Plateau in reading

[timetomove]

DS is in year 2. He has always been a strong reader, starting on chapter books (Mr Majeka, Dick King Smith type books) about half way through year 1. He is, however, still on the same level and now claims to hate reading. It is very hard to get him to read more than 2 or 3 pages at a time, but before he went on to these types of chapter books he would happily read a whole book (50 pages or so) in one sitting.

He never needs help with any of his vocab and his comprehension is excellent. He does not project himself well when reading out loud however. He reads very fluently but has a naturally quiet voice and struggles to find a volume between this and shouting, so constantly needs to be reminded to speak up (with comments to this effect regularly in his reading diary). The constant comments about this must be denting his confidence, but on the other hand he has not improved on volume despite the comments, and seems to equally dislike reading "in his head".

He gets to choose from a range, and we have lots of books at home (many chosen by him) and regularly visit the library to let him choose, so I dont think it is a case of just not liking the particular stories. He loves choosing books and sorting them out on the bookshelf, but we just can't get him to enjoy reading them any more.

He can read harder chapter books, eg he has started and read well, but not enjoyed enough to continue, books like Happy Potter and Matilda. It is not a case of not enjoying these stories - he loves the DVDs, he just does not enjoy reading them. I also don't think he has been deliberately held back at school to let others catch up (and is therefore bored) because there are other children in the class who choose from a range of harder chapter books. I do think it is possible that the school have held him back because of the volume issue, but on the other hand even if they put him up a level I think we woudl still have similar problems becuase he has harder books at home he could choose to read.

My DH has been very reluctant for me to raise this with the teacher, becuase DS is basically a good reader for his age and it would therefore come across as pushy. I think i do need to say something, however, becuase he does seem to have plateaued (sp?) and to have lost interest, which worries me at any ability level. In fact, I am starting to worry about not having said something sooner.

[moogalicious]

My dd1 (year 3) is also a very strong reader, but shows little interest in reading any fiction. She has not brought a book home from school since year 1. It's a struggle to get her to find a book in the library and she complains that she is bored with the books at home. She won't read out loud to me.

I have backed off from trying to get her interested in chapter books - she is capable of reading Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, but I don't think she is interested in these books at this stage. Hopefully, she will come back to these when she is older.

However, I have found she loves non-fiction - can you try this?

[Elibean]

I think its totally natural for kids to go through phases when they enjoy reading less/more, regardless of their ability level. dd is also in Y2, also a good reader, and is just pulling out of a 'I don't like reading' phase. Personally, I find backing off the best (and possibly only) approach, along with lots of positive feedback and encouragement when they DO read out loud.

In dd's case, she also loathes books without pictures - she may be a good reader, but she's also 6 years old and very visual. She loves the pictures. So rather than push her, I've tried to find books she enjoys - and stopped worrying

[Elibean]

Meant to add - information books are another good idea, as previous poster says.

[newbiemumof3]

I have 3 children ranging from 6 - 15.It is therefore a little easier to take the long term perspective for me.
Firstly just want to say I am having a reading plateau at the moment myself.Seriously! I can't be bothered to read and am usually an avid reader but I know I will come back to it.I have seen my older children go through phases of this and I feel it is counterproductive to push it too much.
As long as there is reading material around, he will come back to it.If it really bothers you and funds allow, buy a comic or a Doctor Who magazine or borrow some atlases or fact books from the Libarary.
He is of a good standard of reading.If he feels pushed you could put him off.He will be reading in school, off the whiteboard, shared reading, quiet reading etc.He is not going to forget how to read and he will come back to it.
When the new Grisham novel comes out next month....so might I.

[timetomove]

Thanks for this. Reassuring to know that it should just be a stage. We have tried non-fiction (in that we have some at home and have pointed him in that direction at the library) but again no real interest. Maybe i will try some more proactive suggestions of non-fiction I think he might be interested in, and otherwise will try backing off a bit more. I think it was that he found the length of the chapter books off-putting (even though broken down into manageable chunks) and that (along with constant comments from school about volume) have put him off more generally.

Any suggestions on the volume thing? I mainly think it is not a problem (if he needs to recite something out loud he can do it at a decent volume, he just struggles to maintain the louder volume over a more sustained period of reading, and I am not convinced that skill is often necessary in everyday life).