school work because they were in this or that grade?

 

or

 

Were they able to "catch up" rapidly once their reading clicked and never "skipped a beat".

[Mommyfaithe]

I had 2 late readers...2 very early readers and 2 "on-time" readers...late being 8 years old...young being 3 1/2 and 4, "on time" being 5-6ish.

 

What did my late readers miss out on?? NOTHING at all. I read to them LOTS. i read all the beautiful literature i could get muy hands on, poetry, Bible stories and the Bible itself, adventure stories, pirate stories ....lots and lots of stories....We learned hymns and folksongs. We memorized LOTS of poetry, scripture (like whole chapters,) speeches etc. My late readers were the best at memorization because they couldn't depend on reading the rest if they got stuck. They knew all of the songs we sang in church because they couldn't read them off the overhead or in the hymnal.

 

I think my older readers actually had some advantages and I am glad I did not freak out when they found reading difficult, but just plugged along...waiting for them to get it. (I was pretty sure they were just late bloomers and didn't have learning issues.) Anyway, by the time my kids were in 5th grade I really saw no difference in ability to read...as a matter of fact, my late readers were still enamored by reading on their own and read voraciously. My last late reader is now in 5th grade and she is showing signs of voracious reading:D:D

 

So, anyway, as long as your children do not have any organic issues and you continue to read to them and gently plug away at reading lessons...picking them up and putting them down before frustration tears flow (yours or theirs) don' worry too much.

 

Blessings,

Faithe

[Mommyfaithe]

Oh, and just to let you know my older late reader is going into her 3rd year of college...seriously thinking of applying to Med school and has a straight A average. So, as far as being behind(whatever the heck that means)...yes she was...for quite a while...but obviously ...it hasn't been much of a hindrance.

 

~~Faithe

[8filltheheart]

Just agreeing with Faithe. I have had 2 late readers so far, my oldest and my 13 yos. My oldest didn't read well until 3rd grade, my 13 yos not until 4th. Do I think they missed out on anything? Absolutely not. Not only did they not miss out on anything, but they learned perserverance is necessary and know that they can succeed even when it is painful. (contrarily, my brightest child that has always had everything come easy gets frustrated when work is necessary!)

 

My oldest has never been one to love reading, but he has always done well and is a rising college senior at 19 in chemical engineering and performs at the top of the class. My 13 yos is a bookworm and is above grade level across the board.

 

Hang in there mom!!

[Mom-ninja.]

These responses have made me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy. I love reading such posts to remind me to calm my doubts.

 

Op, do you have a late/struggling reader? I'm looking at your dc's ages wondering.

[Tabrett]

These responses have made me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy. I love reading such posts to remind me to calm my doubts.

 

Op, do you have a late/struggling reader? I'm looking at your dc's ages wondering.

My oldest struggled. She never read for enjoyment until she was about 10-11. I love books and bought set after set of books for her. I own almost every Dr.Seuss. I have a huge Disney movie set of books. Disney trip around the world set. Anne of Green Gable set and ...... you get the picture. I read to her constantly (we did SL). When she started reading on her own, she skipped all these wonderful children's books and went straight to Harry Potter, Twilight, Jane Austin ect...

 

I look at all the children's books on the shelves and wonder if my younger 3 will ever actually read them. I really thought children were supposed to read these books. I though they were written to be read BY children, not moms.

 

I just kind of makes me sad. My 5yod hates to try to read. She can, she just hates it.

 

It just really makes me sad.

 

I read on the post of parents who have 5 and 6yods that read so much they can't find enough books that have age appropriate content.

Sometimes I feel that if I didn't have to spend so much time teaching reading, we could be doing so much more.

 

It's kind of a s/o on the "I hate teaching phonics" thread. YKWIM? If we could just get the "learning to read" over with so we could "read to learn".

 

I am forcing my self to not do ANY school over the summer in hopes that my 5yo will forget that she hates to read. I'm afraid that I have pushed her too hard and I'm trying to pull back. I just want my dc to love to read while they are young.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Tabrett

[Ellie]

...do you feel that they missed out on a lot? Things like good independent reading books (book subject too young once they could read), developing reading comprehension, lndependence in school work, writing skills.....

 

No, I didn't feel that way at all. When dd's reading level caught up to her age, so did her comprehension and everything else.

 

Did you feel like they were thrown into the next stage of school work because they were in this or that grade?

 

I chose mostly ungraded methods/materials until dd was reading at her age level, then we moved right into her grade level with more traditional (i.e., just like school) materials.

 

Were they able to "catch up" rapidly once their reading clicked and never "skipped a beat".

Yup.

[MerryAtHope]

I love books and bought set after set of books for her. I own almost every Dr.Seuss. I have a huge Disney movie set of books. Disney trip around the world set. Anne of Green Gable set and ...... you get the picture. I read to her constantly (we did SL). When she started reading on her own, she skipped all these wonderful children's books and went straight to Harry Potter, Twilight, Jane Austin ect...

 

I look at all the children's books on the shelves and wonder if my younger 3 will ever actually read them. I really thought children were supposed to read these books. I though they were written to be read BY children, not moms.

.

 

We also use Sonlight, but I also read all of those kinds of books to my kids too. Why NOT have them read by Moms? I LOVE Dr. Seuss, LOL! I loved reading Fox in Socks to my kids and the like. In fact...a few books that my kids have outgrown and dared to put on the "you can sell this one, Mom" pile, I have rescued, because *I* don't want to sell them! They are my friends and I'll read them to grandkids, Lord willing, one day!

 

Really, it doesn't take much extra time to mix in these books. You choose one and they choose one, and you read them both to your kids. Enjoy them together :-). Maybe they need to see that *you* find them worthwhile by seeing you read them to them? Maybe they don't see them as worthwhile if you don't read them...hard to say. I love SL but I like reading the picture books to my kids when they are young too.

 

My kids were both late readers. They have different taste in books, so some that one reads, the other never cared for. That's ok.

 

Hang in there! It's hard having late readers.

 

Merry :-)

[Mom-ninja.]

From what you've said I don't think your dd missed out on anything. You read her many wonderful books. Just because she didn't read them independently doesn't mean that she did not benefit from them. Besides, think of all the time spent with you. Doesn't the author of "The Read Aloud Handbook" recommend continuing to read aloud to/with your dc even when they are teens/young adults?

 

Yeah, I feel sad at times when I read posts here about kids 8 and younger reading all these great books on their own. I wonder when that will happen here. In the mean time I focus on the snuggly couch sessions of me reading out loud.

[Peela]

My late reader caught up and sped ahead very quickly. He went from reading very simple chapter books, to 2 inch thick novels, in a very short time. He was 9.5 when the lights went on and he has been a pretty advanced reader ever since then, in spite of his other learning difficulties.

 

I never felt he missed out on books for younger kids because I read all the important ones out loud anyway :)

[Stacy in NJ]

Ds 12 is Dyslexic and didn't really read until about 4th grade. Reading is a skill like any other; you learn by doing. If you can't do, you're not learning how. You miss out on content; you miss out on vocabulary development. That said, as a rising 7th grader, he is now a bookworm, but his book choices tend toward the easy to read stuff. If it had been easier to him to learn to read, I have not doubt that he would be further along academically now.

[Melissa in Australia]

I have and have had late readers. my 15 ds couldn't read well until 11. he is now reading Herodotus and really enjoying it. my 11 ds is still struggling, he still reads aloud to me, I think he is starting to get it now.

 

now I would really love to hear of any success stories of late writers.

[Dobela]

My son is just 9 and has been struggling learning how to read. Do I htink he has missed out? Yes. His self esteem has taken a hit because peers are reading aloud in Bible class and he lies saying he doesn't like to read when the truth is he can't very well yet. I have to sit beside him for every subject, even math because of reading problems.

 

I really wish I had pursued looking for help for him sooner. Yea,he is about to begin tutoring this month, but I should has asked for help sooner and should have ruled out true learning disabilities sooner. I kept believing better late than never, he is just a late reader... and I believe he has suffered because of it.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Dobela
spelling errors

[ElizabethB]

I've tutored a lot of students with reading problems because of too many sight words. Most of them have terrible self-confidence. It's much easier to teach the K and 1st graders than the older children because they don't have years of sight word guessing to undo...although I've had 3 very bright 5th graders who were reading well after only a few months work, including one recently who with Webster's Speller is now reading at an 8th grade level! I've also remediated one adult. (I actually only got her to somewhere around a 6th to 8th grade reading level before I had to move, but that was enough for her to be able to read most of what she needed to read, she was reading at a 3rd grade level when we started.)

 

They become more confident as they learn to read well.

 

Some of my students had a problem with as few as 20 to 50 sight words, although most of them get the whole 220 Dolch word list.

 

While it can work out when addressed later, it's always best to fix sooner rather than later.

[elegantlion]

My ds is a delayed reader, but he has fantastic comprehension. Once we determined he had a problem reading we didn't want that to stop him from experiencing age appropriate books, so I read to him a lot. We worked this year on getting consistency in his reading.

 

I try to balance his schoolwork so he is challenging himself with his reading (in all subjects) but doesn't get frustrated by it.

[DawnM]

I am worried too. My 11 year old still cannot read many of the readers for Sonight Core 3. He has aperger's and reading and writing are very hard for him. I try not to push him because that doesn't help.

 

I am letting him read other books that are about a 2nd grade level like Magic Treehouse books.

 

My 9 year old is right at grade level and can read the readers just fine.

[BlsdMama]

Am I allowed to say both? Our ds wasn't reading at level until this year - 4th grade. He didn't really learn to read on his own 'til about 3rd grade, at about age 9. Do I think he missed out? Yes, I do. I think he missed out on what my older daughter had - and that was a love of books born through a natural ease and love of reading. It's very hard to love something that comes with so much work. Do I think he caught right up? Yes. He's easily reading everything Ana was capable of at the same age. He loves to read now, although we needed to teach him it's okay to read easy things and not always push himself to the next level. If I could, all my children would read easily no later than age 5. But, you're assuming that's possible. Have you heard the story of the Alaskan farmers and the fence posts? Two farmers needed to set some fence posts in the ground. The first farmer, in early spring, when everything was still frozen, dug an inch every day, scraping away at the ground. The second farmer did nothing. Finally on the day that the ground was thawed, the second farmer went out and set all of his posts in one day. Both farmers finished on the same day. I think Christian and I could have clawed at his frozen ground every single day, moving the tiniest bit of earth. In the end, we would have arrived at the same result we have now. But, I wonder, would he love reading like he does now? He never knew he was behind. He never knew that he should have been reading more, or easily. And, now, at age 10, he has his fence posts in place and it's a dandy looking fence. :) I've gotten just enough experience under my belt to be dangerous to others. All I can say is that no children are the same. He absorbs math like a sponge. Treat them all differently, accept what you have, and work with that. The goal is to love reading and literature. If I keep that in mind, the rest works itself out.

I should mention that we still did reading aloud, dictation, et cetera, we didn't just walk away and leave him unattended, but we certainly didn't push.

[susie in tx]

My eldest was a slow to learn reader. She didn't read fluently until she was almost 9. That was in March or April. By that summer she was reading long chapter books. She has had some reading comprehension issues, and still does. We work on that as we can.

 

My current 8 yo has a lot of difficulty with reading. She has a very strong desire to learn and yet she hasn't had that lightbulb moment. I plan to work more with her on reading comprehension, even though she isn't reading on her own.

 

I wish that both of them were able to read at a young age, as I don't remember ever NOT knowing how to read. Plus, it's hard to watch them struggle.

 

FWIW, my other two dd's have had no trouble learning to read. My 5 yo is just chomping at the bit to read. LOL

[amiechoke]

[slight thread hijacking warning here]

 

Multiple questions for everyone with a late readers:

What's late, and how do you know if your child is just late or if there's a problem? Can someone point me to a resource that will give me benchmarks to follow?

 

I hear a lot of people talking about how their dc didn't read until they were 8, 9, 11? But what was it like on the way? I've got a ds6 who really resists reading. He's still having problems with reversals on b/d/p. I think part of it is a confidence/perfectionist problem, but I don't know where to go next.

 

Thanks to anyone with advice, sorry to hijack - it just seemed a good opportunity to ask while people in a similar boat were paying attention.

 

-ATB

[jg_puppy]

[slight thread hijacking warning here]

 

Multiple questions for everyone with a late readers:

What's late, and how do you know if your child is just late or if there's a problem? Can someone point me to a resource that will give me benchmarks to follow?

 

I hear a lot of people talking about how their dc didn't read until they were 8, 9, 11? But what was it like on the way? I've got a ds6 who really resists reading. He's still having problems with reversals on b/d/p. I think part of it is a confidence/perfectionist problem, but I don't know where to go next.

 

Thanks to anyone with advice, sorry to hijack - it just seemed a good opportunity to ask while people in a similar boat were paying attention.

 

-ATB

 

I am glad that you posted this. I have a 6.5 year old and I am wondering the same thing. How do would I know he is a late bloomer verses him having a learning disability?

 

Jan

[susie in tx]

I tend to do look at my other children. My first just seemed to struggle. I worried, but didn't do a whole lot about it until she was 8. I've heard, and read, from numerous sources that letter reversals at an early age are normal. I've heard this referenced especially for boys. Once I knew this about reversals, I started all of my girls with cursive rather than print. Currently, I'm working on fluency with my just turned 8 yo and she obviously struggles. Learning to read may be simple, but it's not always easy for everyone.

 

I did a quick google search for letter reversals normal and came up with the following:

 

http://school.familyeducation.com/study-skills/alphabet/41143.html

http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=13270

http://specialed.about.com/od/teacherstrategies/a/reversal.htm

http://www.audiblox2000.com/learning_disabilities/letter_reversals.htm

 

The third link, especially, has links to research regarding letter reversals.

 

My current 5yo reverses letters and read cvc words fluently, much more fluently than her older sister.

[Mandamom]

I work with a lot of learning disabled students who are late readers and many seem to be lacking "language". Yes, they can hold conversations but they are very slow to pick up concepts because their brain does not have the language pathways developed. Their understanding of concepts is immature. I suspect a lot of these families did not have language rich homes when they were younger. Those that do have fewer struggles later.

 

So, if you do have a delayed reader still try and filll your child up with language as much as possible. Read, read and do more reading -- use audio tapes, discuss subjects that they may not be able to read about (geography, history, science etc.) so when the reading does come they won't be as severely language delayed. Talk about cause and effect, relationships between people and things, watch movies (educational) and listen to tapes and talk about them. Also, give them math language concepts also so that they can develop those pathways -- more/less; bigger/smaller; half of, etc.. In other words, follow TWTM :)

 

Yes, there are some students who have language disabilities and they may always struggle but you need to help give them more language -- not less. Delayed readers may or may not have other language disabilities but the more they are exposed to language I suspect that they would do much better when the reading does come, whether that is at 8 years or 12 years.

[8filltheheart]

[slight thread hijacking warning here]

 

 

I hear a lot of people talking about how their dc didn't read until they were 8, 9, 11? But what was it like on the way? I've got a ds6 who really resists reading. He's still having problems with reversals on b/d/p. I think part of it is a confidence/perfectionist problem, but I don't know where to go next.

 

 

I think that there are several issues. First, at 6 I wouldn't worry about letter reversals b/c they are very common until about 2nd grade.

 

I would also pay attention to whether or not they are exhibiting any difficulties any where else. For example, my struggling readers could do copywork with no difficulty. Their letter formations and ability to copy from one source to another were fine. They didn't have any problems with numbers (though occasionally when writing an answer they might reverse a 3 or a 5, but when "reading" the numbers in their book, they always identified them correctly.)

 

They could also do word searches of simple words containing words such as dad, bob, bed, etc and not have problems distinguishing the words.

 

My kids also didn't have any comprehension issues, from their own belabored reading or from listening to read alouds.

 

A couple of approaches that helped my kids....keeping reading assignments short and simple and allowing for great success. Making copywork assignments directly from their daily reading. Not making a big deal about their reading. My kids never knew that they were slow. I simply told them that all kids do things at different rates. (having a large family, they knew that some walked early, some walked late, but they all still walked, ditto to talking, potty training, etc! Reading was just the same sort of thing.)

 

I always read aloud hrs every day. So my kids didn't miss out on anything b/c they weren't reading it on their own.

 

Once they could read simple level 2 I Can Read books, I would alternate a harder book that really pushed them with an easy book that gave them feelings of great success. It really helped them progress b/c the "easier books" were able to get harder over time.

 

I wouldn't worry about K-2 readers progressing slowly as long as they are progressing. However, if I had a child that was still not showing signs of significant progress in 3rd, I would seek an outside evaluation. My 2 sons that were late readers were progressing but were simply about a grade level to a yr and a half behind. But, by 3rd the one son was on grade level, and the other son made huge strides in 3rd and was close to on grade level by mid 4th.

 

If either of them had still been reading on a beginning 1st grade level when they started 3rd that would have been too significant of a gap for me and I would have pursued evaluation. Or if they weren't progressing from cvc words, to vcve, to cvvc words, etc......if progress simply wasn't being made in incremental steps, that would be a warning signal to me that something more than normal delay was the cause.

 

Does that help?

[jg_puppy]

Or if they weren't progressing from cvc words, to vcve, to cvvc words, etc......if progress simply wasn't being made in incremental steps, that would be a warning signal to me that something more than normal delay was the cause.

 

Does that help?

 

That is part of what I am struggling with my son. How will I know if he is making slow, but steady progress? I am curious once a child knows all of the individual letters sounds and grasps the concept of blending how long do you normally spend on simple CVC words. We have spend about 2 months on the same words from OPGTTR lessons 27-31. Most of them are cvc words with short a. He still often acts like he has never seen these words. When he focuses he can figure most of them out, but it takes effort. My dd totally skipped this stage. She went from a non reader to reading at a second grade level in about 4 months so this is different for me.

 

Jan

[Brindee]

That is part of what I am struggling with my son. How will I know if he is making slow, but steady progress? I am curious once a child knows all of the individual letters sounds and grasps the concept of blending how long do you normally spend on simple CVC words. We have spend about 2 months on the same words from OPGTTR lessons 27-31. Most of them are cvc words with short a. He still often acts like he has never seen these words. When he focuses he can figure most of them out, but it takes effort. My dd totally skipped this stage. She went from a non reader to reading at a second grade level in about 4 months so this is different for me.

 

Jan

My oldest read youngish (4) and my 2nd had no interest in reading at all. I didn't do anything with him but read to him (to all the kids). I read out loud to them a LOT! I did ask our family doc about him, since he did EVERYTHING late--even getting and losing teeth! Our doc did some little tests, and just said he was just slower at getting around to things, but seemed to have no significant issues causing it. So I just let him be. DD was born when he was 3 1/2, and by the time she was 18 mo. old, she loved doing colors and letters and numbers and singing. By the time she was 3 and he was 6, she was doing more in that area than he was, because she was so interested in it, and he still was not at all interested!

 

Then when he was about 7 1/2 it clicked. He had shown a little more interest after he turned 7. In November I videotaped him reading--it was very slow, and drawn out, and painful to listen to, almost! ;) Then in January I vidoe'd him reading again. He was reading at a 3rd grade level at that time, only 2 months later, and was quite fluent! A couple months down the road a nurse inpublic service (I forget what it's called) from our church had to do some practice evaluations, and asked if she could test my ds. He was at the 7th grade level for reading and comprehension!

 

He was my only slow reader, but now he is a voracious reader that I've had a hard time keeping up with. We need a shopping cart to check out books from the library, then within a few days they've all been read and he wants more!

 

My advice is to ask your doctor, make sure his eyes are tracking, and otherwise okay, and then just read to them a LOT! Show how much you all like reading and how much you can learn from it, and how much fun it is! They may not be as dramatic as my ds was, that was just his experience, but each one is different. I wouldn't worry about them not being interested in reading right now, and wouldn't push it. Just involve them all you can in things, and be encouraging anytime they make even a tiny step forward!

[ElizabethB]

[slight thread hijacking warning here]

I've got a ds6 who really resists reading. He's still having problems with reversals on b/d/p. I think part of it is a confidence/perfectionist problem, but I don't know where to go next.

 

Here are some exercises for B/D reversals. They were designed for an older remedial student who had already learned phonics, but you could design similar exercises based around the sounds your child has learned so far. There are also some tips about how to remember which one is which. For my daughter, I taught her in uppercase for K to help prevent reversals, cursive also works.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html

 

Some students take a lot more repetition before they get it. The use of sight words can also slow down the speed with which a child learns phonics.

 

Here is how to teach all but 5 of the most commonly taught sight words phonetically:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

 

Also, a fun game to sneak in the repetition you need to make blending automatic:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

 

And, finally, I really like Webster's Speller for a struggling student. As I explain on my dyslexia page, syllables are the true atoms of reading instruction.

 

Webster's is also good in that the basic syllables taught first in the syllabary are then used to help decode 2 to 6 syllable words. I used it on a white board with my daughter in K with great success and have also used it successfully with many remedial students. The link below in my signature explains how to use it, there are also several threads about it.

[ClassicMom]

I think it really depends on the reason for the delay. Some kids are just late bloomers. I have one that is on the gifted side but was a little late out of the gate. But now she's hard to keep up with.

 

On the other hand, we also have one that struggled to learn to read and we worked on phonics and reading all the way through graduation. I'm now having her help her brother learn phonics just to keep working on her reading skills. Even though she has come much further than we were told she would, I'd like to see her move just a bit more. (Obviously there's more than reading skills involved here).

 

I think if a child really struggles and has problems with vocab, comprehension, etc. they should be checked. I'm in the better early than late camp. If a problem isn't diagnosed, then wait it out and keep reading aloud. But after having so many problems diagnosed in our family, it's better to find out early and than to wait it out and realize there was an underlying problem. Luckily we caught most of our children's problems early on, the major ones anyway.

[amiechoke]

Well, perhaps I need to ditch lower case for a while and have his eyes checked as a backup. His comprehension and vocabulary seem fine - when I read him stories, he can narrate back to me, no problem (stuff like SOTW or D'aulaire's Greek Myths).

 

Thanks for everyone's advice, I'll keep researching.

 

-ATB

[jg_puppy]

I think if a child really struggles and has problems with vocab, comprehension, etc. they should be checked. I'm in the better early than late camp. If a problem isn't diagnosed, then wait it out and keep reading aloud. But after having so many problems diagnosed in our family, it's better to find out early and than to wait it out and realize there was an underlying problem. Luckily we caught most of our children's problems early on, the major ones anyway.

 

My son struggles with narrations. He does much better if it is a book he is interested in and the book has pictures.

 

 

One of the things that concerns me is he will say things like "Maybe I will do that a little sooner" When he actually means he will do it later. I know that he knows the difference between sooner and later, but he mixes them up when talking. He doesn't do it all of the time, but I it is enough that have noticed it. He does it with before/after, hot/cold.

 

Jan