Narrating/comprehension issues

[Rachelle]

I've got two six year old boys doing LHFHG.
I had hoped that kiddo with "issues" (ADD, he's got a mild autism dx. as well but the main issues we have are attention related) would come along with narrating/comprehension as we worked through the program. But we're half way through and I just don't feel he's doing better and I don't know how to help him.
He can listen to a whole chapter (happily) and answer the comprehension questions wrong. He loves the Burgess books but I just feel he somehow doesn't absorb what he hears and/or tunes into the wrong thing. I've given up and tried instead to get him to tell me about the chapter and his recall is spotty/weird/he misses the main ideas. When we try to act out the chapter he clearly misses most of it. Yet he does seem to tune into parts. He absolutely loves the books. It's strange.

Is there a way to guide him better?

[Mom2Monkeys]

Could you have him narrate little sections at a time? Maybe a few sentences to a paragraph...then ask him some leading questions at first. ..."Tell me what ___ did when ___ went to ____. What did ____ say/do about what ____ said/did? What do you think he should say/do next?" Then eventually work up to just asking him to tell you what's happening in the sentences/paragraph you just read...then add to the length of reading he is retelling.

Maybe that will help.

[frankesense]

My nephew has had similar issues. One thing that helped him was to draw pictures about what is being read to him. Then he could use the pictures he drew to help him narrate back. If your son likes to draw maybe this would be helpful for him. I also agree with only reading short portions (starting with only sentence or two at a time) and having him narrate on only those sentences. Moving to longer passages as he improves.

HTH,
Stephanie

[graceonly]

I am not using HOD yet but I have the same concerns . My son is 5 1/2 and I am considering either LH or Beyond for next year .
I own most of the books from both programs but he is not ready for them yet . He has some language delays but academically is advanced ( he reads at 1st gr level , does 1st grade math ). Not sure which guide to choose or perhaps a program with more pictures books is more appropiate? I am using a lot of books from SL 3/4 , 4/5 and K and he loves them . He also seems to understand them . However I am drawn to HOD for some reason

[water2wine]

I have one with language delays as well. She also has CP. For her I really needed to shorten the segments that she narrated and work her way up to longer segments. It really helped her quite a bit and it was not long before she could handle the full amount I read to narrate. In general she is now my best narrator of all six of my kids. It is has really taught her a valuable skill. Just recently she went through a phase again where she would hang onto weird things that were far from the main point. I went through a couple of days of breaking it down and she is fine again.

I just want to encourage you that narration is so worth putting the work in with a child that is delayed. It gives them such an amazing skill that really helps them to compensate for where they are delayed. It sometimes takes breaking it down and just thinking about it there is one other thing that I did with her for a while. I would give her two alternatives as to what I read about trying to make the alternative realistic. We sort of played like a jeopardy game or something like that. It helped her to learn to really focus on what I was saying. Sometimes they can get into that groove when you are reading that we are sort of doing the "work" for them. Sometimes with a kid that is delayed they need their work broken down for them so they can refocus and remember how to listen. Another thing that helps is not to have your reading to monotone. I think kids tend to tune out when it is that way. I did voices with the Burgess books and they loved that. Now in Beyond I sometimes slip in a silly unrelated element and see if they catch it. They listen harder to see what is real just to catch the silly stuff. Anyway simple little stuff like that can help if you have one whose mind tends to wander. Hang in there it is so worth getting that skill.

[south5]

I found this (link removed per board rules). It is a narration cube. Instead of asking your son to tell you everything it will focus him on just One thing. It was a great help for us. You also might look at how much you are asking him to narrate. Try asking him to narrate after every paragraph instead of pages or chapters. Once he can easily tell you paragraphs then you can do bigger amounts. It really helped my son this year.

[ShariCA]

We're not doing HOD yet, but I am reading picture books from the library. While I am reading to my boys I comment while I'm reading. If it's a funny part I'll say "Isn't that silly?" And they'll usually comment back. Scary part, "Oh, no! What's going to happen?" And if they're paying attention they'll spontaneously tell me. They usually are. Doing this at different parts gets them more involved in the story and it's a quick and easy way to gage their comprehension. I just go back to reading pretty quickly so we don't get distracted. After it's over I'll say "My favorite part was..." and the older one usually wants to say something too. The younger one is excited and listening and will some day joing in I'm sure.

[mrsrandolph]

These suggestions all sound like good ones. I would be interested to see if he can attend to the story better if he does something with his hands while he listens. I have a child with multiple issues. I read the chapter ahead of time and print out a picture that relates to the chapter somehow. It might be a picture of one of the animals or a forest scene. I let him color that while I read.

Also, can he answer a question immediately after you have read the answer? For example if you just read, "Sammy Jay's favorite food is blueberries." Then immediately ask, "What is Sammy Jay's favorite food?" Can he answer you correctly? If not, what would happen if you re-read the sentence to him ans asked again?

Lastly, is he in speech therapy, and if so, have you mentioned this difficulty to his therapist? If he is not in speech therapy, that might be a great starting place!

Hopefully you will find some suggestions on the board that will help. I am sure you will!

[my3sons]

I remember first teaching oral narration in LHFHG to my oldest and thinking he may never really get it. He did though, and has become very proficient at it, but he's in Creation to Christ now, so that's many years down the road from LHFHG. When my middle ds started orally narrating in LHFHG, I thought he would never get it. I didn't remember how much my oldest had first struggled with it, but I had some notes about it and my memory was jogged. Now that we are in Bigger Hearts, my middle ds's narration is growing and growing.

Narration takes a very long time to learn. LHFHG is the very beginning of teaching this skill. Beyond Little Hearts will really help with the modeling of narrating, and it will give excellent guidance about how to go about doing this modeling. The Appendix of Bigger Hearts does a wonderful job of step-by-step explaining oral narration and how to go about nurturing this skill to that next level in our dc. I just want to encourage you that this skill truly does come, but it comes s-l-o-w-l-y.

During LHFHG, it helped my ds...
1. for me to give a recap of what happened last time when we read
2. for me to give a leading question for him to listen for as we read (i.e. Last time Buster Bear's head was stuck in a bucket. I wonder what he'll try to do to get rid of the bucket, and I wonder if he'll be stuck with that bucket forever?)
3. for me to have him narrate after just one page of reading at first, and then for me to model narrating on the last pages (without me going over the top on this, just to the point so he can see he can do it)
4. for us to take turns narrating

The biggest thing that helped both of my dc with narration was just the passage of time. They become better at it as they practice it and as they get older. Just keep pressing on with it, and your ds will get it! It is a skill Beyond and Bigger and all the guides on up with help him learn to do well - and it works.

In Christ,
Julie