Proud Mama Moment and a Reading Question

[staysee34]

I have to share this because not only am I one proud mama but DD10 is over the moon about it. She finally rode a "big girl" roller coaster! I know it's not a big deal really but for her it is. Given the insufferable anxiety she has, I never thought she would do it. We've been working on this goal for a couple of years now. It's a goal she set herself and there was no way I was letting it go. I knew if I could coax her onto the ride she would love it. She loves to spin, swing, bounce, and smell stuff to the exclusion of all other things if you let her. Anyway, she did it and she loved it! I'm happy!:lol:

 

Ok, back to the academics. DD10 has huge reading issues. I highly suspect dyslexia although there's no official diagnosis. We did AAS Level 1 last year but she hated it. This year, I got Spectrum Phonics Grade 2 and 3 and we're using it. She doesn't seem to mind those. I also got Evan Moors Read and Understand Stories(grade 2 and 3) and she is doing well with those also. The reading level seems to be about right for her. In addition, she also reads out loud to me for 15 minutes a day. It's all she can handle or I'd have her do more. I generally have her read a few pages silently first and then out loud to me because she seems to do better that way. However, she tries to read too fast. I've began using a line guide and it seems to slow her down some. In addition, her accuracy and fluency are lacking. She guesses at a lot of words. She doesn't stop for periods or commas. I read out loud to her and her sister at various points throughout the day. But I wonder if I should be modeling for her during our independent session. I guess my question is if anyone has suggestions so I can help my daughter read?

[freeindeed]

Congrats to your daughter on riding a roller coaster! She is braver than I am.:)

 

With her reading, just keep modeling to her when you read aloud. Make sure she's sitting by you & reading along with you so she can see the commas, periods, etc. and know why you stop, pause, change your tone, etc. Be patient and keep it fun and light-hearted. Also, keep the reading sessions short, just like you're already doing. One more thing: audio books might be good for her to listen to & hear fluent readers while she follows along in the book.

Edited September 3, 2012 by freeindeed

[eoffg1]

Staysee, the problem could be that your DD is starting to become a fluent reader?

Where reading out loud, should not be confused with reading? As they are very different processes.

While reading out loud, plays an important part in role in early stage of learning to read. It is basically just a word recognition test, using consecutive words. Presented as sentence, rather than as a list.

A line of words across the page, rather than down the page.

But either direction, it is still just a list.

As our eyes go from word to word, which we vocalize, word by word.

 

But speech is very different from reading, where speech is a word by word process.

So that my 'speaking speed' is around a 100 WPM words per minute.

Yet my reading speed, varies from 200 to 600 WPM, depending on what I am reading.

Though if I had to 'read out loud', my reading speed drops down to my speaking speed.

Also the movement of my eyes across the line changes, as they wait for my mouth to catch up?

So that my eyes tend to move from word to word, across the line?

Whereas, with silent reading? My eyes take in 'groups of words', and move from group to group.

So that I process words as a group. Where the size of the group of words, is defined by the extent of my focal peripheral vision. So that periods/ commas are identified with peripheral vision.

Perhaps you might try observing how your eyes move across the line, as you reading?

Where your eyes wont move from word to word and arrive at a comma or period?

Rather they will be identified with your peripheral vision, and define an end point for a word group.

 

While our education systems are focused on learning to read words, different ways of reading are not currently taught?

[Lecka]

I have read a book from the library with lots of suggestions for fluency. How to find their level, how to practice, etc.

 

This one recommended that you could draw a slash for commas, and two slashes for periods, to signal a pause. (Or to signal a natural pause, which it talked about often occurring when there was a prepositional phrase.) Then practice the passage without the visual cues. (There is also a thing where you can use colors or swoops -- I have not done that but there are a lot of recommendations I haven't done that do look good!)

 

There were a lot of suggestions along these lines.

 

The book I looked at was by Wiley Blevins but from looking on amazon there are quite a few books about fluency.

 

I am doing fluency with my son, too. I try to break it up, so he has some time every day of reading an easy book out loud, repeated reading (we will re-read something he likes but that is a little hard for him -- at his instructional level but not too hard at all), and back-and-forth reading (that often will be the next day's repeated reading). I do not do any timed reads but they are highly recommended to motivate kids to do repeated reading (in things I have read) -- I don't think they would be good for my son, though.

 

I have been convicted to stay away from his frustration level when working on fluency -- it can come in time. He can work on decoding at a higher level, which we are doing just a little bit, but separate from fluency.

 

There could be some issue besides fluency -- but reading too fast, and not following punctuation, sound like fluency things -- ideas for them will be associated with fluency.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Lecka