Somebody please help me - Reading (yes, a long story)

[Karen in CO]

I am pretty sure I just need to have patience and give her more time. Really. But my youngest dd just has to be different enough to make me unsure. I need some reading reassurance or a kick in the pants or a suggestion or somebody to point to what is apparent that I am oblivious to. :D Help me.

 

Background:

We are a family of early readers. She started reading at 4 like everyone else, but then had weird problems getting lost on a line and constantly comparing words to the same word on a previous page - for instance if she read CAT on page 2 with no trouble then it occurred again on page 3, she's flip over to it and compare that CAT to the previous CAT. She was diagnosed with a developmental set of visual processing problems that included flipping, reversals, and a mid-line jump. Her doctor predicted she'd outgrow them around 7 and suggested we just focus on phonics if we wanted to continue but to skip actual reading until her vision matured.

 

At 7, her vision was declared to be beautiful by her doctor so we went back to reading. She happily skipped through Little Bear to Make Way for Ducklings. Recently, she wanted to try to read her favorite read aloud, Trumpet of the Swans, for herself. She can read it just fine although I do help her with an occasional word. That should be all good then right?

 

The problem?

I've noticed that she also pretends to read instead of reading. If she's comfortable with the story, she can read it great both silently and aloud. But if she doesn't know the story or hasn't read it once or heard it at least once, she is slower and more awkward and unsure of her reading. If I let her read a story she doesn't know silently, she will just pretend to read it and not let me know unless I ask if she had trouble (I found this out yesterday).

 

How do I fix this? Should I read everything to her first? Should I have her read everything aloud once to me then again by herself? Do I just relax and let her get more comfortable on her own? Maybe she can't really read Trumpet at all and just has a really great memory - could she have memorized that many chapters that well? Should I back up to lower level readers (she hates those)? Word lists out of context? nonsense words (but her phonics is great and her problem is fluency)?

 

If she does her copywork without me, she will even copy a whole paragraph without reading it. How can somebody that can read do that? (dh supervised schoolwork yesterday)

 

She's still at that spot between being able to read and being a reader. It is very weird because she can read something like Trumpet even though she's only been reading books for about 7 months. I wonder if maybe I should be still thinking of her like someone who just learned to read despite her reading level. The mixture is what is confusing to me. :confused:

 

My dh says I just need to :chillpill: and wait because fluency takes time and that older dd drive me crazy before she became a confident reader too.

[momto2Cs]

 

 

How do I fix this? Should I read everything to her first? Should I have her read everything aloud once to me then again by herself? Do I just relax and let her get more comfortable on her own? Maybe she can't really read Trumpet at all and just has a really great memory - could she have memorized that many chapters that well? Should I back up to lower level readers (she hates those)? Word lists out of context? nonsense words (but her phonics is great and her problem is fluency)?

 

She's still at that spot between being able to read and being a reader. It is very weird because she can read something like Trumpet even though she's only been reading books for about 7 months. I wonder if maybe I should be still thinking of her like someone who just learned to read despite her reading level. The mixture is what is confusing to me. :confused:

 

My dh says I just need to :chillpill: and wait because fluency takes time and that older dd drive me crazy before she became a confident reader too.

 

This is a tough one... I would normally say back up, work on fluency with lower level books, and a lot of reading practice, but if she hates the books she is less likely to do this well.

 

Can you perhaps sit with her and alternate reading aloud pages?

[MomatHWTK]

I would find very short high interest reading comprehension passages and incorporate those into your school work. I would also make sure you are totally backed off mentioning or noting her progress. She may be feeling pressure from being in a household where everyone else reads well and easily and thus pretending to read in order to meet that bar.

 

The book Reading Rescue 1-2-3 has lots of ideas for reading practice that are more entertaining than just reading out loud and are intended to help with fluency.

[ocelotmom]

If she does her copywork without me, she will even copy a whole paragraph without reading it. How can somebody that can read do that? (dh supervised schoolwork yesterday)

Heh, DS was like this. I started having things like "Say ooga booga to Mom and you'll get a treat." in his copywork. It took ages for him to catch on, though he was capable of reading it.

[Shelsi]

I have found that whenever my kids have done this it's because they're so focused on the actual reading that they don't gain any comprehension of the story and therefore tire quickly because it's not interesting.

 

When that happens we either step it back a bit in level or we do a lot of "you read a page and then I'll read a page" type stuff and I always make sure to re-read out loud what they've just read.

[Karen in CO]

Heh, DS was like this. I started having things like "Say ooga booga to Mom and you'll get a treat." in his copywork. It took ages for him to catch on, though he was capable of reading it.

 

That is a cool idea. Thanks.

[Karen in CO]

I would find very short high interest reading comprehension passages and incorporate those into your school work. I would also make sure you are totally backed off mentioning or noting her progress. She may be feeling pressure from being in a household where everyone else reads well and easily and thus pretending to read in order to meet that bar.

 

The book Reading Rescue 1-2-3 has lots of ideas for reading practice that are more entertaining than just reading out loud and are intended to help with fluency.

I'll check out that book. We have tried not to let her feel pressure, but she knows that everyone else read first. Even her little cousin read before her. I'll work harder at less pressure. I have a really good it-is-all-good face.

[Karen in CO]

This is a tough one... I would normally say back up, work on fluency with lower level books, and a lot of reading practice, but if she hates the books she is less likely to do this well.

 

Can you perhaps sit with her and alternate reading aloud pages?

 

Thanks - I haven't tried the buddy reading yet. I used to do that with my ds, but it drove my older dd crazy. Maybe it will help. It is supposed to be in my bag of tricks. I can't believe I forgot that one.

[Tracy]

What did you use to teach her to read? If you are not already, I would highly recommend that you use an explicit phonics program (for example, Spalding, SWR, LOE).

 

My dd7 started reading really early (3yo), and her reading level shot up really fast. But I noticed that she would struggle with some words at the same level as other words that she did not struggle with. Eventually I figured out that she was a memorizer. That is, she was able to memorize a word (to read it) after only one exposure. And though she had internalized the basic phonics on her own, she was not internalizing the more advanced phonics, and she was not able to break a word down into its pieces so that she could sound it out. We started SWR 2 years ago, and it has helped her immensely. She still needs to be prompted to sound new words out, and I think it will take a long time to undo bad habits that took 2 years to create.

[RootAnn]

I wouldn't worry, but I would have her read aloud to me (her book choice but I get to pick where we start or my book choice but she gets to pick where to start) every day for 10 minutes. (If she fights this, I'd do the buddy reading - 10 minutes her, 10 minutes me. Same book.)

 

Sounds like she's still developing fluency. Sometimes, it takes time. (My dd6 can read, but isn't fluent yet. She also "pretend reads" -- catching some, but not all, of a story she's reading silently to herself (if it is above her level).

 

Patience, Momma!

[campmom]

Are you positive that there are no more visual processing problems? It sounds to me like there could still be something of that sort in the mix. Esp. if there was no vision therapy.

[Beth in SW WA]

 

The book Reading Rescue 1-2-3 has lots of ideas for reading practice that are more entertaining than just reading out loud and are intended to help with fluency.

 

I used this with my youngest at age 7 because she said she 'hated' reading. It was frustrating for her so I needed to change the game.

 

RR works. I read to you. We read it together. You read to me. :)

[Ellie]

I don't think it would hurt to go through phonics of some kind with her. I, of course, will recommend Spalding, which is quite good for children with weird learning issues. :D If not Spalding, then any one of several other good phonics methods, such as Phonics Pathways, AlphaPhonics, or even Explode the Code. I like Spalding, though, because it addresses all learning modalities, and includes penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple composition.

[PeterPan]

Yeah, the stuff you're talking about is developmental vision. Unless she was cleared by a developmental optometrist, I would go back and check that. COVD is where you find them.

[Karen in CO]

Yeah, the stuff you're talking about is developmental vision. Unless she was cleared by a developmental optometrist, I would go back and check that. COVD is where you find them.

 

So probably her problems aren't all cleared? I saw her comparing words again yesterday, and she said that sometimes they still "jump around". She doesn't want to have vision problems she so works really hard to conceal them. Thank you. That is probably what I really needed to hear. Her mid-line jump is gone, because that one was so obvious that even I could see it, but I was always worried about the other problems that I couldn't see.

[mlbuchina]

Yeah, the stuff you're talking about is developmental vision. Unless she was cleared by a developmental optometrist, I would go back and check that. COVD is where you find them.

 

This is what I was thinking, as well.

[PeterPan]

So probably her problems aren't all cleared? I saw her comparing words again yesterday, and she said that sometimes they still "jump around". She doesn't want to have vision problems she so works really hard to conceal them. Thank you. That is probably what I really needed to hear. Her mid-line jump is gone, because that one was so obvious that even I could see it, but I was always worried about the other problems that I couldn't see.

 

Yes, I would get her vision checked by a developmental optometrist. It sure sounds like it's a problem.