Reading Comprehension

[Lanette]

I am having some issues with reading with my 8 yr old son. We've already changed curriculum once this year. He says he loves to read and I have let him find his own books, but he doesn't remember anything he reads! I have had him read out loud and quietly to himself. He says he learns better by hearing, but I will ask him comprehension questions after every page he reads and he can't answer them. We are using the BJU reading for his level of reading and I read it with him and listen to him read and we try to discuss the story but it's like he doesn't listen to what he reads. He says he does, but he can't talk about anything that goes on in the story because he doesn't remember it. I'm starting to worry that he's going to fall behind or that I'm doing something wrong or that maybe I need to drop him down a grade level in reading. 

[Arcadia]

. He says he learns better by hearing, but I will ask him comprehension questions after every page he reads and he can't answer them.

If he listen to you read the page, can he answer the questions?  He could be too busy trying to read to remember the content of what he is reading.

Another thing you can try is let him read the comprehension questions first than read the page.  Then he would have an idea of what information to look out for. 

[Lanette]

If he listen to you read the page, can he answer the questions?  He could be too busy trying to read to remember the content of what he is reading.

Another thing you can try is let him read the comprehension questions first than read the page.  Then he would have an idea of what information to look out for. 

 

I haven't tried that yet. I'll do that. Also, I've noticed that if he has the questions in print he does a lot better. So that was going to be my next thing to try. And I've been wondering if it's okay to let them look in the text for the answers. I always got in trouble for doing that, but I wasn't homeschooled. And this is our first year homeschooling. I just want him to remember what he reads... 

[Arcadia]

And I've been wondering if it's okay to let them look in the text for the answers.

Just treat it as an open book tests for him when you are checking for reading comprehension. Retention was harder for both my boys and there is plenty of time for me to get them ready for closed book tests.

The state standardized tests my older took has let him look at the reading passages while answering the questions.

ETA:

Science and history tests are closed book tests.

[Lanette]

Just treat it as an open book tests for him when you are checking for reading comprehension. Retention was harder for both my boys and there is plenty of time for me to get them ready for closed book tests.

The state standardized tests my older took has let him look at the reading passages while answering the questions.

ETA:

Science and history tests are closed book tests.

Okay. Thank you for your help. Sometimes he can remember things REALLY well. I'm trying to find the pattern, but I haven't yet. His second reading curriculum involves more pictures. I thought that would help him visualize things more. And it's helped some. Monday I think I'm going to give him a printed list of questions and let him look up the answers in the text. 

[MerryAtHope]

I think there are some positive signs here--he wouldn't enjoy reading if he didn't understand most of what he read. And that he remembers things sometimes, and that he does better with questions in writing (rather than oral) also point to him having some comprehension. To me it sounds like he just might not be ready or able to put his thoughts into words and say them out loud--which is different than not understanding what he's read, you know?

 

Frankly, my only memory of reading comprehension work from grade school was having to answer seemingly endless questions about stories we read. The questions bored me to tears. I wanted to just READ and enjoy the stories, and the comprehension questions sucked the life out of reading for me. Our teacher stopped checking our workbooks mid-year, and I stopped doing them and just read-read-read. Then one day he announced he WAS going to check them, and oh, the terror I felt! 

 

So, I've never used that kind of program with my kids. Instead, I started gently with things like a science book. I'd read to them, then point to one of the pictures and tell them to tell me anything they remembered about that picture. I did similar things with stories they read too.

 

Sometimes reading a passage and expecting the child to explain it back in his own words will overwhelm a younger student like this—they don’t know where to start and just can’t do it. You may be more successful if you give him prompts. For example: Find out something that the he is really interested in, such as “raising turtles.†Get a book and have him read a selection, such as a section on “what kinds of food should you feed your turtle.†Then start a discussion with him, and incorporate some of the new info that he just read in the book. “I never knew that you could feed lettuce to turtles! What else can you feed turtles?†Then read the part on habitats of box turtles. Start a discussion on that. “If you were to set up a tank for a box turtle, what kinds of things should you include in it?†These types of conversations will show the child’s level of listening comprehension much better than the traditional way for a couple of reasons: 1. The child is more likely to be engaged in the topic. 2. The child doesn’t “freeze up†and therefore can relay more info (just being asked to repeat what was read can be a scary or uncomfortable moment for a child)

 

Anyway...hth some! Merry :-)

[karensk]

Does your son do better reading silently v. reading aloud?  Sometimes, I'll be reading aloud and not even remember what I've been reading, too.  And as others have said, since he's enjoying reading on his own, that's a good indication he's understanding what he's reading and is engaging with it.  Plus, what Merry said....

 

 

 

...he just might not be ready or able to put his thoughts into words and say them out loud--which is different than not understanding what he's read....

 

Sometimes reading a passage and expecting the child to explain it back in his own words will overwhelm a younger student like this—they don’t know where to start and just can’t do it. 

 

So, if the issue is more about the articulation of his thoughts, you might try asking him questions about things besides books, like movies or shows or plays.  E.g., who was the movie about?  What was he/she trying to do?  What was your favorite part?  Did you like how it ended? 

 

HTH!

[Paige]

I think answering questions and discussing what has been read is a skill that comes naturally for some people (me) and must be taught for others (some of my kids). It took me a while to realize this and to realize that it wasn't going to come for them without direct instruction. I still don't know where the disconnect is for the ones that it didn't come naturally for. Did they forget? Never know what was going on in the first place? Not understand the questions? I don't know. Maybe it was anxiety or the ability to put it all together that made it more difficult.

 

I would use some workbooks that explicitly teach and focus on reading comprehension questions. At first, my kids would do horribly and give me blank stares as we worked through the questions. I would go over it with them and for everything they couldn't answer, I would go find it in the material and have them re-read the passage, and then answer. Usually that was enough, but sometimes I would see that we were having a vocabulary problem or something similar that was tripping them up. As we progress through the workbooks, I sit with them less, help them with less of it, and they take over finding the info in the book and then they gradually quit needing to look it up as often. It helped my kids to begin with workbooks that were way too easy w/ the vocab and asked easy questions. I think they needed to get used to the format first. Gradually we moved to more difficult material, and now, DS can have comprehension type discussions orally with me and no longer uses a workbook. With my DDs, they are still using a workbook and I don't ask them too much about what they've read yet. They'll get it later. I think this may not be what TWTM would recommend with all the workbooks and lack of oral work in the beginning, but it was what was necessary for my kids and may help some others that don't seem to get the reading comprehension game easily.

[Lanette]

After reading all of these responses, I found a book that has a learning style assessment. There is a part for the student to fill out and a part for the parent to do. And according to his responses, he is more of a visual learner than an auditory one. I've had a feeling this was the case for a few weeks. So I'm going to stop having him read out loud. I'll either read to him or see if he can handle reading on his own now. His attention span is about 2 centimeters long which is why he couldn't handle reading silently on his own in the first place. And I KNOW he has a good memory because a few weeks ago I had him read a Frog and Toad book (silently and to himself) and I gave him a nice notebook and a good pen and told him to read the book and write down everything he could remember AFTER he read the book. He basically re-wrote the book verbatim! That was the first sign that maybe he's a visual learner. And I also think Merry is write about articulating thoughts. When he tells a story verbally, he stops and stutters a lot and tries to tell a story "just right." He's a bit of a perfectionist. :) 

 

And also when I was his age and in school, I was TERRIBLE at reading comprehension unless the book was something I chose to read. Fortunately, most of what my son has had to read has been interesting to him. When I was his age, I think I mad C's in reading all the time even though I was reading several grade levels above my own. But something about reading comprehension assignments was very detrimental to me. :) I could tell what all the story was about, but it always seemed like the questions I was asked had NOTHING to do with the story! Lol But if someone had given me a notebook and a nice pen, (my son and I both like notebooks and pens, LOL) I could give a report on every single detail that happened in a 500+ page novel. I may have him do that for his little stories he reads in his textbook... 

[Lanette]

I think answering questions and discussing what has been read is a skill that comes naturally for some people (me) and must be taught for others (some of my kids). It took me a while to realize this and to realize that it wasn't going to come for them without direct instruction. I still don't know where the disconnect is for the ones that it didn't come naturally for. Did they forget? Never know what was going on in the first place? Not understand the questions? I don't know. Maybe it was anxiety or the ability to put it all together that made it more difficult.

 

I would use some workbooks that explicitly teach and focus on reading comprehension questions. At first, my kids would do horribly and give me blank stares as we worked through the questions. I would go over it with them and for everything they couldn't answer, I would go find it in the material and have them re-read the passage, and then answer. Usually that was enough, but sometimes I would see that we were having a vocabulary problem or something similar that was tripping them up. As we progress through the workbooks, I sit with them less, help them with less of it, and they take over finding the info in the book and then they gradually quit needing to look it up as often. It helped my kids to begin with workbooks that were way too easy w/ the vocab and asked easy questions. I think they needed to get used to the format first. Gradually we moved to more difficult material, and now, DS can have comprehension type discussions orally with me and no longer uses a workbook. With my DDs, they are still using a workbook and I don't ask them too much about what they've read yet. They'll get it later. I think this may not be what TWTM would recommend with all the workbooks and lack of oral work in the beginning, but it was what was necessary for my kids and may help some others that don't seem to get the reading comprehension game easily.

 

What workbooks would you recommend? I think this is a great idea... 

[jetted4]

Reading Detectives by Critical Thinking Co has been successful in our house this year.  My ds10 has the same sort of issue.  He swears he understands what he's reading but can't seem to relate the details effectively - either open ended or in response to specific questions. As Merry above mentioned, it seems to be more an issue of translating thoughts into words than it is an issue of comprehension.

 

Reading Detectives includes short 1 page excerpts from stories and has 1 page of questions about the excerpt.  They are side by side so it is easy to read thru the questions 1st before reading the story.  It's also a manageable chunk of reading to have to analyze.  One of the things I especially like about them is that the student is asked to identify 1 sentence (or in some cases 2-3 sentences) that best support their choice of answer.  That forces them to have a concrete reason for the answer they chose.  Also for the fill in the blank answers, if they have to pick out 1-2 sentences that support their answer, it gives them a small, manageable amount to try to restate in their own words.

 

http://www.criticalthinking.com/reading-detective-beginning.html  (for 3rd-4th gr, A1 is for 5th-6th gr)

[Paige]

What workbooks would you recommend? I think this is a great idea...

I've used Reading Detective and these Shakespeare Worktexts: http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=014881 The Shakespeare ones are easier.