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Refusal to read. What to do?


Sctigermom
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My son is almost 6. We are going through OPGTR. We are only on lesson 36 and he pretty much refuses to try. He knows the letter sounds. We've been working on letter sounds for over a year. I know he knows them and he knows he knows them. I've tried fun little phonics readers, I've tried writing the sentences and word on the white board, and I've had him look at the book. He will do pretty much anything besides SOUND OUT THE WORDS. When I can get him to sound them out he can read!!! To get him to sound out the words is like pulling teeth. He wants to be able to look at the words, know them, and read them. I don't know what to do. He makes up excuses, he flops around in the floor/chair/couch, and will do things like put his hands over his eyes so he can't see. If I can get him to sound out a sentence he knows what he has just read. No comprehension problems. He loves for me to read to him. I think part of the problem is he knows that if there is a book he wants to read I will just read to him so there is no reason to try to read. I've actually had him say "Why do I need to read? You can just read it to me.". Suggestions please?

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I have a few suggestions.

 

The first is to do reading just before snack time (or another fun event), he gets to run off to have snack after he does reading time. I'd also start over with lesson 1 so he doesn't have a reason to argue with you. ;) You can also choose a few fun books to read after his reading lesson. My 4th was unimpressed with the notion of reading, so he got a small snack after his reading lesson. One lesson was very difficult, so I pulled out raisons and gave him a raison for every line read.

 

The second is Teach Me To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It has the best method to teach a child to sound out a word I've found. We only use it for 50 lessons or so before switching to Phonics Pathways (OPGTR came out after my oldest knew how to read).

 

Third, I've found that my young children have a low tolerance for frustration. When they started to resist reading lessons, it was usually becoming difficult for them. We'd back up a bit (until it was simple) and progress from there. It sometimes seemed like it was 2 steps forward and 1 step back, but it worked. :D

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I extended the sounds, making reading go very slow.

 

The cat sat on the mat.

 

While slowly running my finger under the letters, me: "Thhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeee."

Repeated until dd scoffs, "The." (with an eye roll and an air of disbelief: How can you not know that word?)

Me: "Great job! You read your first word. High five!"

 

Me: "Ccccaaaaaaaattttttttt."

Repeat until dd groans, "Cat. Easy." (with a look in her eye: seriously, how can you be my mother?)

Me: "Yay! You read cat. Ccccaaatttt says cat. Another high five!"

 

I repeated this process for every word, until dd got sick of my slow reading skills and said, "Let me do it." I think she wonders how I managed to get to adulthood being such a slow reader.

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You've probably heard this already, but my standard, tried-and-true suggestion for reluctant readers is to just take a break from reading instruction.

 

It will work out OK, I promise. Take a break. Wait. Do lots of readalouds. Then, when the time seems ripe for another attempt, start again, slowly and gently.

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You've probably heard this already, but my standard, tried-and-true suggestion for reluctant readers is to just take a break from reading instruction.

 

It will work out OK, I promise. Take a break. Wait. Do lots of readalouds. Then, when the time seems ripe for another attempt, start again, slowly and gently.

 

I would do a spelling first method, AAS or SWR. We love SWR despite the learning curve in implementing it. Get him writing and the reading will follow.

 

I agree with both of these. I really pushed reading with DS1 and he HATED it. I was convinced that I ruined reading for him. We took some time off and then started using Spalding (WRTR specifically) to teach the phonograms followed by spelling. Reading just came without the struggles.

 

Last school year, in the fall, he struggled with CVC words. By the end of the school year he was reading books and deciphering words with aw, au, or, oy, oi, silent e, etc. His improvement was phenomenal (to his proud mama :D ) and it wasn't a whole lot of work or struggle. Now he is reading and enjoying books from The Magic Treehouse series.

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I would do a spelling first method, AAS or SWR. We love SWR despite the learning curve in implementing it. Get him writing and the reading will follow.

 

:iagree:We use SWR. Spalding and Logic of English are other options for this approach.

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He loves for me to read to him. I think part of the problem is he knows that if there is a book he wants to read I will just read to him so there is no reason to try to read. I've actually had him say "Why do I need to read? You can just read it to me.". Suggestions please?

 

Have you reassured him that you will continue to read to him after he learns to read? Some kids are afraid they'll lose the wonderful fun of being read to and are reluctant to read on their own for that reason.

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You've probably heard this already, but my standard, tried-and-true suggestion for reluctant readers is to just take a break from reading instruction.

 

It will work out OK, I promise. Take a break. Wait. Do lots of readalouds. Then, when the time seems ripe for another attempt, start again, slowly and gently.

 

:iagree:

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Have you reassured him that you will continue to read to him after he learns to read? Some kids are afraid they'll lose the wonderful fun of being read to and are reluctant to read on their own for that reason.
My answer to this is probably not. I normally say to him things like "If you learned to read then you wouldn't have to have me read it to you." or "You wouldn't have to wait on me to read it to you."

:001_huh:

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You've probably heard this already, but my standard, tried-and-true suggestion for reluctant readers is to just take a break from reading instruction.

 

It will work out OK, I promise. Take a break. Wait. Do lots of readalouds. Then, when the time seems ripe for another attempt, start again, slowly and gently.

 

I agree with this ... and I think the AAS program is a good one to try out, too. I had a very reluctant reader. He is 7 now and can read (and is enjoying what he is doing!) We are now using AAS, PAL-R, PAL-W, and CLE LA 100 books. Suddenly, he can read. We tried many, many programs -- at first he struggled and then he was bored and struggling ... now he loves it all. Oh -- when we did take a break for a few weeks, I noticed he was calmer about it and doing a little better ... then I added Reading Eggs into his day - which he loved. Now we use the programs I mentioned above and something all just clicked with him and it is no longer a fight.

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I would have a more advanced category of books for read-alouds, and I would stop reading to him books that he can (or soon will be able to) read himself. When he asks you to read such a book, tell him "I'm saving that for you to read when you're ready, since I know you will enjoy reading it." Maybe look at the pictures with him and point out a few easy words to get his interest up, but do not read the story to him.

 

To get him more open to the idea of working harder on books, maybe look into some wordless books that are interesting. Some that I just dug out of my basement are "Frog Goes to Dinner" and "The Snowman," but I know there are many other good ones.

 

I'd probably also take a short break from the daily phonics grind.

 

ETA: With my dd who had a slow/reluctant reading start, I picked some really easy stories and we went over them as many as 10 times (once per day), gently. Each time she had better word recognition and this motivated her more and more.

Edited by SKL
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My ds, now 13, announced at 6 years of age that he would NEVER learn to read. He said he had no interest. So, I backed off of the formal program we were using. I started using video games that had a lot of reading in them. I think the older Mario games had a lot of dialogue in them. Anyways, he'd ask me what it said and I would point to the words and sound them out for him. I never ended up going back to a formal reading program and he is now reading voraciously at an adult level. Moby Dick, C.S. LEwis, Taiko, Musashi, Tom Sawyer and so on.

 

I wouldn't advocate that method, but I'm just saying try not to worry too much. You just need to find something that motivates him.

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