Need reading ideas for slow reader with poor retention

[Lucy]

My dd is 10, grade 5.  She is a whiz in math (a year ahead) and loves school.  Her issue is that she is a very slow reader.  Very, very slow.  I just had her start Apologia Human Anatomy and she retains next to nothing after she reads each chunk, but really enjoys it as she reads.  She looooves history, but again, can't seem to answer any of the review questions I ask her. 

 

When she reads aloud to me, she fumbles a bit over the words, but if she goes slow enough, she can read just about anything.  She tells me that reading aloud makes her nervous, but I wonder if something bigger isn't happening. 

 

I've been upping her daily reading time for fun from 30 up to 45 minutes (she's reading 39 clues and Nancy Drew books) and told her to start reading toddler books to her little sister aloud once a day. 

 

What can I do to help her?  Should I get her evaluated at the school?  Is there a curriculum for helping reading and comprehension for this age?  Any advice and wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

[shinyhappypeople]

Have you had her vision checked by a developmental optometrist?  I'd start there, because it's simple and fairly inexpensive.  My 11 yo DD has convergence insuffiency (her eyes don't work together when she reads) and her reading speed almost doubled immediately when she was given prism glasses to correct the CI.  

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Helping her depends on what the underlying issue is.  A school eval MIGHT help if they are knowledgeable and not just looking to slap a label on her.  A full evaluation through a neuropsychologist might net you more information regarding where the disconnect may be, as well and where her real strengths and weaknesses lie and how to help the weaknesses (those can mask each other and make it hard for a layman to determine).

 

You might read How to Homeschoool Your Struggling Learner by Kathy Kuhl, even if you aren't homeschooling.  Also, The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide.  Skimming through those might give you some ideas on where to go.

 

Also, if there is any history of reading/spelling issues in the family you might look into stealth dyslexia.

 

This might help, too:

http://www.bartonreading.com/dys.html

 

I am sure someone will post with some great ideas for beefing up reading comprehension, too.

[OneStepAtATime]

I agree with shinyhappypeople.

 

Another thing that might help with content subjects is prepping vocabulary in isolation ahead of time.  Extract words that might be challenging and work with her on the definition/use of those before she reads the passage.

 

How does she do if you read to her?  Or she listens to a book on cd or streaming?

[Clear Creek]

Is she an auditory learner? I have a child who retains very, very little when she reads to herself, but remembers almost every single word when it is read aloud to her. I separate the content subjects from the skill of learning to comprehend when she reads to herself. She listens to the audio version of her history book as she reads along and I read her science aloud to her - for me, it is important that she learns the content of those two subjects, so I teach them according to her strengths. She also practices reading books silently and giving me an oral narration daily, but those are high-interest books for enjoyment (one literature book and a book on a scientific topic that she picks out).

[MerryAtHope]

Reading comprehension issues can happen for a variety of reasons. For example:

1, gaps in phonogram knowledge

2, fluency issues (Students can sound out what they read but can’t read it fluently–if they are focusing on the work of reading, they won’t be able to focus on understanding what they read)

3, word guessing issues–students rely on word-guessing strategies, and incorrect guesses lead to a lack of comprehension

4, vocabulary issues (Students may have the phonics skills to sound out and spell words that they don’t know the meaning of yet–this can happen especially with young, advanced readers. For example, think of a simple word like “milkman.†How many 21st century kids would have any idea what a milkman is?!)

5, lack of life experience (can’t relate to what they are reading, again usually because of young age).

6, they do understand but feel overwhelmed when asked to put what they know into words. If this is the case for your daughter, you might notice similar issues with listening comprehension.

 

A student may need more specific prompts to share what she knows. Sometimes reading a passage and expecting the child to explain it back in her own words will overwhelm elementary school-aged children—they don’t know where to start and just can’t do it. In that case, you probably would be more successful if she gave your daughter prompts. For example:

 

Find out something that the she is really interested in, such as “raising turtles.†Get a book and read a section aloud to her, such as the section on “what kinds of food should you feed your turtle.†Then start a discussion with the child, and incorporate some of the new info that you 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?â€

 

These types of conversations can show a child’s level of listening comprehension much better--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, whether she read the passage or you read it to her.

 

 

Do you have your daughter read aloud daily? If not, this is a really good way for you to be able to assess what’s going on and why your daughter is struggling with comprehension. It’s hard to catch problems without hearing the student read. If the materials are beyond your daughter’s vocabulary or life experience, she will need more help to understand what she is reading reading, for example.

 

Sometimes, parents choose materials on the edge of a child’s reading ability–the child is capable of reading the words, but because the child has to work at reading, the child doesn’t have brain power left for comprehension. So, you might assess whether that is happening. I think Anatomy certainly could be a difficult read, especially if a child has any reading struggles. Materials need to be easy enough for students to focus on reading to learn, instead of focusing on the act of reading.

 

Once you assess what's going on with her reading, you'll be better equipped to know how to help her. 

[ElizabethB]

Have her take the reading grade level tests on my page as well as the MWIA level 2 and the New Elizabethian test.

 

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