Worried about 8 year olds reading

[Sarah62]

My DS regularly jumbled up sentences, adds in random words so that the sentence doesn’t make sense when he’s reading. He also does this when we are out and about for example there was a sign advertising logs for sale and he said ‘oh look those lodges are really cheap’ and at the garden centre in the pet area he said ‘I can’t see the platypus mum’ when it was actually a label stating the name of the garden centre.

Where on earth do I start??

His teacher says his phonics are secure and the issue might be because he’s rushing to get finished.

So far, we’ve encouraged him to read most days (he often point blank refuses), taken him regularly to the library to choose his own books but sometimes he literally sits and stares at the wall and won’t read the book he’s chosen and just wants me to read it. I don’t know what else we can do. Any ideas please? I’m concerned he’s going to be behind in reading and life in general (although he is very bright) especially if he’s making silly mistakes when out and about. Thanks for reading

Have you had his eyes tested recently? If no issues there have you considered dyslexia? Even on the milder end might explain the word jumbling etc.

Hi OP, I’m a primary school teacher and I think if your child’s teacher doesn’t have concerns I wouldn’t worry too much about something like dyslexia, although of course it’s a possibility. When he does slow down and read with you, is he capable of sounding out the words properly? For his phonics to be secure at that age he would have to be able to show he can identify all the phonetic sounds. It does sound like he could be using and making a best guess, I actually often see this with brighter children when they don’t want to sound out a word, either because they think it’s babyish or because it takes too long!
It’s tricky if he’s reluctant to read, are there any series he enjoys? For that age I’m thinking maybe the how to train your dragon books? David walliams is always funny but maybe slightly too old, George’s marvellous medicine, the twits have always been some of my classes favourite Ronald Dahl books. If he likes you reading to him, could you take turns with a sentence or a page each? It needs to be something enjoyable for him, even if that’s just him reading one sentence for every paragraph you read that’s great practice for him. But I would also say, don’t worry unduly, he will be getting lots of reading practice at school and if he’s a bright boy he will keep up with where he needs to be, I’d say your focus at home should be just finding a way to enjoy reading together and build him up to reading more. When out and about if he misreads something just encourage him to have another look and try and read it again. It shows a lot of comprehension that he knows that would be a cheap price for lodges and what a platypus is so as a teacher I wouldn’t be concerned.
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Thanks that’s reassuring. Yes he’s able to correct the word if I point out it’s not right. It’s just frustrating he’s rushing through it all and his written work as well. I agree he probably just thinks it’s boring but now can’t get out of this habit. This Christmas I’m going to buy him a new selection of books, hopefully something will interest him. His siblings love books and read constantly so I’m not sure where we’ve gone wrong with DS1.

Storey Treehouse books are very popular here.
What about audible to listen to books like Harry Potter and buy the big picture book versions to go along with. The exposure to all the language is brilliant. It’s away from a screen and might inspire a reluctant reader?

Perhaps he just doesn't like reading.