How to get my 8 year old ds to read

[delilabell]

My 8 year old ds is more than capable of reading but he won't.
He prefers to have us read to him. I've tried splitting the reading him a page me a page but he won't do it. but because of this is getting into trouble at school for not reading three tunes a week.
I love books and reading. So does my 4 year old dd.
Any ideas of books suitable for him or any tactics.
Just so I've out everything down ds has fasd which shows in adhd type tenancies. Very difficult to get him still. He also takes makaton in for bed so reading at bedtime is difficult

This might be a bit controversial, but my eldest was a reluctant reader until he discovered teenage "horror" stories. They were mostly zombie/ apocalypse type stories aimed at about 12/13 year olds. He was about 8 or 9 yo at the time.

One was a series by Charlie Higson, and he absolutely loved them. He was lent one by an older cousin, and he'd read the whole book 2 days later. This was unheard of!

Then I looked at the content and couldn't decide whether to let him continue. In the end I did, and I'm happy to report 10 years later he has not been scarred for life by earlier exposure to teenage gore than I would have liked 😂

This is probably a version of "find them what they like, and they will read". Good luck.

Comic books. My kids (including my son who goes to a very good college in NYC USA ) and I used to read comic (I am deaf so that's what got me into reading) all the time.

Thank you so much for all your replies. Lots of angles to look at it from.
@enjoyingthequiet he loves horror type things but then scares himself but I might look at a goosebumps type book?
@CloudyGladys he has awful short term memory. Do you think this could affect his reading at all?
I don't think dyslexia etc but he dies get easily sidetracked by pictures etc in books and sometimes skips words/sentences. I out this down to his sensory processing difficulties.
Audio books is a good idea to generally put on during the day.
School say he should read but no punishments have been given by school. His spelling is brilliant but writing is awful.
Lots to think about everyone thank yoh again

Beano?
The tree house series are really good too. Pictures and large text

Primary teacher and mum to a reluctant reader - definitely recommend the non fiction route. We have The Week Junior and First News and he loved both. It was what got him into reading and now, in Y7, he reads loads.

he has awful short term memory. Do you think this could affect his reading at all?
Of course it does! Probably each sentence is meaningless as he doesn't link to the previous parts of the story.
Try comics as each sentence has a picture so is more visual. Also books which are too "easy" for him.

I don't think dyslexia etc but he dies get easily sidetracked by pictures etc in books and sometimes skips words/sentences. I out this down to his sensory processing difficulties.

Could equally be due to having visual difficulties. As pp said, get his eyesight checked.

Also, make an appointment to speak to the class teacher and the Senco about his reading difficulties. You need to ask: how he is presenting in school (he may be masking his difficulties), what school are or will be putting in place to support him, and what you can do at home to support him.

Watch a foreign film with subtitles.

Comics ...beano is great, the Phoenix was also a hit ..dc loved getting stuff in the post..with their name on..
Tintin ? Liked space so started with the rocket one..
Read together..
Kids didn't read Harry Potter until had kindles as the large size put them off!
Also lemony snicket....binge read once couldn't see the covers ....
National geographic?

My 8yo DS loves the weird but true fact books. They also have a tv show on Disney plus and activity books that are linked if those would help appeal to him.

Lack of reading aloud short term memory plus I’ll guess - lacks focus and concentration , poor time keeping, poor handwriting, but intelligent sees whole picture???

Close??

Look at dyslexia

Selective Tintin and Guinness book of records. I also used to ask people to point out words in the text so that I knew they were tracking if not reading.

My ds likes joke books.
He reads when he gets into bed every night, it’s a way of him getting to stretch out bedtime (or so he thinks, really I just brought his bedtime forwards a bit!). Although he is currently reading the Harry Potter books, he was read them first, has now seen all the films so it’s familiar to him. Dh reads something to him most days, he reads out loud to me two or three times a week but it’s a variety of stuff. He prefers non fiction (as do I) because he said he finds it more fun and it’s easier to just read a page or two at a time.
Guinness book of world records is popular, along with the deadly 60 books we got just before lockdown. And space books too.
Definitely a bit of a stretch perhaps but do you think you might manage a trip to the bookshop in the next couple of days to browse and find out what he might be interested in?
As a pp has suggested, reading can be comics, newspapers, magazines of a hobby, autobiographies, recipe books etc.
Does he have a cousin or relative that might agree to be a pen pal for him to get him excited about reading letters?

You will curse me if this works, but joke books worked well here! Just brace yourself for endless "knock knock" Roald Dahl joke book was popular.

Also in fact books "does it fart?" was predictably enjoyed...

My nearly 8DS has just started receiving Phoenix comic on the 6 issues for £1 deal. He is enjoying them, some of the contributers also have books so hoping I can get him.hooked that way. thephoenixcomic.co.uk/Subscription/Gift

The Horrible Histories books set my reluctant reader 7 year old DS down the road to true bookworm! His Y5 school report said “X has the most extensive knowledge of contemporary children’s fiction I have ever come across”. I remember these words, brcause DD point blank refuses to read anything. She is perfectly capable, but completely uninterested. Grr!!!

The worst kids in the world books were a favourite of my reluctant DS.

Artemis Fowey books

A series of unfortunate events

The 365 series of books.