any ideas to help ds with reading

[teach3blessings]

My ds is 9 and, of course, 'hates' reading. He knows phonics, etc., but is basically a lazy reader. He reads a couple of words and then guesses what the next word will be based on the beginning letter. :glare: When he comes to a longer word, he just stares at it, but I am sure he could sound it out if he just would! I have found books with subjects he is interested in, but that has made no difference. Reading below his level in hopes of boosting his confidence has not had any results either.

Does anyone have any ideas that have worked for your ds?

[LizzyBee]

Kids who are referred to as lazy or a late bloomer typically have a learning disability. They are not lazy at all.

 

Your son probably needs more explicit reading instruction than your current curriculum provides. If you provide more information about what you've used and your son's reading level, it will help others provide more targeted advice.

 

In the meantime, here are a few websites that might be helpful:

http://www.dys-add.com

http://www.visualspatial.org

http://www.mislabledchild.com

 

And a great yahoo group for moms of struggling readers:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartofReading/

[teach3blessings]

Sorry for the lack of details. He progressed through Sing, Spell, Read and Write (Phonics) very well @ 5 & 6 years old then we moved on to early readers, various primers, and easy chapter books. We are now using McGuffey Readers (third). I have read aloud to him almost daily since he was very young, which he still seems to enjoy.

He read fairly well (no real concerns, just read slowly) until he announced he didn't like reading (last year) and now it seems he just will not put forth much effort. He is an excellent speller and good at grammar as well. In his writing (something else he doesn't like) he occasionally mixes up b and d.

[yellowperch]

When my oldest was 8 he was a reluctant reader, and a poor one to boot. Ther reasons were complex (he needed glasses, he learned to read in a foreign language first, his little brother was two or more grade levels ahead, etc.). I did a lot of work with him, and was fairly relentless, then hired a tutor to work with him 3 days a week. All of that helped, and I would encourage you to listen to other suggestions about curriculum, etc. However, a few things finally let him bust through and helped him become the insatiable reader he is now:

 

1) I let him get bored. A lot. I did not rescue him when he was, not even to take his boredom as a chance to play another round of sight word bingo or eat a treat. This isn't easy in a lot of settings because a bored child can always tur to tv or electronic games. We don't have these, so when the rest of the kids were reading, he could color or draw, play alone outside or build something. Or read.

 

2) I kept leaving things around that I thought he might like.

 

3) I never interupted him when he was reading. Ever. (I do now, though :001_smile:)

 

4. I kept reading aloud.

 

5. As much as it pained me, I never overrode his reading choices (which for a very long time were "idiot lit"--Captain Underpants, Diary of a Whimy Kid).

 

6. Finally, I started a series--Percy Jackson--and stopped reading it once he was hooked. I never said a word; I just said oh, I'll get to it tomorrow, etc. I had tried this before to little or no effect, but this time it worked. In the end he couldn't resisist. The rest is history.

[LizzyBee]

Sorry for the lack of details. He progressed through Sing, Spell, Read and Write (Phonics) very well @ 5 & 6 years old then we moved on to early readers, various primers, and easy chapter books. We are now using McGuffey Readers (third). I have read aloud to him almost daily since he was very young, which he still seems to enjoy.

He read fairly well (no real concerns, just read slowly) until he announced he didn't like reading (last year) and now it seems he just will not put forth much effort. He is an excellent speller and good at grammar as well. In his writing (something else he doesn't like) he occasionally mixes up b and d.

 

My middle dd was slow to take off with reading even though she knew how to read. She's now a voracious reader. Some kids just need more time before progressing to the next level. Yellowperch had some good ideas.

 

If SSRW doesn't teach the syllabication rules, I would do that. Here is one website, but if you google, you can find lots more. http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/syllables.html Just learn one rule per week and write some words each day for him to practice with. That should help him understand how to sound out multisyllabic words.

[teach3blessings]

Thank you, ladies.

[Tammyla]

Library reading programs help with incentives, you can even do your own home version.

 

***My night owl enjoyed and valued a little reading after bed time.

[TheCoffeeChick]

Library reading programs help with incentives, you can even do your own home version.

 

***My night owl enjoyed and valued a little reading after bed time.

 

 

If you try incentives, this http://www.bookadventure.com/ site is pretty helpful. It lists books by grade level, has a short quiz over each book, and has awards for completed quizzes. Parents can set up their own reward system also. Think outside the box for incentives, it doesn't always have to be a tanglible item - time on the computer/xbox/wii, a date with just mom to do something fun just the 2 of you, later bed time ... I always found those more enticing when I was a child. :)

[gingersmom]

When my son began homeschooling in 2nd grade he hated reading (thank you very much public school :glare:).

 

We began reading aloud every single day. We would read and read and read. I think some days we did more reading than anything else. After 3-4 months I began to require him to read 1-2 paragraphs out loud. Then it became 1-2 pages out loud.

 

Third grade he was required to read one chapter by himself. Again we did read alouds every single day.

 

Fourth grade he was required to read two chapters by himself every day and we continued with read alouds.

 

He is now in fifth grade and he read probably 50-60 pages by himself everyday and we still do read alouds.

 

Reading is the first thing we do every single morning. When you finish one book there is another one waiting for you. Thanks to paperbackswap I have at least 40 books on the bookshelf waiting to be read.

 

We began in second grade with explode the code, then plaid phonics (the newest version), megawords, back to plaid phonics and now we are back to megawords.

[PeterPan]

My dd didn't sound out words until we did vision therapy. With what you're saying, I would get his eyes checked by a developmental optometrist. http://www.covd.org

[teach3blessings]

Thanks, gals, for your suggestions and the links. I plan to try them out and hope to see some changes. :)

[LizzyBee]

I always forget to mention that the Heart of Reading yahoo group has a ton of resources in their files section. There is information on multisensory learning, phonological awareness, syllabication, and lots of other things.