|
1)
Dear Amy, I am a homeschooling mom whose two boys have
significant reading delays and I suspect from some reading
about dyslexia that this is the problem, but I'm not sure.
Will this assessment help me determine if my children are
dyslexic? Will the results give me specific direction in
reading instruction to help them? Thanks.
Hello,
Officially,
dyslexia can only be diagnosed by an MD or a PhD. However, all
of the subtests on our assessment examine symptoms that are
associated with dyslexia. In regards to dyslexia, I think the
most important thing to remember is to "treat the
symptoms and not the disease." I used to work at Miami
Children's Hospital. The Dan Marino foundation had opened a
wing specifically for kids with developmental difficulties.
Whenever they had a patient who had trouble with reading, they
sent him/her my way. I was the only person there who was not
an MD. I found that all those Doctors spent so much of their
time, worrying about the specific diagnoses. Sometimes
distinguishing the "label" of the diagnosis seemed
more important to them than treating the symptoms. So, getting
off my soap-box, whenever I encounter parents of kids with
reading problems, I advise working with the symptoms and not
concerning myself too much with the label. A child, who cannot
learn to sound out words, is the same as the dyslexic child
who cannot learn to sound out words.
About
instructional suggestions, each assessment report gives
instructional suggestions. They are somewhat minimal and only
enough to get you started. Hope this helps. Let me know if I
can answer any thing else for you.
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
2)
Dear Amy: My grandson is in 7th grade, he was tested at the
beginning of school to see how he rated with other 7th
graders, his math ability was comparable to l0th grade, BUT
his reading ability compared to 4th grade, he does NOT like to
read but we want to help him, what can we do? Thank you.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
Your
grandson certainly needs help now. Seventh grade teachers (and
on up from there) do not usually receive instruction on how to
teach reading. Reading instruction is not normally a part of
the teaching university curriculum past 5th grade. This means
that if he is 3 years behind this year, chances are good that
he will be 4 years behind by next year. It sounds like he went
through "general" testing to get an idea of his
academic abilities. However, his reading should be thoroughly
tested too. A comprehensive reading assessment should give
succinct information about how well he sounds out words, how
many words he has memorized, how well he reads in context, how
well he understands what he reads, as well as his receptive
and expressive vocabulary skills. This kind of test will
create a profile for Cody. That profile will be the fist step
to informed instruction. Now that you know that his reading is
behind, you will need to know what parts of reading are hard
for him, that is the only way to know how to help him. Just
knowing that his reading is poor is not enough, reading is a
very complex subject and he certainly has strengths and
weaknesses in his reading skills. Figuring out his reading
strengths and working with them to improve his reading
weaknesses is what needs to happen to further his improvement.
When you know more about his reading profile, or if you have
any more questions, please feel free to email me again.
Regards,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
3)
Dear Amy, After having a student tested, do you have a program
or can you recommend a program to improve their reading
skills? Especially in the area that they need improvement?
Thank you.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. Yes, we do offer instructional suggestions for
students with the particular weaknesses identified by the
assessment. (The instructional suggestions are included as
part of the assessment report.) We are working diligently on
phase-two of our product, on-line reading instruction.
Although, it won't be completed until next year and that
probably won't be soon enough for you. As far as a recommended
instructional programs... No, as of today, we do not
officially recommend any one particular program for a student
after assessment. The reason being that each child's profile
is very different. The instruction that we are designing is
structured to be extremely individualized to the child's
profile and progress at the pace of the student. I myself have
been a reading consultant for years; I am currently the
Reading Advisor for Homeschool.com as well as the Director of
Education for Let's Go Learn, Inc. If you have your child
assessed with our test, I would be happy to offer some advice
on how to look for a reading program that would fit your
particular needs. Hope that answers your question, let me know
if I can help you with anything else.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
4)
Hi Amy,
I
really need some help. We are homeschooling two of our 3 sons.
One of our sons is very bright and benefits from a lot of
structure and ongoing challenges. I realized that his time
needs were distracting me from important help that the other
two boys needed. The other two have significant reading
delays. They are about in grades 3 and 5 (ages 9 and 11). We
are a reading family, treasure good books and do a lot of
reading aloud. But so far neither of these two are capable of
reading on their own. I own about all the phonics programs out
there, and we have daily lessons in phonics and reading,
taking it by small steps. I have tried to take a wait and let
them mature approach, but now I'm getting concerned,
especially for the 5th grader. I'm looking for some direction.
I probably should get them tested to determine the specifics
of their skills. Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. Here are my thoughts:
As
for your two sons who are having trouble with phonics
instruction...Phonemic awareness is the processing ability
necessary to sound out words. Most studies say that phonemic
awareness will fully develop by the age of seven, some studies
say five, and some say six. If your sons are nine and eleven
and are having trouble absorbing phonics instruction, they
almost certainly have some phonemic awareness weakness. I
think that it would be a great idea for you to have your sons
tested. You can use the Let's Go Learn Reading Assessment or
have them tested by a reading specialist in your area. As for
improving their phonemic awareness, I suggest you find a
workshop on phonemic awareness designed for reading teachers.
I know that workshops can be expensive but in my opinion, it
is the best way for a parent to learn how to administer
reading instruction for phonemic awareness weakness. Let me
know if I can answer any other questions that you have.
Best
of luck and happy reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
5)
Dear Amy, My 15 year old is in 9th grade and reads on a 6th
grade level also my dad who is 53 reads on a 5th to 6th grade
level. I need something to help my child read better and
actually get interested in reading and I also need something
to help my dad read better and comprehend better so that he
can get his GED. I have no idea where to look or where to get
started. Could you please give me some ideas or advise on what
I need to do to get both of them help.
Please
remember funds are low so we will be trying to do this at
home. Thank you.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
If
money is short, you should spend money on educating yourself.
I have spent my entire career learning to teach people how to
read, and teaching people with reading difficulties is
infinitely harder. Therefore, spending money on a course for
yourself is probably better spend than spending a lot of money
purchasing an expensive reading kit or program. In my opinion,
you should seek out a workshop or a course designed for
reading teachers. This will get you up to speed fastest. When
signing up for a class, make sure you ask if the class is
appropriate for someone who is a homeschool teacher and not a
reading specialist.
The
second thing I advise is frequency of instruction. Reading
intervention in schools is sometimes administered once or
twice a week. This is not enough. For your child and
especially your dad, daily instruction is crucial to reading
improvement. Adults with reading issues have fashioned their
lives around avoiding reading. This means that intensive daily
reading instruction is especially important for adults. When I
am administering reading instruction, I work with reading
students 15 to 20 hours a week, one on one.
You
may wish to have a reading assessment done for your child and
your father, this will tell you exactly which areas of reading
are difficult for them. Sometimes people don't realize how
complex reading is, there are many skills and cognitive
processes involved. This means that your child and your father
will likely have some strengths and weaknesses in reading
skills. The first step to informed instruction is assessment.
A wise old speech pathologist that I worked with used to say,
"You can only know where to go if you know where you
are." Assessment will also help you monitor your progress
over the year.
I
hope this is helpful, let me know if I can answer any other
questions.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
6)
Dear Amy:
I
am new @ Homeschooling.
My
son is 6. 1st grader. Autistic - Pervasive Developmental
Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS). Speech Impaired.
The
schools refer to him as High Functioning. Academically he is a
bit ahead of his peers in this Special Education class. He can
read very well. He can spell up to 75 words. He's starting to
write 1 to 2 sentence stories. His phonics are great and he is
good in math.
However,
his school refused to approve of additional therapies that I
strongly believe he needs. The system disappointed me by
failing to provide a free appropriate public education in
addition to other issues.
Nevertheless,
I have decided to homeschool my son. By the way, all the
skills mentioned above that he acquired, I worked very hard
during the summer with him to learn and he did.
I
read that you worked with autistic children as well as
children with disabilities (autism is considered a disability)
and in your experience, would homeschooling be effective for
my son who is a quick learner yet has problems in the speech,
conversation, and socialization skills.
As
far as academics, I have so much material that I have bought
that I know my son has and continues to benefit.
My
questions are:
Will
my son be better off in Homeschooling?
Where
can I get 1st grade curriculum for autistic children with
speech impairments? and, where can I get assessments to have
data on hand as a comparison so that I can compare his skills
now (before starting homeschooling) and at the end of the
"school year". I plan on doing a "year
round" schooling-the 5 days of school from 7:30 am to
1:30 pm to include Math, Reading, Spelling, Writing, Good
Citizenship, Science, Social Studies, Speech, and Imaginary
Play. Oh lunch and recess time also. Well, I would really
appreciate your responses and I am looking forward to hearing
from you soon. Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. Funny that you emailed me today, I was just
talking with a colleague last night about some of the PDDNOS
kids that I have worked with in the past. Here are my
thoughts:
1.
Will my son be better off in Homeschooling? Well, it is
impossible for me to know that but I do know that he will be
better off with individualized instruction. However, kids with
PDDNOS also definitely benefit from social interaction. I
suggest that he have some kind of regular interaction with a
group of kids.
2.
Where can I get 1st grade curriculum for autistic children
with speech impairments? This one I can't answer. All of my
work with autistic and other developmentally delayed kids was
specifically with reading and language comprehension and
acquisition. I suggest you take a look at the
www.canfoundation.org website, perhaps someone there can
answer your question better.
3.
"Where can I get assessments to have data on hand as a
comparison so that I can compare his skills now (before
starting homeschooling) and at the end of the "school
year". Well, the company that I work for,
www.letsgolearn.com, offers and online assessment. You could
use that to track his progress over the year if you feel that
he would work well with an online assessment. If you want to
choose a more conventional assessment, try a language or
reading specialist in your area.
Overall
it sounds like you are on the right track. I know sometimes
schools can make it seem like progress with your son is
impossible. That is poppycock of course. Even after working
with adult PDDNOS students, I know that progress can certainly
be made.
Good
Luck,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
7)
Hello Amy, I would like to see if you could help direct me. I
am going to teach a 23 year old young man to read. I will need
tools to help teach him the basics and I don't know where to
start. I found "Hooked on Phonics" on the internet,
but the cost was $300.00! Do you have any suggestions about
other tools I may use to help?
Thank
you.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Tell me a little bit more about your
situation...
1)
Have you ever taught reading before? Do you have experience as
a teacher?
2)
Is this 23-year-old man your son or relative?
3)
What are the circumstances surrounding this man's reading
issues? Is English his second language? Does he have other
learning issues besides reading? Specific diagnosis? What is
his education level?
Can
he read at all? If so, how much? If not, does he know his
letters and sounds?
4)
How much time per week do you plan to spend teaching him how
to read? Will anyone else be working on his reading skills?
Where will you be working with him? Library? School? Kitchen
Table? Will you be working with him one-on-one or in a group?
5)
Is this man enrolled in any kind of school or does he work or
neither?
6)
Has anyone ever tried to teach this man to read before?
If
you can answer these questions, I can give you some more
succinct advice.
Have
a great day!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
7B)
Hi Again Amy, I am not a teacher, although, I raised 2
daughters and helped them along the way. The young man is my
son-in-law as of April 2001, and he did graduate from high
school, how I don't know.
He
is very embarrassed and does not want anyone to know that he
can't read. He would like to learn to read and get a better
job.English is his first and only language. I'm sorry, but I
really don't know if there are other learning issues. I do
know that his parents did not take time with he or any of the
other siblings while growing up. He seems to communicate
normally, although, he is not very social. We took him out to
eat once and I could tell, he could not read the fish house
menu. I will be the only person working with him, and we will
be working at my home. I cannot imagine not being able to
read. It is an enormous handicap to not be able to read. I
would like to help him open the door to the wonderful world of
reading. Thank you for your help.
Hello,
Thanks for your response to my email. I apologize that it has
taken me so long to get back to you. Here are my suggestions:
1)
I suggest you have your son-in-law tested to determine his
strengths and weaknesses in reading. An assessment will give
the information on where to direct your instruction. Reading
specialists in your area would be able to do that. Or if you
want to have him do a reading test on line, you can go to
www.letsgolearn.com Reading is a complex subject, more that
most people realize. A reader experiencing difficulty may have
weaknesses and or strengths in a variety of areas. It is
important to find out where you son-in-laws issues are.
2)
It's hard for me to know the exact nature of his weaknesses
however, from you descriptions it sounds as if he has a hard
time sounding out words as well as spelling. I suggest you
look for something that talks about Symbol Imagery.
3)
I HIGHLY recommend that you take a workshop for reading
teachers. Teaching yourself how to be a reading teacher will
be the best way for you to help him.
In
a nutshell, get him tested to determine the exact weakness,
find a program that treats that weakness, and get yourself
trained in that program. Teaching an adult to read is a big
commitment for the student and the teacher. Working on his
reading at least 4 days a week is recommended, 5 is better. I
hope this helps.
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
8)
My daughter doesn't seem to read as well as some of her
classmates. When is it appropriate for my child to be assessed
for her reading?
Hi,
School age children's reading abilities can be assessed
anytime. It's always a good idea to have a good idea of what
your child's strengths and weaknesses are in reading. Although
you may think that your child may not read as well as her
classmates, but after a thorough diagnostic assessment, you'll
have a better idea of you child's strengths in reading and
will be able to address the particular needs of your child,
regardless of the her classmates.
9)
Dear Amy, I am a homeschooling parent and mother of 6. Two of
my sons are in college, four are homeschooling. My greatest
teaching challenge is with my son who I recently had evaluated
by a developmental optometrist. Our first appointment for
vision therapy is tomorrow and I am currently working on
planning the details for how to conduct this year of
homeschooling. My son is reading at perhaps a 2nd grade level
and is quite frustrated about his slow progress. His younger
brother is fast on his heels and this doesn't help matters. I
have used a couple of different resources over the years for
teaching reading including, "Teach Your Child to Read in
100 Easy Lessons" and "Total Reading". I am
most comfortable with "Total Reading" as I have used
it the most and use the parts of the program that work best
for homeschooling. It is designed for public school classroom
use though there are many homeschoolers using Total Reading.
It is similar to Spalding with less rigidity in my opinion and
has kids reading real books much sooner than Spalding.
I
am looking forward to using your assessment tool with all my
kids and I'm wondering if you can offer any suggestions on how
to procede with my son. Is there one reading program you found
to be successful with all the various types of
reading-challenged individuals you worked with over the years
or did you find yourself needing to tailor how you taught to
each individual's needs??? Any assistance or resources you can
provide will be greatly appreciated.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
"...I'm
wondering if you can offer any suggestions on how to proceed
with Derek. Is there one reading program you found to be
successful with all the various types of reading-challenged
individuals you worked with over the years or did you find
yourself needing to tailor how you taught to each individual's
needs???" Well, yes and no. I worked for many years for a
specialized reading company. They work with students with
reading issues so all of the work they do is individualized to
each particular student. So yes I did tailor all of what I did
to meet each student's individual needs.
I
am also interested in how the vision therapy goes for Derek. I
have a lot of parents asking me about vision therapy. I have
heard all different opinions. If you have a moment, let me
know how vision therapy is working for him.
Hope
this helps.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
10)
Dear Amy, My 8 yr. old daughter is beginning 3rd grade work
this year. She continues to have difficulty with reading and
reading comprehension. She frequently misreads words, guessing
based on the first few letters rather than reading a complete
word. She will occasionally read words backwards such as
reading, "saw" as "was". Her abilities
vary from day today. One day she will be reading solidly at
grade level and the next day she will have trouble with basic
phonics. Reading for her is a chore and she becomes easily
frustrated when I ask her to re-read a word or sentence. Can
you tell that I am a bit frustrated too? I would appreciate
any suggestions that would help me to help her. Thank you.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts about your
daughter:
1)
I feel terrible saying this but if your daughter is having
these kinds of problems in 2nd grade, she will almost
certainly have a harder time in 3rd grade. In the United
States, 3rd grade is where a student is required to begin
reading large quantities of material independently. I talk to
droves of parents who tell me that their son or daughter was
doing "OK" in 1st and 2nd grade but really went down
hill in 3rd grade.
2)
"She frequently misreads words, guessing based on the
first few letters rather than reading a complete word."
This is very common for kids who have weak phonemic awareness.
I have seen kids who even sound out each of the letters then
say something totally different when they say the word as a
whole. They sound out: "/s/-/t/-/ar/-/t/" and then
they state the whole word, "straight." It may seem
to you that what she sees on the page is not what is coming
out of her mouth. It may seem like she can't match the two
things up. This is a very common symptom of phonemic awareness
weakness.
3)
"Her abilities vary from day today. One day she will be
reading solidly at grade level and the next day she will have
trouble with basic phonics." This too is common for
phonemic awareness weakness. Another factor may be what some
people call "Symbol Imagery." This is ability to
hold on to letters and words in your mind. You might see that
she will learn a word like "whose" and she might
know it all day, but the next day it's like the word is brand
new to her again.
4)
"Reading for her is a chore and she becomes easily
frustrated when I ask her to re-read a word or sentence."
I am sure that this is very hard for her. I had one parent who
described her daughter as having similar difficulties as your
daughter. Her daughter was a little bit older and had to write
a book report. Just reading the book for the report was very
hard on both of them, writing the report was very difficult
and took all weekend. On Sunday afternoon when they had
finished the rough draft of the report, she said to her
daughter, "And now for the easy part! Just copy this onto
a clean sheet of paper." Her daughter began to scream and
cry. I told that mother to imagine what it would be like if I
gave her an entire page of Japanese text and asked her to copy
it onto a clean sheet of paper, that is similar to what it is
like for her daughter to copy a page of text.
5)
"Can you tell that I am a bit frustrated too? I would
appreciate any suggestions that would help me to help
her." Well, it sounds like your daughter is weak in some
of the processing abilities necessary for reading. I am sure
this situation is very frustrating for you and your daughter.
I have known master teachers who had been working with
beginning readers for years who wanted to pull their hair out
because of this kind of difficulty. Twenty years ago, most
people thought that phonemic awareness could not be increased.
Thankfully, that is not the case anymore. The first step is to
get your daughter tested with a full reading assessment. My
company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. is offering an on-line reading
assessment on www.homeschool.com. If you decide you want to
pursue assessment and would rather have an assessment in
person, look for someone in your area who specializes in
reading assessment and instruction. Make sure any assessment
you choose measures all parts of reading; sounding-out words,
memorizing words, spelling, reading in context and vocabulary.
I
hope these things are helpful to you, please feel free to
email me with more questions.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
11)
Dear Amy, My son is autistic. He has been diagnosed w/
aspergers syndrome. He is in the 3rd grade but is just now
learning long vowel sounds and starting to be able to read. Is
there anything we can do to help him to try to catch up to his
grade level?
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Yes, autistic kids can learn to read. I
have worked with a lot of autistic children, Asperger's
syndrome as well. A company that I worked with for many years
specialized in individualized reading instruction. We worked
with a lot of language issues including autism, Asperger's
syndrome, CAP-D and others.
If
you haven't already, you should contact the CAN (Cure Autism
Now) organization. I met their founder, Dr. Ricki Robinson, at
a reading conference and she is a dynamo. Their website,
www.cureautismnow.org is one of the best I've seen for autism.
That website is full of good resources.
I
hope this helps, let me know if you have more questions,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
12)
Dear Amy, My 30-year-old son is developmentally disabled. He
is high functioning; but in his school years in special
classes the teachers focused on social skills and not reading.
What resources do I need to teach him to read?? How much can
he do on his own as homework?
He
has expressive aphasia which causes him to have difficulty
speaking, although he sure verbalizes a lot as best he can.
Local libraries which have reading programs are full and
cannot accept him. He uses the Internet to check out movie
sites, which he enjoys. He does not recognize many words; but
manages to see key words and see trailers of movie titles that
he recognizes. Thanks for any help or recommendations that you
can provide.
Hello.
Thanks for your email. It is impossible for me to know exactly
how to teach your son to read, but here are my thoughts:
1)
"What resources do I need to teach him to read ??" I
have been teaching reading and reading instruction for my
entire career so I can say that this is not an easy task. If
you are really serious and have at least two hours a day to
commit to his reading instruction, you can go to a workshop
designed for teachers who teach reading.
2)
"How much can he do on his own as homework?" I don't
want to say that this isn't possible but I never had good luck
with it. I found getting adults to work on their reading
independently to be even more difficult than children.
Children are required to read in school every day so they have
"reading practice" built into their daily lives. I
now work for a company called Let's Go Learn, Inc. We have
developed an online reading assessment and are in the process
of developing online reading instruction. This is the kind of
thing that your son could do on his own to supplement your
instruction. There are lots of other reading software
companies out there, you should find one that suits your son's
level. Just remember that they should not replace reading
instruction.
I
have worked with lots of adults during my career. I know how
difficult it can be, but very rewarding. Your son's reading
ability can get better. Learning to teach him yourself is
probably the best option since he will probably need
instruction over a long period of time. One man I worked with,
about the age and profile of your son, worked with me every
day for 12 weeks. During that time his mother sat in on most
of my lessons. After the 12 weeks, she took over his lessons.
She brought him back a year later for another round. It went
well. He went from not reading at all to reading at about a
4th grade level. She continues to work with him to this day
but I have not been in touch with them in a few years.
I
hope this is helpful to you, let me know if I can answer any
more questions,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
13)
Dear Amy - My daughter is seven. She has such a hard time with
reading. We have tried many different programs and different
ways to teach her, but still she has trouble. We have gotten
readers for level one readers, such as The big bug or Dan is
in the pan. They are for K-1st. She really struggles with
them. We have now noticed that it is trickling over to her
other subjects. What would you recommend doing? Should we drop
all other subjects and just do reading until she has a grasp
on it? Please help as we are at the end of our rope. Thanks so
much for your time.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
1)
If she is having that much trouble with reading, I am sure it
is effecting her other subjects and that will only continue to
get worse. Once a student progresses to a third grade level in
any subject, independent reading is expected. So even though
she may be good at something like mathematics, she might miss
the instructions because they are in written form.
2)"Should
we drop all other subjects and just do reading until she has a
grasp on it?" In my personal opinion, yes, I would
discontinue other subjects until she has a grasp on it.
However, you will want to engage in some effective reading
instruction to bring her up to speed. I worked at a
specialized reading company for many years and we worked with
all of our students on an intensive basis. (Daily for 3 or 4
hours) Lots of kids were pulled out of school all together
because increasing their reading skills was just more
important than the history lesson they could not read about
anyway. I am a big fan of immersion instruction when it comes
to reading.
3)"She
has such a hard time with reading. We have tried many
different programs and different ways to teach her, but still
she has trouble." With out seeing her personally, I can't
know the exact nature of the problem. However, what you are
describing sounds like it might be a problem with
"phonemic awareness." Phonemic awareness is the
ability to distinguish sounds within words, this processing
ability is necessary for people to learn to read. This makes
it possible for people to sound out words. I am assuming, if
your daughter is having trouble with basal readers, that she
has a hard time sounding out words. Phonemic awareness is the
single best indicator for reading success, so I am guessing
that your daughter is probably not doing as well as she should
in that area. Receiving direct instruction in boosting
phonemic awareness is the best solution. But be careful what
route you choose, "phonemic awareness" has become
sort of a buzzword in the reading world lately so some phonics
programs have started throwing that word around a lot.
4)"What
would you recommend doing? " I recommend having your
daughter tested with a full reading assessment. Getting an
accurate profile of her reading strengths and weaknesses is
the first important step to designing accurate effective
instruction for your daughter. My company, Let's Go Learn,
Inc. is offering an on-line reading assessment on
www.homeschool.com. If you decide you want to pursue
assessment and would rather have an assessment in person, look
for someone in your area who specializes in reading assessment
and instruction. Make sure any assessment you choose measures
all parts of reading; sounding-out words, memorizing words,
spelling, reading in context and vocabulary.
I
hope these things are helpful to you. Please feel free to
email me more questions.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
14)
Hi, I'm an Aussie mum with a son who is struggling to read. I
wanted to give you some background and ask you advice. My son
is in year four this year. When he began school, he went to a
small, private school that had a strong phonics program. He
was there for kindergarten and year one. His reading was
progressing fine and he was shining in every area he
attempted. That school closed and we had to change schools.
This new school recognized phonics but did not work
reinforcing phonics or going over the rules and how to sound
out words. He was there for two years. Currently we are away
from Australia and I have been homeschooling for a year now. I
plan to continue this when we go home to Australia in October.
My son has had his eyes tested before we left last year and
the eye doctor found that his visual memory and visual
sequencing were both very poor. I'm not sure exactly what this
means but I know it does effect his reading. He is very good
at math, in fact, last year he finished his grade 3 book, a
grade 4 book and was ready to start the grade 5 book, but his
reading has held him back severely. The doctor gave us some
exercises to help. I have noticed that his eyes often drop
below the line he is reading and also he constantly mixes up
words like for/of, that/what, where/were, here/there etc...
and really struggles to sound out new words. He's a bright boy
and finds it very frustrating! What I thought, was that when
we get home, to purchase a good phonics program and start
again with how to pronounce different sounds etc... and also
to go back to the eye doctor and see what he had to say. What
would you advise? My son really hates writing, it's always a
struggle to get him to write much more than four lines. He
really likes drawing (stick figures, planes etc...) and he's
very creative with his Lego. I would really appreciate your
input. Thanks for your help.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. Here are my thoughts: I am asking myself if
your son is having difficulty because of incomplete phonics
instruction or if he is having difficulty acquiring the skill
of sounding out words. Children in Kindergarten and first
grade (especially very bright children) may seem to read well
because they memorize words easily and use the pictures and
concept of the story line to help them figure out the words.
These are good reading strategies when used in conjunction
with sounding out words. Once a child gets to third grade, the
quantity of reading gets so large that these tactics (with out
the added skill of sounding out words) cannot suffice. I have
worked with hundreds of kids and the majority of them have
been in 3rd and 4th grade. Even a minor reading issue will
become evident in third grade since this is where a student is
required to read independently. In the United States, this
expectation is extremely sudden. In second grade, the students
are still reading picture books and learning to sound out
words, the very next year they are required to read chapter
books independently. A lot of the parents I have worked with
report that their children seemed fine until third grade.
"The teacher never said anything to us about his reading
and now he is falling way behind." If you think that your
son is having difficulty because he had incomplete phonics
instruction, then perhaps some supplemental phonics might be a
good idea. If you think that he has already had efficient
phonics instruction and is still having difficulty with
phonics, a full reading assessment would be suggested to
identify any issues. My company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. is
offering an on-line reading assessment on www.homeschool.com.
If you decide you want to pursue assessment and would rather
have an assessment in person, look for someone in your area
who specializes in reading assessment and instruction. Make
sure any assessment you choose measures all parts of reading;
sounding-out words, memorizing words, spelling, reading in
context, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and
vocabulary.
I
have heard people say again and again that the child they are
working with just needs "more phonics." Sometimes
that is true, but sometimes the reason the student is not
catching-on to phonics is not because of lack of instruction.
I am remembering a student I worked with in Texas five years
ago. She was a sixth grader; let's call her Stacey. Stacey was
one of the smartest, brightest kids I ever worked with, she
was almost senatorial. She could handle herself in a room full
of adults, participating in the conversation, making witty
comments etc. Stacey was attending a special education school.
Stacey could not read. She had been in an intensive phonics
program for four years with virtually undetectable progress.
Stacey had extremely poor phonemic awareness. Phonemic
awareness is the ability to distinguish sounds within words.
Phonemic awareness is a major indicator for reading ability. A
person with strong phonemic awareness will usually learn to
read with just about any type of reading instruction. A person
with poor phonemic awareness may have a very difficult time no
matter what type of instruction. Phonemic awareness is a
processing ability necessary for a student to learn how to
sound out words. If your son has phonemic awareness weakness,
he will probably mix up words, stumble over sounding out words
and spell poorly. This could be the reason that your son hates
writing and gets fatigued after only a few lines. If he is
putting a heap of cognitive effort into spelling each and
every word, writing will be an exhaustive exercise. I find
that these same kids often seem exhausted when just copying
words from one page to another.
If
you think that more complete phonics instruction is needed,
Homeschool.com sponsors a highly regarded phonics program
called Frontline Phonics. I have read a lot about it and it
has been very well received. However, some of the instruction
might be a little "young" for your son. You might
have to modify it a bit. I have found that kids around the age
of your son are becoming aware of being "cool",
therefore I try to make the whatever lessons I am teaching
seem hip. Best of luck to you, feel free to contact me with
more questions.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
15)
My daughter is going into 4th grade this year. She loves to
read but does not like chapter books. She wants the pages to
have pictures and words. When we go to the library she checks
out 40 picture books for the week. I have tried to steer her
towards chapter books but she will only read them if she has
to. She scored at a 5th grade level on her state test. How do
I encourage her to read chapter books? Thank you.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. There a couple of things that could be
going on. It sounds like your daughter has a lot of strengths
in reading if she can read so many picture books and can read
a chapter book if necessary.
Let
me address her score on the state test first: When a test
gives one score for the entire realm of reading, it can be
somewhat misleading. The way that reading was probably
measured by that test involves something like this: The
student reads a passage silently, the student reads the
questions silently, and then the student answers the questions
silently. The test then adds up the number of questions the
student answered correctly and uses that to calculate a
reading score. (This is the way most states test reading for
kids who are fourth grade and up, your state might be
different) This way of testing reading is okay but too general
to know the nuts and bolts of your daughters reading profile.
It would be like me saying, "I am not good at Math."
You would be thinking, what parts of math are hard for you?
Reasoning and Chaos theory? Or Calculus, statistics and
advanced geometry? Or addition and subtraction? It sounds like
your daughter is having some trouble with an area of reading
but a state test usually doesn't test all areas of reading.
"She
loves to read but does not like chapter books. She wants the
pages to have pictures and words." When you say she loves
to read, does that mean she only likes to read picture books?
This can mean that she is always using the pictures to help
her read the words, a valid strategy for a beginning reader.
You said she will read chapter books if she has to. When she
is reading the chapter books, is she reading the words as
fluently as she does when she reads a picture book? Or do the
words seem harder for her to recognize and or sound-out? I had
a student once who would look at the picture every time he
came to a word he did not know. If the picture was a
"king" he would substitute the word king for every
word he did not know.
Or
perhaps she reads the words just fine but may have a harder
time understanding the story when it is a chapter book?
Sometimes a child is not necessarily struggling to read but
they are putting a huge amount of concentration and cognitive
power into reading. This means that they may tire very easily
when reading and avoid long passages. I had a friend who
groaned every time I read a really thick novel. She would read
small books but nothing over about 200 pages. "It's so
long!" she would say. "No one can read a book that
big!" That was years ago, I realized later that my friend
was never a very good reader or speller. Though she was
getting by, reading a big book like that would seem like
running a marathon.
I
am also remembering a student that I worked with; let's call
him Isaac. Isaac could read the words just fine but always
preferred picture books because the pictures gave him cues as
to what was happening in the story. He had a very hard time
understanding what was happening in a story from just the
words. Even if you read a book to him, without pictures he had
a hard time comprehending what was going on in the story.
Isaac's mom reported that he always chose books at the library
that were below his grade level.
There
are a few things to keep in mind:
1)
Is she avoiding long books and gravitating toward picture
books because she is struggling to read the words?
Or...
2)
Is she avoiding long books and gravitating toward picture
books because she is using the pictures to understand the
meaning of the story?
Or..
3)
Perhaps neither. Maybe she is just interested in the subject
matter of the "younger" books and no difficulties
exist.
Monitor
her progress closely to determine what is going on. It could
be nothing but it could be something. Though I have worked
with Kindergarteners to Senior Citizens, the majority of
reading difficulties that I have seen are in the third and
fourth grade. This is where the student makes the big jump to
independent reading and reading instruction tapers off. If a
student is having even a small difficulty, it will show up
then.
Here
are a few things I have tried with similar students in the
past:
1)
I compromise between picture books and chapter books. When we
sit down to read together, we read 5 pages of the picture book
and 5 pages of the chapter book.
2)
Here is something else I tried with a student who was
convinced he couldn't read with out pictures. I took out a
picture book he had never seen before and I paper clipped a
piece of paper over all the pictures in the book. He did not
get to look at the picture until he read the words. And even
then we would discuss what he thought would probably be
depicted in the picture before he looked at it. This might be
a good way to wean your daughter off picture books and
certainly a good way for you to ascertain if she is using the
pictures to help her read the words.
3)
Another good compromise might be choosing one of those chapter
books that has one picture per chapter. You could even preview
the first picture before she reads the chapter and even keep
referring to it throughout the chapter if that makes her feel
more comfortable.
4)
For the kids I worked with who avoided reading chapter books,
I would go out a buy the funniest and most goofy chapter books
I could find. Dav Pilkey (yes it is Dav not Dave) writes some
whoppers. He has a four book series called "The
Adventures of Captain Underpants." He has some picture
books too; "Kat-Kong" and "Dog-Zilla" but
the short Captain Underpants chapter books are my favorites.
Keep
an eye on her progress. She may just grow out of it, if she
doesn't seek a more thorough reading assessment. A reading
assessment should measure the way she sounds-out words, the
way she memorizes words, the way she reads in context, the way
she spells and how well she understands what she reads. My
company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. offers an on-line reading
assessment. Or you can find a reading specialist in your area
who will administer a reading assessment. This may help to
pinpoint the problem, if there is one.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
16)
Hello Amy, I'm writing because my 7 year old son has been
having a hard time reading. He seems to give up on his self.
He looks at the words and to me does not even try to sound
things out. I would like to find someone to help him. I feel
he needs one on one. Please let me know what you think!
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. If he is struggling that much, it sounds like
he could benefit from one-on-one intervention. One-on-one
instruction definitely makes the biggest impact on reading
skills. The kinds of problems you are describing are most
likely due to phonemic awareness weakness. Phonemic awareness
is a processing ability. This processing ability makes it hard
to learn to sound out words. Sounding out words is a huge part
of beginning reading. Poor phonemic awareness will also
contribute to a poor spelling performance.
I
am sure this situation is very frustrating for you and your
son. I have known master teachers who had been working with
beginning readers for years who wanted to pull their hair out
because of this kind of difficulty. Twenty years ago, most
people thought that phonemic awareness could not be increased.
Thankfully, that is not the case anymore. The first step is to
get your son's reading ability tested with a full reading
assessment. My company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. is offering an
on-line reading assessment on www.homeschool.com. If you
decide you want to pursue assessment and would rather have an
assessment in person, look for someone in your area who
specializes in reading assessment and instruction. Make sure
any assessment you choose measures all parts of reading;
sounding-out words, memorizing words, spelling, reading in
context and vocabulary.
You
are fortunate that you are getting an early start on the
issue, a student as young as your son has a great chance of
overcoming any weaknesses in a relatively short time. The
longer he goes without help, the farther behind he will fall.
You are smart to get started right away. I recommend that you
collect examples of the reading and spelling mistakes that he
makes to bring with you to any proposed reading instructor.
Contact me with questions any time.
Good
Luck,
Happy
Reading,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
17)
Amy, I really need your help. I am acquainted with a young man
who is in his early 40s. He is a very successful businessman.
One problem, he cannot read. people who work closely with him
know this. i do not believe his employees are aware of this. I
would like to know if there is such a program that can help
him with his reading and math. even just his reading. one
thing is that it has to be on computer. he has one in his
office. is there a program that is voice activated? I really
would like to help this man progress and at least be able to
read some of his correspondence and financial reports?
thanking you in advance for all of your help.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. I have worked with a lot of adults with
reading issues. One thing to remember is that it is never too
late. I have worked with senior citizens. A person who has
gone that long with out learning to read most likely has a
weakness in what is called phonemic awareness. Phonemic
awareness is the ability to distinguish sounds within words,
this processing ability is vital in reading development.
People with this processing weakness have a hard time learning
how to sound out words as a child, this makes beginning
reading very very difficult. The first step to reading
improvement is assessment. Even if he can't read at all, he
probably has strengths and weaknesses in reading processes,
these need to be measured to create a way to increase his
reading abilities. My company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. offers a
full reading assessment on line, available on the
Homeschool.com website. If he decides he wants to pursue
assessment and would rather have an assessment in person, look
for someone in your area who specializes in reading assessment
and instruction. Make sure any assessment you choose measures
all parts of reading; sounding-out words, memorizing words,
spelling, reading in context and vocabulary. My company also
has on-line instruction in development that might offer him a
dignified way to work on his reading. However, a student with
extremely poor phonemic awareness may wish to boost his
phonemic awareness before tackling a self-taught program. As
far as voice recognition software, it is still in the
beginning stages. The voice recognition software that they
sell at most software stores works mediocre at best and it
would be very difficult to use that as your only tool for
reading instruction. I recommend getting some intensive
one-on-one reading intervention and supplementing it with a
computer program.
I
also want to share with you the thing I found most difficult
about working with adult students; reading practice. Think of
it like this: if you are taking a night course to learn
Spanish, and you work at a job with native Spanish speakers,
you will have an easy time practicing. If you did not work at
a job with native Spanish speakers, you would have a much
harder time practicing, it would not be as easy to learn. In
my experience teaching young children how to read, they had to
practice because reading tasks came up all day, every day in
school. This is not true for adults. Adults with reading
problems have constructed their entire lives in a manner that
avoids reading at all costs. Therefore, building reading
practice into their lives, above and beyond instruction, takes
a lot of dedication. Don't let him be too embarrassed to get
help. Phonemic awareness issues have absolutely nothing to do
with intelligence. Without a doubt, some of the smartest
people I have ever met have phonemic awareness weakness. I
wish you luck and remember to remind your friend over and over
that it is not too late. He can learn to read.
Happy
Reading,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
18)
Dear Amy, One of your FAQs mentions Phonemic Awareness and the
lack some kids may have which leads to poor reading skills.
I'm kinda guessing that this is what my daughter has. I have
determined that in 1st grade the ears, eyes and mouth were not
synchronized to properly read. She looks at a word and then
guesses, hoping that it's the right word. Some of her guesses
include words that don't have the same letters as the one she
is trying to figure out. She doesn't really sound out words,
she just likes to guess or will just skip the word and
continue reading. She's not a strong speller either, but
doesn't always spell with phonics. Her handwriting is poor as
well, which leads me to believe she wasn't taught properly in
reading, writing or spelling. What resources would you suggest
in order for me to help improve her reading ability? She will
be a 3rd grader and I feel that if she's not strong in the
early skills, she will continue to fall behind and not want to
read. I'm homeschooling her and this is very frustrating for
both her and me. This will be our first year of homeschooling.
Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. What you are describing does sound like
phonemic awareness weakness. And yes, you are correct, if her
weaknesses are not addressed, she may continue to fall behind
and will not want to read. Phonemic awareness is a major
indicator for reading ability. A person with strong phonemic
awareness will usually learn to read with just about any type
of reading instruction. A person with poor phonemic awareness
may have a very difficult time no matter what type of
instruction.
"I
have determined that in 1st grade the ears, eyes and mouth
were not synchronized to properly read. ...which leads me to
believe she wasn't taught properly in reading, writing or
spelling." Phonemic awareness is a processing ability.
This means that if your daughter had phonemic awareness
weakness, she probably had it long before 1st grade. No one
could notice it before that because she was not being
instructed to read. Poor or inadequate instruction cannot
create weak phonemic awareness but it can exacerbate the
problem. Poor phonemic awareness will also contribute to a
poor spelling performance, as you mentioned. I would expect a
student with a profile like your daughter would not always
spell phonetically. Some of the kids I worked with wrote
letters that seemed to have nothing to do with the sound they
were saying even if they said the sound as they wrote it. They
would be saying "s" and writing the letter K. As far
as poor handwriting goes, phonemic awareness doesn't usually
contribute to that. It depends on the kind of handwriting
mistakes she is making, but most kids with poor handwriting
have some difficulty with visual-spatial processing. This
means that they may have a hard time copying a shape, they may
approach the task in a very disorganized way. This kind of
student may also print their letters a different way every
time. Or perhaps your daughter is putting so much
concentration into spelling that she is not concentrating on
what her letters look like.
I
am very impressed that you noticed it was a problem with ears,
eyes and mouth. Most people don't automatically understand
that those three processing abilities are working together.
Not only do you see and hear the sounds, you actually
"feel" the motor activity in your mouth. If these
three things are not matched up, it can create a struggle.
I
am sure this situation is very frustrating for you and your
daughter. I have known master teachers who had been working
with beginning readers for years who wanted to pull their hair
out because of this kind of difficulty. Twenty years ago, most
people thought that phonemic awareness could not be increased.
Thankfully, that is not the case anymore. The first step is to
get your daughter tested with a full reading assessment. My
company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. is offering an on-line reading
assessment on www.homeschool.com. If you decide you want to
pursue assessment and would rather have an assessment in
person, look for someone in your area who specializes in
reading assessment and instruction. Make sure any assessment
you choose measures all parts of reading; sounding-out words,
memorizing words, spelling, reading in context and vocabulary.
Don't despair, increasing phonemic awareness can be hard but
it certainly do-able. You are fortunate that you got an early
start on the issue. If your daughter were a 5th grader, this
would be a more difficult task. I have even worked with adults
who could not read for 40 years because of poor phonemic
awareness. One older gentleman finally learned to read and it
changed his life entirely. "I can read the story to my
grandchild for the first time instead of making it up." I
will never forget the look in his eyes. You and your daughter
can work together to excel in reading, it takes commitment and
determination. Keep at it. Contact me with questions any time.
Good Luck,
Please
keep in touch.
Happy
Reading,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
19)
My child is 4 years old and doesn't seem very interested in
books. Does that mean he won't be a good reader? Should I have
him assessed?
Hi,
Your son is too young to be assessed with a reading
assessment. He is also too young for anyone to determine if he
will be a good reader. (Some professionals disagree with me
but I have seen too many young children forced into reading
too young. A wonderful and wise speech pathologist that I used
to work with said that a child who is ready to begin learning
to read will show an interest in letters and sounds.
"Don't ask the child to say the sound or to repeat after
you. Say the sounds yourself and when the child is ready, he
or she will start repeating after you.") However, a child
with an aversion to books, especially the child who doesn't
like being read to may have some reading and or learning
difficulties in the future, or not. At four years old, it's
just too early to tell. Reading to your child is your best bet
for now. Reading aloud to your children is important on many
levels. The conversations we have in our every day lives are
just not as sophisticated as the language used in some books.
Reading aloud to your child may by the only way for your child
to be exposed to more advanced language. In addition, by your
own enjoyment of reading you are modeling good reading habits
for your child. You should monitor your son for the next year
and pay close attention to how well he learns his letters and
sounds in Kindergarten. Chances are, he will be fine.
20)
My son is in 2nd grade and can read OK but can't spell very
well. Should I have him assessed?
Hello,
Yes. The processing abilities that are required to make a good
speller are the some of the same processing abilities that
make a good reader. Beginning readers who have trouble
spelling often have trouble becoming efficient readers as
well. In my experience, adults who consider themselves poor
spellers are often phonetic spellers. Take a look at the
spelling mistakes that your son is making. Do his mistakes
seem to spell out the sounds of the word? (kuk for cook, hoo
for who, nite for nigh, joos for juice etc) This would
indicate that he is trying to spell phonetically. If your son
is making this kind of mistake, he is on the right track. He
is putting the sounds of the words in order, a task some
readers find very difficult. This kind of child may need a bit
of support to learn the actual spelling of the words. Or does
it seem that his spelling mistakes don't follow the sounds of
the word at all? (sgt for sight, chrp for truck, ement for
equipment, cshus for curious etc) Your son may be making one
or both of these types of mistakes.
21)
My daughter is in seventh grade and reading and spelling have
always been hard for her. Reading and spelling were always
hard for me too and I still don't like reading very much.
Should she be assessed or can we both be assessed?
Hello,
Yes, she or both of you can be assessed. However, reading and
spelling are not going to get easier for a seventh grader with
out some intervention. (Instruction in reading is part of a
school's curriculum through the fourth grade in most states)
The first step to intervention is assessment. It will be
important to know what her reading strengths and weaknesses
are. If she has coped thus far, she is probably strong in some
areas and weak in others. As high school and then college
approach, she will be expected to complete larger and larger
quantities of reading and writing. She may be able to get by
but she may feel like there is not enough time in the day to
do all the work required. Getting help now will be more
effective than later. As for you, adults from every walk of
life have difficulty with reading. Studies show that 20-30% of
the world's population has weakness in the processing
abilities necessary for reading. You may want to think about
taking an online assessment; this can give you or anyone the
dignity and privacy they may desire. Or you can go a different
route and have your daughter and or yourself assessed by a
local professional who can explain everything to you if you
are not comfortable reading a report that would be generated
by an online assessment. If you are interested in improving
your own reading level, go for it by all means. I personally
have worked with business men, construction workers, moms,
grad students and even a few people in their seventies. It is
never too late.
22)
If my child scores poorly on a reading assessment does that
mean my child is dyslexic?
Hello,
No. The term "dyslexia" has become a catch-all term
for any kind of reading trouble. If you look at the National
Institutes of Health manual of all diagnosable diseases,
dyslexia is described as a significant gap between your
potential and your performance in reading. Dyslexia can only
be diagnosed by a full psycho-educational evaluation.
Sometimes the "label" for the problem is less
important than the symptoms. If your child is having trouble
with reading, find out what his specific strengths and
weakness are and help him develop his relatively weak areas.
Dyslexia or not, he will need to improve his weaknesses in
reading.
23)
My daughter is in fourth grade. She is not a very good
speller. The weird thing is, she seems to spell the words
wrong differently every time. She spelled "straight"
several different ways in the same paragraph. Why does she do
that?
Hello,
Sometimes these kinds of spelling mistakes are made because
the speller has a hard time making a mental image of letters.
This difficulty will make spelling very hard. Good spellers
have the ability to picture a word in the mind's eye. After
the speller is exposed to the word a few times, the speller
can hold onto the image. However, this task is very difficult
for some people. It is some times called "symbol imagery
weakness." This same weakness may make memorizing words
for reading difficult too. But aside from all that, knowing
your daughter's specific strengths and weaknesses in this area
will be important. The first step to any problem like this is
assessment. Having your daughter assessed by a reading
professional will be very helpful for you. Several of the same
learning processes involved with spelling, are essential to
reading. It sounds as if she has some strengths with spelling
if she is able to think of several ways to spell words.
Determining the gap between her strengths and weaknesses will
help you to make the most informed decisions about
instruction.
24)
My child is struggling with reading in school. I keep hearing
about these commercially - available phonics programs and how
they can help kids read better. Which one is best?
Hello,
you ask which phonics program is best for your child, ask
whether or not the root of your child's reading difficulty's
phonics. True, many struggling readers need to firm up their
knowledge of relationships between letters and letter -
patterns and the sounds they represent. But there are other
sources of reading difficulty: New, or "emergent"
readers, must master the "concepts of print" -- for
example, reading left - to - right; return sweep, the concepts
of a word and of a sentence; punctuation and so forth.
Vocabulary and other knowledge the reader brings to reading
also influence the reading process, as does a reader's
familiarity with grammar and sentence structure. Experienced
readers use all of this information - without even thinking
about it - to successfully read for meaning, whereas
struggling readers, as often as not, have difficulties in
varying degrees in more than one of these areas. What's more,
other factors can play a role in a student's success with
reading in school, such as his or her attitudes and previous
experiences with reading. So, to get back to your question, is
a phonics program the answer? Perhaps. But the only way of
knowing is to have your child take a comprehensive reading
assessment such as that developed by Let's Go Learn.
25)
My child is a fourth grader, and his teacher told me in a
conference the other day that he couldn't read. How can I help
him catch up?
Hello,
Popular perceptions notwithstanding, rare indeed is the child
who "can't read" by fourth grade. While many fourth
- graders certainly struggle with fourth-grade level reading
material; they still may know a very great deal about reading.
For example, they might be aware that print carries meaning;
they might know the letters of the alphabet and many of the
sounds those represent; they might know where on a page one
begins reading and who to move from line to line; they might
have a sizeable store of words they know by sight. The point
here is that to help a child develop improve his or her
reading abilities, you have to discover where the child is in
the development of his or her reading skills and strategies.
This requires a comprehensive, individualized reading
assessment. Unfortunately, many schools lack the resources to
implement such an assessment.
26)
I'm trying to get my child interested in reading. I've bought
her all the books I loved as a kid, plus new stories I think
would engage her. Unfortunately, she says these books are
boring. How can I hook my daughter on reading?
Hello,
Modeling your own love of reading is one of the most important
things you can do to encourage your child to become a reader
in his or her own right. Sharing the books you loved is a
child can be an important part of that process. You may also
want to consider other approaches. Start with your child's
interests: Just what does he or she enjoy doing? What subject
or topic holds particular fascination for him or her? Include
your child in the selection of his or her own reading material
when you visit the library or bookstore. You may find that
expository books on particular topics - cars, pop-stars,
music, dinosaurs, etc. - might be more of a "hook"
that stories. That's fine! The important thing is that your
child engages in the reading process.
A
second thing you might want to consider is the reading level
of the particular books you and your child select. Children
can easily become frustrated by books which too difficult for
their current reading skills (often they express this by
dismissing a particular book as "boring"). Knowing
this, some parents look for the "reading level"
often found on the back or inside covers of children's books
to match them with their child's grade level. However, that
information tells you the book's level - not that of your
child's. It is important to find your child's own reading
level, which may or may not correspond to his or her grade
level. A comprehensive reading assessment, such as that
provided by Let's Go Learn, can provide this necessary
information.
|
