Previously happy to read dd, now exceptionally reluctant - help needed please

[jamandposterpaint]

My dd is 8.

She has always been happy to read, not an avid reader particularly, but neither did she moan about having to read her school books.

Now, and since she started back in Year 4, it's like pulling teeth! She really doesn't want to read anything, not even her own books. She goes between flatly refusing, acting like a 2yo throwing herself around, and everthing else inbetween

She's a good reader (was assessed as a 4C at the end of Y3) so it isn't that she struggles. She's just taken a massive dislike to it

Any ideas as to how we can avoid more tantrums encourage her to read again?

Have you tried comics and cartoons? I recently unearthed my old collection of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons and my DC (11 and 7) have been so enjoying them. They saw me chuckling away and just naturally wanted to have a look. I bought them pre-DC and now looking at them (from an educational perspective) I've been interested to see the language is quite challenging (as well as having lots of subtle social commentary!). My DD also likes the Archie comics - she had a bunch of girls over for a sleepover recently and I was interested to see they all had their noses in her Archie collections before bedtime. Magazines for children can also be good - sounds like the whole reading issue has just become a bit highly charged, so I suppose anything to take her back to the joy and fun of reading.

Could you try audio books, so she can listen to the story and follow the text on the page? Particularly if the audio book is the first of a series, then she might just read the sequels?

Actually I think you've got a point there wordsmiths, the books she's got are so thick, she just took one look and said "I'm not reading that!"

I told her to choose her own book instead (she has loads ...) and although she did, it was still with so much moaning and whinging, it just wasn't worth it.

She seems to have lost any will to read

Comics could be the way forward, good idea. She does like Horrid Henry but we only have a small collection and she can't read just Horrid Henry forever!

That's a good idea too scarevola. Her older sister is even more reluctant to read than dd [bad mother] and I was thinking of getting her some audio books for Christmas, so I could definitely get some for dd too.

Any recommendations?

Also, could just be a phase. My own dd is nearly 8, so younger, but she sounds very similar - good reader, but has had reluctant phases!

At one point I thought she had tracking problems (very able reader with huge vocab, but loses her place all the time and gets 'tired' quickly) and although its got better, still wonder about it. I even had her tested for Irlen Syndrome

Anyway, when in 'phases' I let her pick shorter books/books with pictures/comics and magazines or information books which we can talk about as well as read, etc. And I try not to worry, though easier said than done!

Audio books worked well for dd as something that took the pressure off for a few weeks, once...without her missing out on stories. I also went back to reading more to her at bedtime, something she loves as it relaxes her.

Could be she's nervous of new books in case she doesn't like them. Dd2 gets like that. What I do is choose a book I think she'll like, but maybe she's not sure if it'll be scary. I'll read her the first chapter or so. Often she takes the book off me before the end of the first chapter and is asking for more in the series when she's finished it.

Try reading to her for a bit.

My DD is younger, so I'm not sure what to recommend! Do you know what her friends are reading? Or perhaps search MN as I'm sure there are threads (in "Children's Books" perhaps) with all sorts of good recommendations.

My brother never read willingly - I was the bookworm in the family - he'd run a mile screaming away from a book. It just clicked fairly early into secondary school when he got really into the military and started reading lots of non-fiction about that kind of thing, followed later on by all those true life SAS type things.

Academically it didn't harm him at all - lil git (oh no, I'm not competitive at all - not me) came out with better GCSEs than I did to the extent he got the prize in his school for the best exam results in the entire year group.

Could be just a phase, could be she just doesn't like what's on offer, could be the size of the books putting her off - have you tried things like non-fiction or even things like First News? I went through a phase about that age where I got really bored with fiction (think I'd ran out of dear old Enid Blytons) and got utterly hooked on non-fiction books.

Have you tried shared reading? Pick a book you would both enjoy and take turns reading each page. She still gets reading practice but has help in getting through what she perceives as a "thick" book. Are the "thick" books her school reading books. If so, what are they like as stories. If they are Ok, then try the shared reading technique. If incredibly boring, I'd just go "off piste" for a bit and share reading a book you'd both enjoy. Wimpy kid? Roald Dahl? Dick King-Smith?

My DD is similar - learnt to read very easily and enjoyed it, but started to go off reading when she got into longer chapter books with smaller writing - her problem does seem to be tracking - she often loses her place and tires easily because she seems to have to concetrate very hard.

I am thinking of getting it looked into (she also struggles to write in a straight line) but am not sure how seriously it will be taken at this stage becuase she still reads well above the expected level for her age.

I have tried to keep up her enjoyment of reading without pushing her to read more dense books. It is a struggle because she does not like to be seen as "babyish" in her reading material. Books like the Ottoline series have been good - they have lots of pictures but still feel quite "grown up".
As others have said, reading together (alternating pages) also helps as she does not have to concentrate for so long.