Reading Supplemental Programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't he like to read? My first thought was that he might not like to read because it's hard; reading avoidance can be a sign of a reading disability.

What do you recommend? Should I have him assessed? Where and by whom? I have read out loud with him all this year since January to try and keep pace with his grade level. It worked sort of but there was way too much drama. I do not think he has dyslexia but I am not sure about any other reading disorder. The one thing I can say is that when he runs into unfamiliar words too often (3 or more times on the same page), I can see him start to shut down, but vocabulary is not his only roadblock. His mind wonders considerably while he is reading so his comprehension is not where it should be.

For the first thing I bolded, I wonder if part of the problem is that the books he is trying to read are too hard. We've been taught the 5 finger rule -- have him read the first couple pages of a book and keep track of the words he doesn't know/stumbles on. If there are none, the book is too easy. If there are 3 or more, the book is too hard. You want a book with 1-2 unfamiliar words per page. But you might want to start even easier to build his confidence. Is he in 2nd grade now? I recommend the My Weird School series. Kids think it's hilarious and it's simple sentence structure and plot so he won't be overwhelmed.

Re: the second thing I bolded, does he show other signs of ADHD? My child has both dyslexia and ADHD and started reading shortly after starting ADHD meds. We didn't realize how much instruction he was missing until he showed us how fast he could learn after the ADHD was controlled.

Take a look at this for signs of dyslexia: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/EDU_signs.html

I hate to pathologize all behavior, but I really believe that kids, generally, do the best they can, so when they aren't doing something that is expected of them, there's usually a reason.

Thanks for the link. He doesn't seem to show signs for dyslexia at least according to the link you shared and also we do read aloud together and he doesn't have too much difficulty there either nor does he mind reading aloud. As for ADHD, I have wondered about this as a potential problem. My friend who is a pediatrician believes he may have some mild form of it but cannot rule out maturity, especially since my child is a boy. I am thinking about getting him assessed. How did you get your child's ADHD diagnosis?

How old is your son? I think you said 5th grade above. That's late to be blaming immaturity for inattentiveness.

My child was diagnosed through a full neuropsych. We went to Stixrud, in Silver Spring. It involves one two hour parent meeting to take a history and learn about your concerns, lots of checklists for you and teacher to fill out, and 6-8 hours of testing, spread out over 2 days.

Have you talked to his teacher about his focus and organization, compared to other boys his age? That would be a good place to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't he like to read? My first thought was that he might not like to read because it's hard; reading avoidance can be a sign of a reading disability.

What do you recommend? Should I have him assessed? Where and by whom? I have read out loud with him all this year since January to try and keep pace with his grade level. It worked sort of but there was way too much drama. I do not think he has dyslexia but I am not sure about any other reading disorder. The one thing I can say is that when he runs into unfamiliar words too often (3 or more times on the same page), I can see him start to shut down, but vocabulary is not his only roadblock. His mind wonders considerably while he is reading so his comprehension is not where it should be.

For the first thing I bolded, I wonder if part of the problem is that the books he is trying to read are too hard. We've been taught the 5 finger rule -- have him read the first couple pages of a book and keep track of the words he doesn't know/stumbles on. If there are none, the book is too easy. If there are 3 or more, the book is too hard. You want a book with 1-2 unfamiliar words per page. But you might want to start even easier to build his confidence. Is he in 2nd grade now? I recommend the My Weird School series. Kids think it's hilarious and it's simple sentence structure and plot so he won't be overwhelmed.

Re: the second thing I bolded, does he show other signs of ADHD? My child has both dyslexia and ADHD and started reading shortly after starting ADHD meds. We didn't realize how much instruction he was missing until he showed us how fast he could learn after the ADHD was controlled.

Take a look at this for signs of dyslexia: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/EDU_signs.html

I hate to pathologize all behavior, but I really believe that kids, generally, do the best they can, so when they aren't doing something that is expected of them, there's usually a reason.

Thanks for the link. He doesn't seem to show signs for dyslexia at least according to the link you shared and also we do read aloud together and he doesn't have too much difficulty there either nor does he mind reading aloud. As for ADHD, I have wondered about this as a potential problem. My friend who is a pediatrician believes he may have some mild form of it but cannot rule out maturity, especially since my child is a boy. I am thinking about getting him assessed. How did you get your child's ADHD diagnosis?

How old is your son? I think you said 5th grade above. That's late to be blaming immaturity for inattentiveness.

My child was diagnosed through a full neuropsych. We went to Stixrud, in Silver Spring. It involves one two hour parent meeting to take a history and learn about your concerns, lots of checklists for you and teacher to fill out, and 6-8 hours of testing, spread out over 2 days.

Have you talked to his teacher about his focus and organization, compared to other boys his age? That would be a good place to start.

Thanks for the information. I will look into it. Regarding his teachers, I have talked about focus and I always get the same answers which is why I haven't yet gone further with researching ADHD. They do not seem to think he is out of the norm. They say he is similar to the average among the boys in the class. Not necessarily the most focused but he is not the least either. However, since the teacher has to oversee ~20 students, I always suspect that he flies under the radar. Question: does ADHD affect reading more than math skills? My son actually enjoys math whereas he hates reading. My son is 9 years old.

[Anonymous]

What is his reading level? Is he actually behind or just your feeling?

[Anonymous]

My kids don't read if they have free access to tv/computer. So maybe try turning them off for a few weeks during he summer and have a slew of books around and see what happens? I know it's hard...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't he like to read? My first thought was that he might not like to read because it's hard; reading avoidance can be a sign of a reading disability.

What do you recommend? Should I have him assessed? Where and by whom? I have read out loud with him all this year since January to try and keep pace with his grade level. It worked sort of but there was way too much drama. I do not think he has dyslexia but I am not sure about any other reading disorder. The one thing I can say is that when he runs into unfamiliar words too often (3 or more times on the same page), I can see him start to shut down, but vocabulary is not his only roadblock. His mind wonders considerably while he is reading so his comprehension is not where it should be.

For the first thing I bolded, I wonder if part of the problem is that the books he is trying to read are too hard. We've been taught the 5 finger rule -- have him read the first couple pages of a book and keep track of the words he doesn't know/stumbles on. If there are none, the book is too easy. If there are 3 or more, the book is too hard. You want a book with 1-2 unfamiliar words per page. But you might want to start even easier to build his confidence. Is he in 2nd grade now? I recommend the My Weird School series. Kids think it's hilarious and it's simple sentence structure and plot so he won't be overwhelmed.

Re: the second thing I bolded, does he show other signs of ADHD? My child has both dyslexia and ADHD and started reading shortly after starting ADHD meds. We didn't realize how much instruction he was missing until he showed us how fast he could learn after the ADHD was controlled.

Take a look at this for signs of dyslexia: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/EDU_signs.html

I hate to pathologize all behavior, but I really believe that kids, generally, do the best they can, so when they aren't doing something that is expected of them, there's usually a reason.

Thanks for the link. He doesn't seem to show signs for dyslexia at least according to the link you shared and also we do read aloud together and he doesn't have too much difficulty there either nor does he mind reading aloud. As for ADHD, I have wondered about this as a potential problem. My friend who is a pediatrician believes he may have some mild form of it but cannot rule out maturity, especially since my child is a boy. I am thinking about getting him assessed. How did you get your child's ADHD diagnosis?

How old is your son? I think you said 5th grade above. That's late to be blaming immaturity for inattentiveness.

My child was diagnosed through a full neuropsych. We went to Stixrud, in Silver Spring. It involves one two hour parent meeting to take a history and learn about your concerns, lots of checklists for you and teacher to fill out, and 6-8 hours of testing, spread out over 2 days.

Have you talked to his teacher about his focus and organization, compared to other boys his age? That would be a good place to start.

Thanks for the information. I will look into it. Regarding his teachers, I have talked about focus and I always get the same answers which is why I haven't yet gone further with researching ADHD. They do not seem to think he is out of the norm. They say he is similar to the average among the boys in the class. Not necessarily the most focused but he is not the least either. However, since the teacher has to oversee ~20 students, I always suspect that he flies under the radar. Question: does ADHD affect reading more than math skills? My son actually enjoys math whereas he hates reading. My son is 9 years old.

ADHD isn't actually a deficit of attention; it's more trouble paying attention to the right things. So a kid with ADHD wouldn't have any trouble paying attention to activities he likes (in fact, my child often hyperfocuses on preferred activities). So if your son likes math (as does mine) it makes sense that he would be able to focus on his math work and instruction, regardless of ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Try lots of Nonfiction. National Geographic, Time for Kids, books with lots of different topics so he can learn new things and find new interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't he like to read? My first thought was that he might not like to read because it's hard; reading avoidance can be a sign of a reading disability.

What do you recommend? Should I have him assessed? Where and by whom? I have read out loud with him all this year since January to try and keep pace with his grade level. It worked sort of but there was way too much drama. I do not think he has dyslexia but I am not sure about any other reading disorder. The one thing I can say is that when he runs into unfamiliar words too often (3 or more times on the same page), I can see him start to shut down, but vocabulary is not his only roadblock. His mind wonders considerably while he is reading so his comprehension is not where it should be.

Sounds like he has poor word attack skills, possibly low phonemic awareness. It sounds like he is struggling. Definitely ask the school to evaluate him or have an SLP do it. It's not a vocabulary issue at all. He can't sound out. So he avoids it.

The Logic of English series is based on Orton Gillingham. Buy it and start working on that.

[Anonymous]

You said you read to him ... how is his comprehension then? I'm assuming you're reading to him at his intellectual level, not his reading level. Kids who are struggling with the mechanics of reading can often have poor comprehension because they're using their cycles to figure out the word from context, often rereading surrounding words, guessing from pictures, etc. This doesn't have to be from dyslexia but can be a sign of a missing or weak skill. I second the idea of an assessment through school. An independent evaluation for dyslexia is very expensive so I don't think I'd start there if you're not seeing other signs.

Dealing with reading refusal that arises from a skill issue can be tricky because kids can feel ashamed or feel like they're stupid, so more pressure tends to backfire. But if you're able to put a name to the problem, take away any embarassment, and create a plan to address the gap, things can turn around quickly.

Like pp, I'm speaking as a parent of a DC with adhd and dyslexia. For us, neither diagnosis was really surprising, but DS is also severely affected and has several relatives with dyslexia. Like pp, DS is a bit ahead in math and he's also a font of biology and science trivia. Because they are areas of interest he has no problems focusing even though he may require 5 reminders in the space of 5 minutes to complete a simple task.

[Anonymous]

Op here - Thanks all for your feedback / information. As a parent, it is difficult to remain objective and I see sometimes what I want to see, so I really appreciate your input(s).

BTW, what is an SLP? I have never heard that before.

[Anonymous]

speech language pathologist