Reading is a struggle

[Anonymous]

DD12/6th isn’t a fan of reading outside of school, but we just received her report card and her teacher wants her to work on, essentially what we used to call book reports, at home. When I’ve implemented reading at home in the past, I’m convinced she just sits there and scans the pages without actually reading. We’ve done a “book club” with similar results and no in-depth descriptions, which is what the teacher is looking for. Basically, she needs to read more at home to develop these skills.

Tips on getting her to actually do this? Am i overthinking this and making things worse? She’s not behind at all, never has comprehension issues, but just won’t give descriptive summaries. Help me help her!

[Anonymous]

What specific skill(s) are you trying to address?

[Anonymous]

There could be many causes to this problem. It could be an actual reading issue (dyslexia). It could be a lack of maturity or a socio-communication issue, where she cannot inference, or understand cues and hints, from a text. It could be an attention issue: my ADHD son struggled in middle school to organize his thoughts on paper. He also struggled with recall, finding citations in the text, etc. It was so laborious that he did not have the mental energy to write a lot of detail. All due to ADHD and the executive function deficits that come with it. We hired a writing tutor who was very helpful.

[Anonymous]

How does she do with audio books? Do you still read alioud to her sometimes? Could you read to each other for home book report books?

[Anonymous]

I am a reading teacher. What exactly is the issue? Summarizing is a specific reading skill/strategy. That is something very minor to work on compared to something like comprehension. Read a text with her. Have her read aloud to you as you cook dinner. Ask her questions throughout. Then, have her write a paragraph summarizing the pages just read. Check the summary. Is it detailed? Is it too focused on one specific part? Is she leaving out the important parts? Is it out of sequence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a reading teacher. What exactly is the issue? Summarizing is a specific reading skill/strategy. That is something very minor to work on compared to something like comprehension. Read a text with her. Have her read aloud to you as you cook dinner. Ask her questions throughout. Then, have her write a paragraph summarizing the pages just read. Check the summary. Is it detailed? Is it too focused on one specific part? Is she leaving out the important parts? Is it out of sequence?

Thank you!

This is what the report card says:

This is the “area of weakness”: Determine a central idea of a piece of literature through particular details; provide a summary.

These areas are “strengths” and she’s already “meeting (the) standard” for the year in each: “Describe how a plot unfolds as well as how the AS MS
characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.” “Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.” “Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text.”

[Anonymous]

If she finds one type of book that interests her she will become an avid reader. It's just finding that gateway book.