How can I help my 7 year old become a better reader?

[Anonymous]

I don't know at what age they are expected to be "fluent readers," but he still reads a little haltingly sometimes and also skips or slurs over words. His memory is very good, but his comprehension is sometimes not. His spelling is pretty bad. We do read at home together. I read to him at night, we also do I-read-a-page, you-read-a-page reading, and we read both picture books and chapter books. What else should I be doing?

[Anonymous]

Have you had him screened for dyslexia? Can he decode words?

- Mom of a child with dyslexia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you had him screened for dyslexia? Can he decode words?

- Mom of a child with dyslexia

He can decode and often his slur/skipping over words seem to be the result of rushing but I don't know. If I reread the sentence and pause for the next word or point to the word he missed, he's often able to read it or at least try to sound it out.

[Anonymous]

What books are you having him read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What books are you having him read?

Lately he’s reading The Last Firehawk, Henry and Ribsy, Ramona’s World, and the Jory John Food group books. He also sometimes has like 3 or 4 books going at once. Is that ok?

[Anonymous]

To work on comprehension, have you tried reading to him and having him narrate (basically retell back to you) what you read? Just do it piece by piece and don't expect a full essay at first. A sentence or two is a good start at that age. It can build from there. Then you can try it with something he reads, or try for longer passages, or try more details. Narration is a really good way to build comprehension skills pretty organically.

[Anonymous]

Ways to work on fluency - reading the same passage out loud. My son is dyslexic - so this is a part of our routine - we read for 10 minutes the same passage each night for 4 times.
Next week pick another book (passage). To keep it interesting it might be silly poems or a joke book.
For comprehension you can get there with audio books as well.

[Anonymous]

We read to our kid every night. She also reads to us 2-4 pages out loud every night. Reading takes practice. Tell DC not to rush when reading. Probably just needs practice. Any book at DC's reading level is fine.

[Anonymous]

Maybe those books are too hard for him? The stepping down a level

[Anonymous]

What did the beginning-of-year reading tests show? Is he at grade level on those? How are his phonological skills? If those are low average or low, consider tutoring specifically for phonological skills and any phonics patterns he should have learned in school but doesn't know yet.

[Anonymous]

It amazes me how many parents know so little about the progression of reading and writing at this age. I think too many parents have expectations of their child reading and spelling at the 99th percentile.

Your child is reading and writing. Teachers can pick up learning issues like dyslexia pretty easy and would have requested an evaluation if there were concerns.

You’re doing everything right. His spelling and reading will get better with time just like every other student in his class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What did the beginning-of-year reading tests show? Is he at grade level on those? How are his phonological skills? If those are low average or low, consider tutoring specifically for phonological skills and any phonics patterns he should have learned in school but doesn't know yet.

Not OP, but is this standard? I'm not aware of my school giving out these tests.

[Anonymous]

7 year olds are still young. Just keep practicing and fluency will improve.

[Anonymous]

If he’s having trouble with comprehension, I would discourage reading 4 books at once! Stick with one, and talk about the story when you’re not reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It amazes me how many parents know so little about the progression of reading and writing at this age. I think too many parents have expectations of their child reading and spelling at the 99th percentile.

Your child is reading and writing. Teachers can pick up learning issues like dyslexia pretty easy and would have requested an evaluation if there were concerns.

You’re doing everything right. His spelling and reading will get better with time just like every other student in his class.

Ask any parent of a child with learning differences and they will tell you the bolded is usually false. Also teachers can't tell you to do anything medical.