My 13 year old son has developed a fear of reading. He’s never enjoyed reading but it’s gotten so much worse this year. We read his school required books together, and I often read aloud to him and have to repeat the text multiple times before he gets it. He’s had several tutors over the years and they’ve all said his fluency is at grade level and that while comprehension is a bit behind at times, he’s making strides. He performs poorly on standardized tests for reading but does well in class assignments and working with me.

Working on getting him a full evaluation because his academic anxiety is starting to creep into other areas of life. Yesterday he told me that his bookshelves in his room make him sad and it’s a constant reminder that he’s afraid of reading and that more academic stress is only a month away. I’m heartbroken that I didn’t see the signs earlier.

A series of readers I liked when my kid was struggling to learn to read is by Flyleaf Publishing. Pretty pictures, better stories than the easy books her public school was having her do (Think: Bug on a Rug)

These are online but there are paper versions too

https://portal.flyleafpublishing.com/learners-resources/

We have bribed, and I don't know if that will undermine a love of reading -- at age 10, she almost never voluntarily reads unless she's earning dessert. But she came to us at the end of second grade not even solid on the difference between a short e and a short i, and not able to do consonant blends like 'st' at the end of words, and not able to do any compound words, so I felt it was an emergency in the short term.

We read to her all the time too, and she thinks of herself as someone who loves books/likes reading, so maybe as reading gets easier she will read on her own??? (She just finished fourth grade. She can read Diary of a Wimpy Kid with help on unfamiliar words like 'accomplice')

I had a very hard time finding in person tutors who were available in NE DC. Hope your luck is better.


.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. Has your child been tested for dyslexia?

Sorry, hit send before completing my thoughts. Has your child been tested for dyslexia or any other sort of learning differences? The whole thing of private school's bringing up "learners" or not learners is hooey! Before you launch into more CBT or O-G learning, I would get tested for dyslexia or other types of learning differences. That will drive how a tutor teaches to your child. Otherwise, you're throwing money out the window. I know b/c we did tutoring for a year before we learned my DD has dyslexia. That changed our WHOLE approach to reading/learning. You may realize that this private school is not the best fit for the way your child learns.

No, she had a full neuropsych eval before we considered learning differences. She has “low average” visual spatial, working memory, and processing speed per that report. The evaluator’s write up said it wasn’t clear to her how much of her performance was skill based or anxiety driven. That she mostly just seemed like she wanted to be done vs trying to do the problems. Now that she’s having difficulty reading, I think we might be looking at skill based challenges. Either way we have to get her anxiety more support (CBT) as it impacts other areas of her life as well.

With dyslexia, it runs in the family and is comorbid with her other diagnoses. my thinking is mostly to act “as if” and pull back if the approach isn’t working or if the tutor thinks a different approach is warranted.

And yeah, I hear you on the school. We will spend the summer figuring out what accommodations she might need for learning with a tutor and her neuropsych and then will have to see what school can handle.

Lots of great ideas in this thread, so thank you all. -OP

I think you have is right to treat your child “as if” she has dyslexia. I cannot see there is any developmental downside from having your child to OG instruction as the upside could be reading improvement/confidence that could also lessen the anxiety.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. Has your child been tested for dyslexia?

Sorry, hit send before completing my thoughts. Has your child been tested for dyslexia or any other sort of learning differences? The whole thing of private school's bringing up "learners" or not learners is hooey! Before you launch into more CBT or O-G learning, I would get tested for dyslexia or other types of learning differences. That will drive how a tutor teaches to your child. Otherwise, you're throwing money out the window. I know b/c we did tutoring for a year before we learned my DD has dyslexia. That changed our WHOLE approach to reading/learning. You may realize that this private school is not the best fit for the way your child learns.

No, she had a full neuropsych eval before we considered learning differences. She has “low average” visual spatial, working memory, and processing speed per that report. The evaluator’s write up said it wasn’t clear to her how much of her performance was skill based or anxiety driven. That she mostly just seemed like she wanted to be done vs trying to do the problems. Now that she’s having difficulty reading, I think we might be looking at skill based challenges. Either way we have to get her anxiety more support (CBT) as it impacts other areas of her life as well.

With dyslexia, it runs in the family and is comorbid with her other diagnoses. my thinking is mostly to act “as if” and pull back if the approach isn’t working or if the tutor thinks a different approach is warranted.

And yeah, I hear you on the school. We will spend the summer figuring out what accommodations she might need for learning with a tutor and her neuropsych and then will have to see what school can handle.

Lots of great ideas in this thread, so thank you all. -OP

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. Has your child been tested for dyslexia?

Sorry, hit send before completing my thoughts. Has your child been tested for dyslexia or any other sort of learning differences? The whole thing of private school's bringing up "learners" or not learners is hooey! Before you launch into more CBT or O-G learning, I would get tested for dyslexia or other types of learning differences. That will drive how a tutor teaches to your child. Otherwise, you're throwing money out the window. I know b/c we did tutoring for a year before we learned my DD has dyslexia. That changed our WHOLE approach to reading/learning. You may realize that this private school is not the best fit for the way your child learns.

I'm confused. Has your child been tested for dyslexia?

Often the anxiety is because they can’t read what they are being asked to read and that is frustrating and defeating. In an OG lesson students practice the new words in a story before they see them in the story. The story is what they are working upto. If “saw” is a word in the story they would learn it or review it.

Bob books are quite boring. Look for decidable readers with the skills she has already mastered. UFLI. University of Florida Literacy Institute has a chart of Dr parable readers by skill.

Anonymous wrote:I would tell your daughter that there is no need to worry any longer, because you have talked to some people who have kids just like her, and they all recommended a fantastic coaching system called “O-G” and it always works! It is best for smart kids whose brains work very quickly. You want her to pick up on your sense of surety about this and that the specially trained coaches had to go to extra school to learn to teach this scientific approach. Then just read to her until the “coaching” starts and keep saying that you have a plan.

I love this. Thank you. -OP