Help me help my 6th grader with reading!

[swainsonshawk]

We signed my 6th grade son up for a school at home program this year because he was really wanting to go to public school and we are trying to have him wait until 7 th grade. He has always been a struggling reader and I have done so much extra work with him. He just took the pretest in language arts and scored a 46%. While I am not really surprised, I am at a loss as to what to do now. I asked for him to be tested last year in reading but he didn't qualify for services because he was reading "on grade level" according to their test, but he's not really. I think he is somewhere near the fourth grade reading/comprehension level. What do I do now? More phonics? More vision therapy? I haven't attack reading comprehension or Vocabulary with a specific curriculum yet-maybe that's the answer? How do I help my undiagnosed dyslexic boy succeed in 6th grade and be ready for public school 7 th grade next year?

[LindaOz]

I have found that tandem reading has really helped my son's reading. I choose a book and we gradually work our way through it, taking turns reading paragraphs aloud. It's not an instant cure, but step by step it has made a difference. It is just that constant practice and support that makes a difference.

 

This year he is also using an English workbook which includes reading comprehension exercises. I was not a believer in comprehension activities but they have been good for my son in that he has been required to read for specific detail. He has steadily improved here too.

 

Hth

[Ellie]

Spalding. Always Spalding. :-)

[ElizabethB]

The things on my how to tutor page are free and designed for an older remedial student.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

 

My phonics and spelling lessons teach many of the same things, the phonics lessons use the book of Romans and the Spelling lessons use the book of James. The how to tutor page has optional Bible verses but can be used in a Secular manner if you skip the Bible verses.

[swainsonshawk]

Thanks for all your ideas.  I have been thinking about this problem of ours over night and I think I will proceed based on the idea that he needs to focus on comprehension and vocab.  We will continue to practice word attack skills (breaking long words down into small parts, using his phonics skills to decode them) but I think we will do it with higher vocabulary words.  His reading vocabulary is limited, although his spoken/heard vocabulary seems fine.  I think his comprehension is lagging because he is still struggling to decode the larger words and is losing comprehension during that struggle.  

 

We have been tandem reading/studying phonics with him for 7 years. . .I wish teaching reading were easier.  My 3rd and 4th children have really been a struggle to teach to read and I am tired.  I just can't face another phonics program and I don't really think that phonics is the problem anyway.

 

I have also come across the idea that I should have him read with an index card under his line of text (instead of my finger) to help with his tracking.  Hopefully this will make him more independent.  What I have read says that it might take months for the card to help his eyes to track better, but eventually he would be able to abandon it.  Also I have read that I should check for comprehension often--perhaps every paragraph!

 

Has anyone used colored overlays? I wonder if that would help his eyestrain.  He really struggles with lack of white space, small text, etc.  The test he took--the reading was on the computer screen, which I'm sure decreased his comprehension because of his struggle to read from a computer screen. He wears glasses for distance vision, but the eye doctor has never said that he needs reading glasses. . . 

 

Right now we have him reading 15 minutes with mom (tandem) 20 minutes on his own, 15 minutes with dad, then 20 minutes on his own again at night.  He has struggles with stuttering, too, so reading out loud is particularly cumbersome for him.  Should we be doing more?

[ElizabethB]

You should use a card above, not below, here is why, from my dyslexia page

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dyslexia.html

 

40L recommends "The Complete Handbook of Children's Reading Disorders" by Dr. Hilde L. Mosse for anyone with a dyslexic student. For each type of reading disorder, she includes explanations of the problem and also helpful tips and techniques for treatment. In her example of treatment of Linear Dyslexia with a cover card, she talks about how the use of a card below the line, while often used, is actually not the best method of treatment. Instead, she explains:

 

A folded piece of paper or, much better, an unlined card should be held above the line the child is reading, not beneath it. This is the so-called Cover Card Method of treating Linear Dyslexia. The reason for this position of the card is that it can steady the eyes, which have a tendency to wander above and not below the line being read, and it can connect the end of one line with the beginning of the next, thus indicating the return sweep and making it easier on the child's eyes. By blotting out all the text that has just been read, the cover card helps the child to concentrate on just that one line he is reading. By holding the card at a slant with the left corner slightly lower than the right, and by pushing it down while he reads, the child steadies his gaze and at the same time pushes his eyes from left to right and down via a correct return sweep from one line to the next. This is by far the simplest, cheapest, and most effective treatment for Linear Dyslexia. [21]

[ElizabethB]

Also, my phonics lessons work on 3 syllable words from lesson one, they are truly designed for an older student, they teach phonics to a 12th grade level and focus on multisyllable words.

 

Here are some more multi syllable phonics ideas:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html

 

And, the 1879 McGuffey readers and the 1908 Webster's Speller, both have difficult words up front separated into syllables and then as wholes in a reading passage.

 

Marcia Henry's Words integrates spelling and root study and vocabulary and ends with 3 and 4 syllable words.

 

http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productView.aspx?ID=989

 

I would also look into getting an eye exam with a COVD doctor, here are symptoms that you might need vision therapy from a COVD doctor:

 

http://www.covd.org/?page=Symptoms

[OneStepAtATime]

You say he is an undiagnosed dyslexic.  There are MANY things that can interfere with success in reading.  Is there a neuropsychologist you could take him to for a full work up?  It might net fuller answers on what all is tripping him up.  Without knowing ALL that may be causing his difficulties it will be challenging to find the right path.  In other words, you could be spinning your wheels for years making only incremental progress because there is more than one thing tripping him up but maybe only one, or even neither has been directly dealt with.

[ElizabethB]

The 3rd McGuffey Reader has definitions and gradually builds up vocabulary and reading difficulty, with difficult words diacritically marked and defined.

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14766/14766-pdf.pdf

 

The 4th Reader has vocabulary with markings, again a gradual build up of reading difficulty, but it also has reading comprehension questions.

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14880/14880-pdf.pdf

 

The Fifth reader has definitions but no comprehension questions.

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15040/15040-pdf.pdf

 

I would start slightly below comfortable reading level to build up confidence and read 2 passages a day, having him read aloud the difficult words, then the passages silently.

 

You will most likely need to start somewhere in the 3rd reader, the grade levels are above today's norms, several of the passages in the 4th reader would be current middle school or even high school level today.