ds10 can't seem to hold onto details when reading by himself ,vs. reading aloud to me

[Johanna]

ds reads aloud to me and we are able to discuss the reading and he comprehends and catches all the details.

 

But, when I assign the reading (chapter books) and ask him questions, he can't seem to recall details. UGH!

 

Also, this is the same child who CANT hold division/multip. facts in his head! (but thats a whole other post) LOL

 

 

ANything I can do to help him slow down and digest details of the story?

 

I do know this....HE DOES NOT ENJOY READING. He really hates reading chapter books. He'll read guiness world records and ripleys and nature magazines for hours. BUT HATES reading ch. books.

 

 

HELP!!

 

thanks!:confused:

[raceNzanesmom]

Does he read aloud to himself or silently? Reading aloud might help. You could also have him follow along with an audio book, or read less per day. If he needs to read x amount of pages per day, perhaps have him read half, do any related work, then later in the day do the other half and finish the work.

[Johanna]

That's a good point, it seems when I upped his reading amounts, details went out the door. I'll decrease it, thank u for the tip!!!

[PeterPan]

Well I never think it hurts to get their eyes checked. It sounds like you're saying when he reads stuff with images, he's cool. When he reads a chapter book with no clues, he has issues. The stuff you're describing with holding numbers in his head is called working memory. Yes, if a person has working memory issues they may read a whole passage and not remember what they read. When you read aloud together, you're giving him an auditory input as well. Sometimes auditory and visual working memory will differ. Sometimes a person is bent toward visual processing but their visual processing isn't working well (due to an unidentified vision problem, whatever). Then that person shifts over and uses their auditory processing to pull the weight, even though their auditory processing ISN'T their strongest or natural learning channel. So then you hit this wall where things aren't working right. 4th/5th grade honestly is a really common age for that all to come out.

 

Start with the simplest solution and get his eyes checked by a developmental optometrist. Don't use a regular one, because they don't check the things that affect school work the way a developmental optometrist does. You can just do a regular exam ($60 in our area) and they will *screen* for those extra things. There is a full developmental eval, but you only need that if the screening turns up something. Easy way to check the eyes to make sure that's not part of the problem. Go to COVD to find a developmental optometrist.

 

Then I would ask what his phonics background is and how he learned to read. Have you done any standardized testing? It doesn't always show up that way, but sometimes it does. How is his spelling? That's the kind of sleuthing you do to see if there's a problem there. A standardized test has reading comprehension scores. If he was in the ps and didn't get phonics and is now having problems, you may need to go back and fill in those holes. Just gotta explore and see what the mix is.

 

If you know you've done phonics 40 times over and nothing is sticking and things aren't right and you know it but don't know what to do about it, then that's the time you start talking evals. You can go through your ps or do it privately. Won't hurt anyone but can turn up the problem. It's just a process to work through, starting with the easiest solutions and working your way up. Takes several months usually to get into a neuropsych (private) for a full eval. Can be AMAZINGLY helpful. SWB now gives a talk on the (insert your adjective of frustration) child and points out there (and actually in some of her other talks too) that if you're having these persistent problems in 5th that you thought they would outgrow and haven't, it's time to get an evaluation. For us, it was a good process. :)