DS12 is such a slow reader!

[Julie Jobe]

My DS12 (will be thirteen next week) is an incredibly slow reader. As you can imagine, the days can sometimes be very long! His comprehension is good, vocabulary is good, he is just slow. I have been reading maybe half of some assignments in Revival to Revolution out loud (like the history reading-- currently doing George Washington) and allowing him to finish the rest on his own. I don't want this to hurt him in the long run. My husband, who is a successful businessman, reassures me that he is a slow reader as well! Any thoughts? Thank you so much!

[blessedmomof4]

I have a slow reader in the house too. Someone on this board suggested a simple device called a see n read (you can google this) as a help, when I mentioned that she often loses her place while reading, and this is what slows her down. The see n read tool has made a difference for her; she said that while using it she doesn't lose her place at all. I don't know if your ds is a slow reader for the same reason, but I thought I'd mention it in case it applied

[Homeschooling6]

My almost 12 year old son is a slow reader and he uses an index card to help keep his place. He started doing this on his own. One day I asked about it and he said it helps him not to get lost.

My oldest son didn't take off with reading until he was almost in 5th grade now he reads great and devours books. Thick ones

All five of my boys take forever to be fluent readers and yes our days are looooooooong.

[Julie Jobe]

Thank you for your responses. I am going to look into the See N Read. We have long suspected that he is mildly dyslexic. I have used some of the techniques I have learned in different books to help him. Dictation is slowly but surely helping his spelling. The slow reading really makes some things difficult. I LOVE the Hebrews study. Not so much for him. I decided that I really wanted him to forge ahead with it, so I read it with him. For a slow reader, those pages are very long. Any other thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

[LynnH]

My son uses the see-n-read. We ordered it from Rainbow Resource. It does help him read faster. My ds is a slow reader and sometimes in the past I have read parts of the reading to him, but now he does it all himself. I do think it is important to learn to be able to narrate and answer questions from things they read themselves. I also understand though that sometimes adjustments have to be made. My son has mild CP that affects his writing so I do adjust how he does some of the writing assignments. I think if you pick the thing that you think is the most challenging for him to read and help him with that reading and then have him do the other readings himself. So maybe you do the Hebrews study reading with him and then let him answer all the questions on his own. The one thing I had to be aware of was if I was actively involved in doing the reading with him then I tended to want to assist him with the assignment part. This may not be an issue you struggle with, I just mention it because I tended to help too much and I am realizing now that he is 13 that he needs to feel that he can accomplish some things on his own. Also my dh is a successful engineer/project manager and he reads very slow also.

[Julie Jobe]

I ordered the See N Read. Looking forward to trying it. I noticed today that if I keep my finger on the line that he is reading, he does much better. He gets so overwhelmed with large passages, that it is sometimes discouraging. I am willing to try anything!