to not force my teenager to read a book a week?

[milafawny]

My 15 year old daughters school have initiated a new reading scheme that states every child must read a book "for pleasure" each week and produce a written report on it for every Monday.

I have a few objections to this.

Firstly, this is not "reading for pleasure", this is enforced reading with follow up home work each week.

The selection of books isn't open, they have to read books provided on the app on their iPad, again, making it not "for pleasure" when they cant select the book.

The smallest book in the selection is 300 pages long. Most are longer. The largest has 1200+ pages. Expecting a book of that size to be finished weekly along with a completed report, on top of GSCE level homework, is a big ask.

Specifically regarding my daughter, she is diagnosed with both dyslexia and ADHD. She has already be informed in school that this scheme is expected of her too. Reading is not, nor has it every been, an activity she does for pleasure. Its takes her time, she gets frustrated and upset when she cant understand or stay focussed. We have tactics in place for when she has to read, usually breaking it into smaller sections but this doesn't allow for reading longer texts, but these tactics are not enough to have her motivated to read a different book every single week. She cannot read something aloud at all. She still find its difficult to focus attention long enough to watch a film. In something she has no interest in, namely reading, she's not even going to manage 5 minutes. I have bought her many many books over the years that are ones she has expressed an interest in - most are non-fiction biology books. Ive tried with books of things she has shown interest in, such as horrible history's that are more factual. None of the selection of books are like this, they are all fictional story based. We have tried harry potter and hunger games as we broke the films down and watched it as you would watch a tv show, i think she managed the first chapter of book 1 of harry potter in a month. She gets no enjoyment from it.

Would IBU to email school and state my daughter is not participating in the scheme, and expect this not to result in a weekly detention due to the reasons i have outlined?

It doesn't.

I've also read the post in context of the other posts in the thread.

Amen.

OP I hope you are feeling the love and support from everyone on here - I think as the parent you just need to say NO this won't be happening at least in this form. She has GCSEs and a series of extra challenges to deal with already.

I am forever grateful to my mum who "opted me out" of a similar reading scheme in the last year of primary on the grounds that it would kill my love for reading. Instead of having to read off the school's list and write a report, she persuaded bullied my teacher into agreeing that I could write whatever I liked and write a sentence about each book. Kept me reading and enjoying and meant if - for example - I enjoyed a book by Anne Fine, I could read 7 more books by her straight after. And I love reading and have no disabilities in that area.

My school told us in Year 10 that we should be doing 5 hours of homework every night during GCSE year - I wonder what your child's school says in that area. Teachers can be - and I mean this lovingly - BONKERS about how much available time kids have to do schoolwork. Few adults would say yes to a 9-3 workday followed by a commute and then 5 hours of extra work on a daily basis. Adding another "pleasurable" hour of reading to that and where is the time for rest, exercise, eating, music, socialising or even seeing family. (And yes 5 hours was insane and I didn't do anything like that much.)

Forced reading for 45min per day?! And such a boring list of books.

We were force read books in school and I always read just enough to he able to write the report. Once I graduated I actually read 2 of them for fun. And really enjoyed them. Someone telling me to read is not gonna make me read.

I'd ask for reasonable adjustments, so own choice of reading and not a whole book.

If they refuse, od do 5 minutes a day Monday - Fri, get her to write based on what she's read Saturday.

@Reugny I really don't see how you can read that post in any other way.

This scheme just seems completely unachievable.

My dc have none of the difficulties op's daughter faces, and they are voracious readers, but a book a week every week, without a chance to pursue their interests, would be a horrendous slog. And an expectation of an additional hour's homework on top of their other homework each night seems totally unrealistic.

The teacher began with short stories. I had never read short stories before - but if you find good ones, they are fantastic.

This is so true.

Your DD shouldn’t be exempt from doing it entirely though. As much as it will be frustrating for her, you don’t want a teach her that avoidance is ok.

Yes her DD should! Her disabilities are significant. Any time not spent on GCSE work on busywork reading will hold her down and keep her from her potential. The thing about dyslexia is that reading and writing is takes more energy and is mentally exhausting much faster for them than for a child with no disability. The amount of school work she has to do that involves all day in class reading and writing is going to be a lot. Add to that she may be able to do a bit of revision of GCSE topics. But that is it. There is not usually any extra capacity to be spent on any participation in busywork that is centred on reading and writing. I have students with dyslexia and ADHD, and their school SENCOs have agreed to accommodations up to and including reducing the number of GCSE classes the student takes. Many students only take the core GCSEs- English (Lang and lit), Maths, and Science instead of the usual 8-11 classes simply because there is such a thing as too much work for such a child to reasonably accomplish.

Avoidance is good when it is avoiding something that will not help her future opportunities and could possibly harm them because her disabilities do actually limit how much reading/writing she can do.

Where is your SENCO in all of this? They should be your biggest advocate.
You need to pull them in on this. You need to contact the consultant specialists and get letters stating this is not feasible for your DD given her disabilities and that the school is required by law to accommodate her by exempting her from it entirely. You need to go to the Head Teacher. You need to go to the local education authority, board of governors, Ofsted and kick up an almighty fuss.

This is outrageous. I’d definitely be copying and putting in the ableist comments. They show a complete ignorance of and disdain for learning disabilities.

In the meantime I’d tell your DD she’s not doing any of it and that you will fight any mention of her being given detentions. If they do give her detentions, you will be filing complaints about that as well.

Your DD shouldn’t be exempt from doing it entirely though.

Everyone should be exempt from reading The Count of Monte-Cristo (660,000 words, 31 hours to read on average) in a week.

I know several have said just fake it, have chat GPT write the report. The problem with this is it is lose-lose for the OP’s DD.

If she is caught- she’s cheated and could face serious disciplinary consequences.

If she is not caught- the school will think oh well her dyslexia and ADHD can’t be that bad then, and take away all her other accommodations to include her exam accommodations. Which will set her up to fail her GCSEs.

It’s awful, but this is the hardship that many parents face with SN children. It is a constant battle just to ensure they only get the accommodations they are legally entitled to.

They have had a new SENCO this school year, I'm yet to speak to her but i have requested a meeting to discuss this and implementing the adjustments for her hearing.

The head of English took my daughter to one side today, who said she needs to try and should be reading for the 45-60 minutes a night, my daughter said she struggles with that and the teacher told her that's not an excuse, that Einstein had dyslexia and "he managed".

My daughter then questioned the list of books, and said about one of the books "well my mum tried to read that and said its the most boring book she's ever read" (catch 22, its true, i did say it, i wanted to enjoy it but i just couldn't finish it despite trying so hard, maybe i shouldn't have said that to her though in hindsight) and the teacher actual had the gall to say to MY DAUGHTER, that maybe if i read more id be more successful and "don't you want to be cleverer than your mum?". Errrrm, excuse me? My daughter is very intelligent with STEM subjects, as am i, thank you.

My daughter also pointed out that my eldest son who is in his 20 and is also dyslexic, had a reader and scribe for his exam's, didn't go to uni, but has a very good well paying job that he enjoys. The teacher said the same about him, maybe he would have been more successful if he tried harder and he is just starting out his adult life so maybe he would have gotten a better job.

I'm raging angry now.

WTF Stave off health issues later in life??

Eh, what?

It's reading, it's not exactly helping kids stay fit, like PE or something.

Or do they mean dementia - well that's a long way off reading in school is not going to affect the odds of something getting that when they are 90!

Its no an option either way as the app tracks read time and %, so as tempting as it would be, she cant.

The OP has also pointed out that is isn’t possible to cheat (the reading portion at least) because the app tracks you.

Honestly if it wasn't so bananas this would be quite funny.

I have an English degree from Oxford and no doubt what your teacher pal would consider a good job - I still haven't read half the books on that list (The Catcher in the Rye, for example, was whingey teenage boy shit and can fuck off).

Sounds like you need to keep a list of this head of English's bonkers comments and bring them up in a letter to the governors. If this is true she seems completely ignorant of any SEN.

Yes, that is true also if the OP agrees to use the App.

I’d be raging too. This is completely unacceptable. You wouldn’t tell a wheelchair user that they just need to try harder to walk or run….so why do these teachers think it is acceptable to tell a child that they just need to try harder! That is tantamount to saying their disability doesn’t exist. That it is all in their “mindset” and the “try harder” really means “you’re just lazy”.

I hope the SENCO isn’t going to be cut from the same cloth.

I am so angry on your dd's behalf! The ableism of the Head of English is off the scale. No child should be subjected to that.

Not quite at your level but I have an English degree from a red brick and a ‘good job’.

I’ve read a grand total of two books from that list and only one of them by the time of sitting my GCSEs (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, unsurprisingly). Haven’t read fiction for pleasure in many, many years.

Reading those books is beyond unnecessary for a GCSE student. Most students, nationwide, who get top grades will have read a couple of them at most. While I expect some students will receive some benefit, this scheme is simply not of importance for their coming exams and the ridiculous workload means that it is more likely to have a negative effect on exam performance.

This is a vanity project being implemented at the expense of students’ success and happiness.

And that’s ignoring the teacher’s apparent ableism.

Sort of besides the point, but her Einstein comment is ridiculous too.

Many people think that Einstein was likely dyslexic (although, of course, he was never diagnosed).

One of the reasons he is thought to have been dyslexic is that he struggled in his original, traditional elementary school. His academic performance increased substantially after switching to a new school that encouraged creative thinking.

This teacher would have failed Einstein.

If you asked me what is the most important thing children can do at home to support learning - I would say reading.
I really believe that reading for pleasure helps children no end.

Personally, I love reading and usually read every day.

If you told me I had to read a book a week - that's one sure fire way to turn it from 'reading for pleasure' to 'reading as a chore'. This seems like a scheme to turn children off reading for life.

I'll just leave this here.... perhaps school might find it helpful.

Op I'm shaking my head at it.
I'm dyslexic as bonkers as it sounds I can waste many hours reading MN, but I hate books. I've read about 10 books in my 30 years as an adult.

It’s one of the myths put out by some of the dyslexia charities; posthumous diagnosis based on very little evidence. Then others pick it up without thinking. Ii is spectacularly useless to children like OP’s DD.

OP I think your now at the point where you have to make a formal complaint.

the ableist language. Refusing to try and compromise. Actually insulting you and your son. They are all grounds for formal complaints to the board of governors and ofsted