Page 1 of 1

Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:17 am
by mariaw
I am having a conflict in my mind! I am normally of the "let them learn as they are ready" camp, but have found myself comparing my 6yo son to his friends and thinking that he is woefully behind in reading. We are in Unit 4 of The Reading Lesson, and he does just ok only on days when he feels like it (which isn't often). The problem is, most of the time, he doesn't feel like it, says he "can't read and don't want to" and looks around the room guessing at what the words might be instead of looking at the page and sounding them out.

I'm at my wits end. We do the Book-It program with Pizza Hut, and that has been a little of a motivator with him, but only sometimes. He absolutely won't read for anyone else but me (my parents are under the impression that he can't read at all, and I keep telling him that he does for me!).

Is this normal 6yo boy behavior? Before it happened to me, I would say yes. But now I'm second guessing myself since all his friends are leaps and bounds beyond him, and it doesn't seem to me that this attitude will ever change. Should I just keep plugging along until something "clicks" with him? We will get beyond this, right? Should I be supplementing The Reading Lesson with flash cards of the words we've covered? Or if I just keep going in the book, is that enough practice?

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:05 pm
by Tansy
When my china dd came home she hated the library, learning to read in Chinese is a huge undertaking. So her attitude about books really stank. My India dd hated reading and she struggled with it. Now we have since found out she had auditory processing issues. WHich explains the difficulty we had in teaching her to read since it was all done orally. But you can do it! And he can do it!

Has he been to the eye doctor? Maybe the letters are bouncing on the page? Maybe he can't focus on them. Maybe the letters are getting mixed up in his mind, and he has no way to communicate that too you. He would just get frustrated and angry. My dd (india) would pull such an attitude on me when I taught her to read. I turned her over to my friend and worked my friends shift at the ministry. She has the patients of a Saint. Once my friend got her over the initial learning curve, I took over and we had some good days and bad days :-/ Not everyone has such good friends. But a change of Face can help, maybe daddy?

If your dc is struggling with a learning issue. Flash-cards or books on tape will help him. But it is helpful to know is it auditory or visual. If not a learning issue you need to find a way to break out of the habit he could be developing of reading = bad attitude.

I don't know anything about the reading lesson I used a 100 ezlessons, At lesson 50, 75 and 100 I had rewards up on a high shelf in the school room. I limited our lessons to 15-20min sessions completely ignoring my urge to do one lesson each day. Some lessons we hung out on for a week! But having the prize in sight really motivated her. These were not little rewards they were the playmobile airport, airplane and a 18 Inch Doll she had been begging for. It was amazing I would start by showing her how many lessons till next prize and then start the lesson. Many days she would start giving me attitude and I would shut the book ok no more for today and she would look up at the prize and plead with me to finish the lesson. Especially around lesson 48.. 49... 74. and 99... (BTW grandma sent the $$ for the prizes).

With china dd I give her a stamp for each box we complete in school and when her page (50 stamps) is complete we go to yogurt land.
DD2 hated the reading lessons but I shifted her to Dick and Jane books for a wee bit. She then got excited about reading and its been smooth sailing (as long as there are not to many words with R's in them) ever since. Both had bad attitudes But my auditory processing child has a much harder time with learning. So If this doesn't improve there is probably an underlying cause that is making it difficult for him.

And as to your parents disbelief.. hide a camcorder in the school room and capture it on tape!

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:59 am
by MommyInTraining
Hi Mariaw,

I too have struggled with teaching my son to read. We just kept plugging along. Most of the time I would follow the word with my finger and he had to try to read it while I read along with him. I usually didn't make him try to figure it out on his own though. I would say the word with him so that he could pick up on my lead. If you don't already own them, I would get some of the early Bob books from the library to go through with him. My son turned 8 in May and FINALLY started picking up reading on his own a lot over the summer while we were taking a break. He would just start to try to read things on his own (i.e. the cereal box :) ). Now, he can pick up easy readers and pretty much read them on his own, but we are continuing to do phonics instructions.

So, based on my experience, I would say don't sweat it at this point :D . Six is still really young to me. Since my son was struggling some, I held him back a grade, especially since his bday was so close to summer. So, this school year he is 8, but doing 2nd grade. I think some children just mature at different rates. I try not to compare him to others (I know it is hard not to :D !!!!). I figure it will all even out eventually :D !

I hope something there was of help to you :D !

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:30 pm
by Marcee
I just finished reading a book that had some writing by Ruth Beechick-who is FABULOUS! Dr. Beechick says boys on average develop reading ability at around age 7.5. He'll learn-maybe the time isn't right. If it was me, I would put it away for a while.

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:00 am
by MommyInTraining
Marcee wrote:Dr. Beechick says boys on average develop reading ability at around age 7.5
Wow, thanks for sharing that Marcee. That would be about right on for when my son was starting to showing readiness.

I think we hear of those 3 and 4 year olds who can read (and must be the exception, right?), and start to fear that there is something wrong with our child!

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:13 am
by pjdobro
I agree that some dc just aren't ready to read that early. My ds struggled as well. I thought we would never get past that blending phase and even once we were past that, it was still like pulling teeth to read something like the Bob books. The book-it program did help motivate him some and finding books that interested him helped a lot too. I know they are "twaddle", but getting the Spiderman early readers interested him and made him want to try harder. He loves animals too and the Biscuit, Sam, Howie, Owl and Otter, and other easy readers helped get him more interested in reading. I recently read something about getting your child interested in reading and it suggested getting the books with tapes and let them follow along. They claimed that this was a good thing to do to help get children reading more. I don't know if it's true, but it's something to consider. Still my ds is not the reader that my dd is, but it was really neat today to hear him say how much he enjoyed Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express. I think we are slowly but surely making progress and he is beginning to enjoy reading :D I say all of this to try to encourage you that 6 is still really young especially for a boy to really be into reading and though it doesn't seem like it now, eventually he should come around. Hang in there!

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:37 pm
by my3sons
Phonics can be done anywhere from 1-3 years, based on what dc need. There are excellent readers that had 1 year of phonics, and excellent readers that had 3 years of phonics. So, I just want to encourage you that this is no indicator of future reading success.

I would set the timer for 15 minutes and keep plugging away at it consistently every day. I would not linger a long time on a lesson but continue moving forward at least a bit each day. You could review the day before and then move on to something new, showing you are moving forward. We used the BOB books as well. They are excellent. You may want to introduce those after he's a bit into his phonics though, just to ensure success when he starts them. The very first BOB book set is the easiest and a great one to begin with.

When your ds says he can't read, just tell him that's nonsense - of course he can. He can read his letters, can't he? Well, that's reading too, and it shows he can read. You can tell him he's doing great and that this is just the way reading goes. It's work, but it's worth it. Then, just keep the pace brisk and be as encouraging as possible. When my ds was struggling, I spent more time modeling than he did reading. Then, he just had to repeat after me for awhile. That worked well and took the pressure off him at first. One other thing that helped was to write the word he was sounding out in black on a markerboard. If the word was "mat", I'd write the letter "m" in black quite large and I'd say the sound for it, then I'd write the "a" and say the sound for that, and then I'd write the "t' and say the sound for that. Then, I'd put a black line under it all and say it blended, "mat". Then, he'd do it that way with me writing as he did it. Another trick is to pronounce the first sound the loudest. One more idea that worked for our dc was to use a rubberband to stretch as we were saying each sound and then snap it back when we blended it.

It took both of my dc quite awhile to learn how to blend. So, don't worry! It will come. Keep working at it and don't worry about what your friends say - even though I know that's hard. Just tell them he's moving along and doing great. He'll pick up on that and it will happen when you least expect it. Reading is that way - such hard work, and then all of a sudden one day, they really are reading and you're not sure what did it or when it really happened. :D

In Christ,
Julie

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:42 pm
by Tansy
pjdobro wrote: I recently read something about getting your child interested in reading and it suggested getting the books with tapes and let them follow along. They claimed that this was a good thing to do to help get children reading more.
I can chime in on this! Last June India girl tested out at 2.6 reading lvl for comprehension and a 5.6 in word reading ability. Part of her Audio Processing Therapy is, to listen to books on tape while reading them and not reading them. This October after 3 months of "almost daily" listening her scores jumped to 3.4 comprehension and a 6.2 word reading ability. So books on tape can help :)

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:13 am
by mariaw
Thank you for the encouragement everyone. I'm not having so much trouble with blending--he can do that ok (when he wants to). It's more random "forgetting" of letters, and just not seeming to catch on and recognize words that he's read hundreds of times. I know there is a shift from sounding out words to just looking at the word and recognizing the "shape" and sometimes I think he's got it, and sometimes I don't. I guess what bothers me most, is that I don't see a progression in his learning. It seems either "stuck" or "random."

I do remember being frustrated with my oldest when I taught her to read, thinking, "Why don't you GET this? You were able to read it yesterday!" So this is probably normal. She was just 2 years younger at the time, and I think the age thing is getting to me. :wink: Even though I KNOW boys have a tendency to read later, etc. etc.

Anyway, I may talk to his pedi about processing issues if the problem persists to his next birthday, and it can't hurt to take him to an eye doctor. His sister is farsighted and needs glasses for reading. Why did that never occur to me? :wink: Just knowing that he's not "behind" helps tremendously, too.

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:35 am
by my3sons
mariaw wrote:Thank you for the encouragement everyone. I'm not having so much trouble with blending--he can do that ok (when he wants to). It's more random "forgetting" of letters, and just not seeming to catch on and recognize words that he's read hundreds of times. I know there is a shift from sounding out words to just looking at the word and recognizing the "shape" and sometimes I think he's got it, and sometimes I don't. I guess what bothers me most, is that I don't see a progression in his learning. It seems either "stuck" or "random."
Oh, well, if blending is going fairly well, that's wonderful! :D That is a tougher skill and is usually last to come. When I used to tutor dc, one thing that really helped a child such as what you are describing was for him to trace the letter with his finger as he made the sound. It seemed to help him recognize the shape of it as you are saying. Perhaps that would be worth a try. It sounds like you have a great plan coming together from all of the wise advice of the ladies here... checking his eyesight, considering processing concerns, keeping in mind he's a boy (boy, do I understand this :lol: ), patiently waiting for him to bloom, and continuing to plug away at this! That sounds like a great way to work on this in a positive way!!! I'm so glad you posted this as reading is a big concern for us moms and a milestone for our dc. I'll add to the ideas just to continue to pray specifically for this, and I will for your ds as well.

In Christ,
Julie

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:56 am
by Tansy
mariaw wrote:It's more random "forgetting" of letters, and just not seeming to catch on and recognize words that he's read hundreds of times.
This raised a red flag for me. My dd1 was very much like this. I'm curious is he really settled in to a handedness? Is He Ambidextrous? If your dc is mixed dominate aka.. sees with right eye, hears with left ear, write with both hands. Neither side of his brain is dominate. So long term memory stuff gets stored in both sides of his brain.

So the theory is, when he learns something all week and his left side is dominate. The information is stored in the right side of his brain. Say the next week he is mainly right side dominate And suddenly all the words he knew last week are gone. He cant read any of them, You know you taught them, You know he read them what happened???? Well His brain isn't looking for them in the right place. Its searching all over his left side but they are stored in the right side. He can read them if his brain can find where it put it.. helping him settle into a dominate side can help.

Re: Ds6 and reading trouble

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:03 pm
by mariaw
Tansy wrote:
mariaw wrote:It's more random "forgetting" of letters, and just not seeming to catch on and recognize words that he's read hundreds of times.
This raised a red flag for me. My dd1 was very much like this. I'm curious is he really settled in to a handedness? Is He Ambidextrous? If your dc is mixed dominate aka.. sees with right eye, hears with left ear, write with both hands. Neither side of his brain is dominate. So long term memory stuff gets stored in both sides of his brain.

So the theory is, when he learns something all week and his left side is dominate. The information is stored in the right side of his brain. Say the next week he is mainly right side dominate And suddenly all the words he knew last week are gone. He cant read any of them, You know you taught them, You know he read them what happened???? Well His brain isn't looking for them in the right place. Its searching all over his left side but they are stored in the right side. He can read them if his brain can find where it put it.. helping him settle into a dominate side can help.
That is REALLY interesting. This particular son has settled into "right-handedness." There was never any question for him. But my NEXT son coming up (he's 4) does seem to be mixed dominate. That is something that I will definitely watch with him.