Headsprout Content Reading Comprehension

[OnceUponAFullMoon]

I read a post from @RenaInTexas saying that Headsprout is only good with comprehension testing skills but does not help much with content reading, especially main idea/summary? My 2nd grader is very advanced with phonic reading, but struggles with main idea/summary. Does anybody have experiences with Headsprout, or any other online programs that teach content reading?

Note: I knew about Visualizing & Verbalizing and have been using it. 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rosie_0801]

I'm not sure a program is needed for that. Comprehension is mostly developed through discussion.

What kind of texts are you expecting your kid to be able to summarise? That's not a grade 2 skill, to me. Goodness, they were still making us write summaries in first year uni. I would expect that to be taught in your writing program in years to come.

[Terabith]

Both of my kids did the early reading Headsprout, and it worked really, really well for us, as it made getting the needed million repetitions more fun.  My oldest did the reading comprehension, but she did it mostly independently.  I don't think it was nearly as good and was more test taking practice than really explicitly teaching skills, but she didn't really struggle with reading comprehension.  She enjoyed it, but I didn't have my younger kid do it.  

I think mostly main idea/ summary requires practice and some tricks.  I think both of those are also heavily reliant on a point of view that agrees with what the author of the test does.  What the main idea of a passage is can be argued often, unless it's a really simple passage written to teach finding the main idea.  

Rosie is right; you'll be writing summaries forever.  I think unless there's something like autism with narrative language weaknesses (in which case a specialized program would be better), most second graders just need practice reading and maybe talking a bit about what they've read rather than a reading comprehension program.

[OnceUponAFullMoon]

I tried discussion and modeling discussion, but it does not work when he answers "I don't know" to every single question. He has difficulty holding information in his head and seeing "whole." He can only see "parts, details" and could not even summarize or find the main idea of a 5 short-sentence paragraph. So I need a program specialized in comprehension. 

Even in school, I feel they teach too much test taking skills & tricks. The kids are taught in a way that they can only answer comprehension questions on the passages they have gone over in class, but not any other passage or book at the same reading level. 

[Rosie_0801]

As we've explained, what you are asking of him is developmentally inappropriate. You're wanting him to master a skill that he's going to spent the next 10 years working on.

Try 'Writing with Ease' volume 1 and start gently. If he can't cope with 5 sentences, start with one. It may take months. He's only little.

[kiwik]

You could try writing with ease.  Skip the copywork if not needed and just do the narration stuff.  You can just download the PDF and read it of a tablet or convert it to kindle format. 

[City Mouse]

My DS did Headsprout many years ago before it became part of ReadingA-Z or what ever the company is called now. My DS was not a strong reader, but I did think it helped with comprehension some. I can remember it teaching main idea by asking what each passage is mostly about. Then it had the student actually count or sort all the sentences in the passage to see if most of the sentences were about the designated idea. That technique worked for my struggling reader, but I could see how how a stronger reader could move past that very quickly and it might not be worth the money.

if you are looking for a paid computer program support for a 2nd grade who is a strong reader or at least “on-level” I would suggest Raz Kids or Reading Eggspress. I have used both of these as a teacher. They seem to have a much wider range of reading Levels and would be more worth the cost for a stronger reader than Headsprout Comprehension.