Reluctant Readers

[Bucketsofdynomite]

Anyone recommend any books/products to help with reading comprehension? My nephew (9) can read ok but struggles with comprehension in long paragraphs. The result is he's gone off reading, especially fiction, and focuses instead on the things he's better at eg maths. Just seems to me a shame if he's left to go on like this - reading for pleasure is such a cheap hobby!

We had a similar problem with dd2 whose 8, the school suggested we regularly ask questions when she reads, getting her to retell the story so far, whats that character up to now, tell me 3 things you liked about the story etc. It just made her think a bit more about the story without looking like we were interfering. Maybe the books hes reading are for an older age group, maybe going for something a bit easier would rebuild his confidence. Ive got to say though that given a choice my ds (6) will always choose a factual book, especially if its about animals.

I think the product you need is "an interested adult" ... Sorry, but there is no alternative to children having one-to-one attention from an adult.

When they sit together with an adult reading aloud to them with expression, they realise how the sentences come together to make sense. Then when the adult listens to them read they can stop them regularly and ask prompt questions to check comprehension, point out the meaning of difficult words, assist pronunciation, etc.

It does require a serious investment of time, but there is no quick fix.