Lack of interest in reading in my 11 yo ds-ideas?

[Catherine]

He reads well, comprehension is excellent, but reads rather slowly-for example, he did not get through all of TWTM reading list for fifth grade this year. Most, but not all. I have 2 other children who are voracious readers, and the technicques I've used to spark their interest in certain books have not worked with him.

 

How to you encourage reading, of age-appropriate books, in able but apparently disinterested kids? He very frequently chooses easy, sometimes VERY easy, books to read, like Dr. Suess! This child is "young" for his age in other ways too. I truly don't want to engage in a power struggle over this, and I don't want to take away all the easy books, his 6 yo brother still reads them.

[Michelle in MO]

daughter that I almost could have written it myself! She's not exactly young for her age (although I can think of another daughter who is!), but she when she reads aloud, she tends to read slowly and stumbles over some words that I thought she would have had "down" phonetically by now. She does read to herself, but for a while it was under great duress. Whenever I've had her tested, she's tended to read right at or slightly above reading level. Since my other two girls read very well, I haven't been able to "figure" this little girl out!

 

My older two girls kept telling me, "Mom, when we found a book that we really wanted to read, then we learned how to read well." That was true for each of them!

 

And my youngest, like your ds, tended to go for the easy books---she still does, to some degree.

 

So, what I did was start a rewards program for her. I paid her for each book she read (in fact, I paid her $5 per book, which I thought was exorbitant, but I really wanted her to start reading! I'm not suggesting you have to do the same!). So, she's been reading slowly through whichever books I assigned to her.

 

Then, I happened upon a series of animal books by an author named Bill Wallace. The books are still relatively easy---4th or 5th grade reading level---but she loves these silly books about animals! So, I've been buying them either from B&N online or in the store. Of course, a library would work just as well.

 

I also tried to work a lot with her on reading comprehension this year, which is something she's struggled with. I had her read through some books that Veritas Press suggests for her age/grade level, and used their comprehension guides. I also used Abeka's Read & Think Skill Sheets and Adventures in Other Lands/Nature/Greatness series. I think she enjoyed the fact that with these timed reading quizzes she would get a better "grade" if she really tried to read faster and more accurately. Of course, not every child would respond to that---some might feel overly pressured and frustrated---so that wouldn't be the answer for everyone.

 

Anyway, I guess it boils down to a few suggestions: 1) try to find out from your ds what books he really enjoys reading; 2) perhaps try some sort of a "rewards" program---money, a small toy car, a reward of another book; 3) try to schedule, perhaps, a short time each day during which he can read aloud to you. The latter might help you "diagnose" any particular troubles or stumbling blocks he's having.

 

With my youngest, it's been a slow process, but finally I'm seeing some interest in reading stir inside of her. I'm glad she's found this series of books. I hope she "graduates" from them onto more difficult subject matter, but for the time being I think what may be happening with her is that she's building speed and confidence in her reading. I've heard this before, with reluctant readers, that sometimes having them read books that are slightly below their reading level helps them to build speed and confidence.

 

Best wishes to you and your ds! :)

[Mostlyamom]

I don't know much about eyesight convergence, but I remember reading that eye doctors don't routinely notice certain types of vision issues. Email me if you can't google some information. (Scary--google used as a verb. . .)

 

I have found that comic books just laying around the house have really pushed kid's reading/comprehension levels. Also, having a variety of reading material just hanging around can be really helpful. The library once gave me a huge box of kid's magazines which were more than I would have purchased on my own, for example. Also, I've heard some parents have success with leaving 10-15 minutes earlier than needed, and then just having to hang out in the car--with some reading material--for 10-15 minutes before an appointment.

[plansrme]

I found a book at my library called something like "Parents Who Love to Read, Children Who Don't." We call the author the "trashy book lady." She advocated, quite persuasively, for letting kids read "twaddle" for as long as it takes for them to learn to love reading. Comic books (as noted above), Babysitter Club, anything that sparks their interest. For my 8 yo, it was the Animal Ark series. She adores them, read 6 or 7 in a row, and has now branched out to other types of pleasure reading. She always has an Animal Ark book going, but she'll intersperse other things as well.

One big help was sending her to bed early and letting her read in bed. I nearly cried the first time I had to turn her light out and she begged me to let her finish this chapter because it was so exciting. She loves to share Animal Ark books with her friends and cousins--it's been a real thrill to see her take "ownership" of this series.

I also have read that reading below grade level is a great help to reading fluency, so perhaps reading easier books would still help your son.

Terri

[Nestof3]

You know, I hate to say this out loud, but not everyone is going to love reading. My husband does not like reading. My mom does not like reading. My oldest son did not like reading. It is still not his favorite thing to do, but he usually has some book he's reading through. They pertain to his military career future, though. He would never pick up Pride and Prejudice!

 

My oldest son did listen to audio books all of the time, though, growing up. He loves playing Legos, and this allowed him to follow a great book while doing what he loved most.

 

My mom has all sorts of intersts -- crosstitching, refinishing furniture, building small pieces of furniture, doll-house constructing/decorating, baking, etc.

 

So, does your son listen to audio books? Perhaps if you can get him hooked on a book series, he could listen to the first one and then read the rest of the ones in that series. Or just listening to audio books is at least better than no reading at all.

 

Perhaps you can try to find out what his passions are -- would he like historical fiction, survival stories, animal stories? Perhaps if you can give us some interests, we can recommend certain books.

 

And I would never remove easy books from my house because they were the only ones he enjoyed reading. Each person is unique in his or her own way. There is no rule that says: everyone must enjoy reading just like there is no rule that says everyone must enjoy sports, scrapbooking, etc. Sure, it's great when you have a voracious reader because of the potential to learn so much, but many people still learn so much by audio books or by learning through experience.

 

PS -- I also let my children stay up one hour late if they want to read in bed, and so far they each choose this. They really enjoy reading now, but my youngest didn't until he read a few times during this stay-up-late time. Now he's hooked.

 

We have some comic books that my oldest son liked called The Adventures of Tin Tin." The ones we have are clean.

[Catherine]

My concern is slightly different-he seems to read rather slowly, for his age. Maybe it's nothing-he can get through any of the books assigned for his age group in TWTM, it just takes 2-4 weeks per book, reading about 60 minutes, four days a week. That seems a bit long to me, but really, maybe it's not. I have only his brothers to compare to, and maybe they are not "average". I suspect they aren't.

 

I plan at the minimum, a vision exam. Also, when he reads, he "stumbles". I can't describe it well, but he mumbles sometimes, and at times, but not always, the words don't flow smoothly-he's slightly dysfluent. I've looked at symptom checklists for developmental vision problems, and very few of the problems listed apply. I think because reading is not perfectly easy, he rarely chooses to do it. Also, I think it fatigues him. Thanks for the helpful ideas so far!

[Nestof3]

Oh, Catherine,

 

I'm sorry -- I wasn't picking up on how much of your concern is due to possible problems visually, and so forth. I was thinking your concern was mostly in his lack of interest.

[Kathy in MD]

A few thoughts:

 

I assume from your comments that you will be seeing a developmental optometrist. If not, do so. Becoming tired while reading is often a sign of dev visual problems, OTOH, your ds can read for an hour at a time so that may not be his problem.

 

Have you done fluency readings with him? This is where he reads the same passage daily for 3-5 days for one minute, trying to improve his speed and accuracy.

 

Third, does he stumble primarily on multi-syllabic words? If so he may need specific teaching on how to decode these words. REWARDS is a fast way to master this skill.

[kRenee]

My 9 year old ds is in vision therapy and his only symptom was that he didn't like to read what I wanted him to read. If it was his choice he could do it. I looked at those checklists also and thought vision couldn't be a problem - but it was.

[TracyR]

I have found with my 10 year old daughter who is a slow reader . That letting her read the books she enjoys , she actually reads through them faster . She isn't very fluent either and I think I know what you are talking about . My daughter did have a slight vision problem that has corrected itself and this isn't the issue anymore . Just slow reading . Some children just read slower then others. My 8yr old reads faster then her 10 yr old sister . But as long as the reading gets done , why should it be an issue as to how long it takes for him to read it .

I still require my girls to read out loud to check to make sure they are reading words properly . And I still read to them , which has increased their love of books . Right now I am reading Detectives in Togas ( a great read aloud for this age ) , and we're all enjoying this particular book . Actually its one of the better ones we've read in quite some time and we've finished Treasure Island and Swiss Family Robinson as our read alouds . I find if I read the books , shelve them , later on I find my girls going through the books and reading them their selves and break neck speed . I think I must be a good story teller or something :>)

 

Find a series he enjoys . I know my daughter enjoys reading 'The Magic Tree House ' Series . As for how long it takes for her to read it . I'm not pushing it . As long as it gets read :>)

[Tammyla]

Very good suggestions so far. Ruling out any visual delays, I'd go for reading anything he enjoys.

 

*Following along with books on CD, co-reading, reading aloud, repeated reading (Do keep the ones he picks up.) and daily reading.

 

*Also consider your required reading list. You might choose titles slightly below his ability that are interesting to him. This would help build up his speed and confidence.

 

*My experience has been that once they can read with ease, they will speed up and read more across the board. There is no way to make them love reading, but you can help them with the skills needed to do it. On the more difficult books he needs to read for his lessons, work on his reading strategies.

[mom2abcd]

Do a search on ebay for Eye Q. Those programs will be pricey, but you'll find something similar called, I think, SpediRead. These programs help kids be able to read faster.

 

Do this for a few times and then let him stay up late to read. Provide a variety of books below his reading level that are interesting to him... Jack Stalwart, Geronimo Stilton, A-Z Mysteries, etc. Tell him he can stay up as long as he's reading;o)

[summer]

The only thing that ever worked was to stop trying. One year, last school year (2006-2007) there were just lots of things going on in my life so I slacked on school work big time. I still forbade non educational activities during the day and kept plenty of good books around. Turns out, my reading hating daughter took to books! By the end of year, her standardized test scores for reading went up 20 percentile points. This was the same girl to took a chair to the most open space in the library and sat on it in the middle for a considerable amount of time and claimed that there was not one good book in the entire library for her to read. I did give her access to many books and fun books (but not twaddle). She had both non fiction and fiction. She definitely prefers nonfiction. Now she reads so much more than she used to! I think doing a curriculum or requiring books that they do not like, enjoy, or constantly stuggle with, is how you get them to hate reading and turns them off to reading all the more. After she spent enough time with no tv allowed, no computer games, no assignments to do, she took to actually reading to keep her occupied and it worked!