Narration help PLEASE!

[Kims]

My 9yo can not narrate. We have been doing it since he was 5. I don't understand. He always says he remembers NOTHING from the reading. When either I read or he reads it doesn't matter. I don't know what to do. Today after he read (it's a book about Orville and Wilbur Wright) nothing. I asked what happened first. He didn't know. I had to lead him to get him to remember. I think he remembers just doesn't know how to tell it back. So how do I get him to be able to narrate? My 7yo is a natural and has always been able to narrate. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[1finefamily]

My 10yo daughter struggled with this too. She is a kinesthetic learner. I finally started having her make things out of playdough (re: the story) or anything else with her hands during storytime. Made all the difference in the world. Not sure if this is your situation, but thought I'd throw it out.

[MelInKansas]

Interesting. My DD, 9YO, is also a kinesthetic learner and also struggled with narration until just recently. Thankfully last year, after I pushed her a little bit, she started doing better. Her 7 year old sister and even the 5 year old are better at it than she is, hands down.

She wiggles and moves all she wants while I am reading. She does read over my shoulder which I think helps it sink in, now that she can read well enough to follow along. So she hears it and she reads it at the same time.

I don't know if I have tips. I went through the "tips" and I started expecting her to be able to do it. We would go through it step by step, pulling teeth, until she got something acceptable out. Then somehow it just clicked and she started doing a lot better. One of the main things that I had to do, as read in the tips in the appendix, is SHUT UP and listen rather than interrupting her train of thought with questions or things I thought she had left out. Even when she started, I would often correct her because she is really bad at coming up with the beginning steps. But the teacher tips say not to say anything, just to listen and to save comments for the end. I think for her that made a big difference, once I started following the directions. Her brain could keep her going as she thought through what she had heard or read. Also, again in the tips, I would always tell her at the beginning of the reading that she would be narrating at the end. That seemed to help quite a bit too. She still needs work and is below average but at least now she can actually get something started.

I am honestly really bad at narrating so that's also why I wasn't surprised when she also was. But I kept going with it and it has improved greatly.

[MomtoJGJE]

What if you did it kind of differently for a while? Made it not so much school or narration.

For instance, maybe they can "tell brother or sister or dad about what you learned in our book this morning!" and then you walk away....

Maybe they can record themselves saying it or maybe can write it down...

Maybe they can "teach" the lesson to toys

Perhaps they could tell a neighbor or Grandma on the phone.

Basically, for a while just get them used to saying something to someone about what they heard. Then they probably would get to where they could just tell you.

[Nealewill]

Have you tried breaking it into smaller chunks? I have done it for my son (who struggles sometimes) to almost asking him questions every page.

Also, do you own an exercise ball or bosu ball. My kids will bounce and jump a lot when I read. I also let them build with Lincoln logs and legos regularly during story time or history time. I will sometimes read during snack, breakfast or lunch. But I want them to be engaged in something while I read to some extent. In addition, I will also still ask questions while I am reading to help keep them engaged in what I am reading. I don't know if you have heard of the book "Reading Strands" or not but it is the by the writing company for Writing Strands. While I don't use writing strands for my kids, I did end up buying this book at a convention. It was so interesting. It talks about the Socratic method and how to talk to your kids about a book. While I do much prefer DITHOR for a lit study, I have used some of the skills from Reading Strands to help engage my kids in the content I am reading aloud to them. I usually visit that text once a year and it has helped me to engage my younger 2 in everything I read and helped them to be able to better narrate back to me.

Just curious - can your child narrate something back that they read themselves. I find it very interesting that my son can narrate back something he read almost effortlessly (as long as he liked it) but still struggles with listening to me read something and being able to tell me about what I read. So maybe your child is just not an auditory child at all. I personally am a HIGH visual learner and am terrible with learning anything if someone reads anything to me out loud. So I personally am not terribly concerned with my son not being able to narrate if he hears me read. I am glad he can narrate if he reads it himself and that he tell me what he remembers fairly well.

[Kims]

No he can't narrate back if he reads or if I read.
I will try the smaller chunks to see how that works. We just skipped his reading yesterday because I didn't feel like trying.

[Nealewill]

I am sorry to hear how frustrated you

Just out of curiosity, is he on par with everything else for his age? I only ask because my son is great in math and science (understanding of how things work) but LA doesn't come nearly as easily. He ended going to language therapy for a about a year because didn't really understand English. And my son is not adopted or anything, he my birth child and a natural born citizen of the USA. But for whatever reason, he never picked up the language like kids normally do. He went to language therapy when he was 6 and it made a world of difference.

I am not trying to imply that there is something wrong with your son, my son had a LOT of things that were going on, not just the language. So it was one therapy to the next over about a 3 year span. But language was a major area he needed some serious help with and the therapy really helped.

[Kims]

No he's pretty on track. He reads above grade level. He tested above grade level in his reading and comprehension and language something I can't remember what it's called. So basically he can read and answer questions on paper or even when I ask them but not read or listen and narrate it back.

[Nealewill]

Oh - okay. That is great news. The I guess I wouldn't stress. It will come Other ladies shared some great experience or ideas too

[Motherjoy]

How long are the passages you are expecting him to narrate? Start with two sentences or a paragraph, and see what he does. He could just be playing you. I highly doubt that he remembers nothing, he may just not want to do the work and doesn't think you will make him. Even if he is just wanting to get out of work, you can start having him narrate every two sentences. That way, he's motivated to pay attention, so you don't have to stop every minute. Also, expect his full attention. Don't repeat yourself or read it more than once. Charlotte Mason did one reading and expected perfect attention.

[Kims]

I don't think he's playing me and I DO think he remembers he just can't put it into words. I hope that makes sense. It was something his father struggled with in school too.
So today I had him tell me what happened after every page he read. It worked GREAT. He would start with the last thing read but that's ok. I would say what else happened on this page or what happened first and he could tell me. I think we will do that for a while and see how it works for him. I think since we have been working on it since he was 5 that I just expected too much. It was just overwhelming to him to have to try to figure out everything read. I wish I had thought of this before.
Thanks for talking me through this ladies.

[Nealewill]

That is SUCH great news Kim!!!! That is pretty much exactly what my son can do too and these are my expectations of him as well. So glad that he did a great job with the smaller amount of information for narration!!!

[Rice]

He would start with the last thing read but that's ok.

One thing I've done is when I finish reading the passage, I go back and re-read the first sentence of the passage (or the last sentence from the passage from the day before) as a lead in to where they are supposed to start narrating. This usually helps them start at the beginning without me having to correct or question them.

Blessings,

[my3sons]

He would start with the last thing read but that's ok.

One thing I've done is when I finish reading the passage, I go back and re-read the first sentence of the passage (or the last sentence from the passage from the day before) as a lead in to where they are supposed to start narrating. This usually helps them start at the beginning without me having to correct or question them.

Blessings,

We do this too! It helps!
In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

How long are the passages you are expecting him to narrate? Start with two sentences or a paragraph, and see what he does.

Great advice, and it looks like it worked!

In Christ,
Julie