How do you get reluctant readers to read?

[SeeKnievelHitThe17thBus]

We have an 8 year old who, whilst he loves being read to, has no interest in reading himself at all. Both his parents read and he's been read to since birth, but he struggled with reading and phonics at school, never had any interest in the "incidental" reading that other kids seemed to do - road signs, shop names etc. and even now, trying outright bribery of "you get to go to the cinema / McDonalds if you read this book" isn't encouraging him to read. He read more with DH over half term and got his cinema / McDonalds trip, but hasn't read anything since without being asked to sit down and read.

He has picture books, chapter books, recipe books, comics, non-fiction, reference books, grown up books on topics e.g. Charles Darwin, trains etc. but he just has no interest in reading. Even getting him to reduce the amount of TV he watched has just resulted in him running around in the living room more.

I just get so sick of seeing all the "World Book Day" spiel on twitter with parents of 6 year olds who apparently read chapter books with ease and his school doing a presentation for parents on how "you set a child up to fail if they fail to read".

How the hell do you get them to read? I was always an avid reader so have no concept of how to engage with him when he's so different to me and I'm concerned he's going to struggle with Sats and secondary school if he can't crack this now.

Have you tried talking books?

DD is a good reader, but really prefers to listen. It isn't ideal but at least he will develop a broader vocabulary and an appreciation of language/writing styles.

Maybe start with something exciting like Alex Rider series or funny like How to Train Your Dragon. We are able to order CDs from the library - great for long car journeys. We can download some online too.

Amazon/Audible is another option.

Otherwise, find a "creative" hobby he enjoys (cookery/bushcraft...anything with guides...hey maybe even a guide to your next holiday destination) and get him to read/follow/recommend.

At the end of the day we tell DD that reading a physical book isn't optional/negotiable and set a timer. If you are consistent and explain why you might find it works.

It's only since my DTS were 9 that they became interested in reading for pleasure.
Diary of a wimpy kid, & beast quest are favourites they seem to like series books rather than one offs iykwim.
Also alot of fun fact books the horrible histories ones are good and we found loads in the £ shop

If he’s struggled with reading and phonics has been assessed to make sure there isn’t an underlying issue?

If you are not against children go online, let him play stuff like poptropica or prodigy ?

They need to read text to progress, and prodigy is maths games, so added extra. Both has membership but you don't need to be a member, still plenty to explore in free section.

If he enjoys being read to just leave him cliffhangers...get to a really exciting bit then say "goodnight we'll carry on tomorrow, or you could have a read and see what happens next if you want?" The next night carry on where you left off but you'll prob find he knows a bit about what happens don't make him read aloud or to you or anything, just try and kickstart that love of a good, exciting story. Worked for my DD - she is the biggest bookworm ever now at 12 reading for hours in bed most nights, at 6 she would scream and cry and flail around on the floor to avoid reading a single page of her school reading book

I would just keep on reading to him - books that he enjoys and that reinforce the usefulness of reading as they open up new worlds.

As long as the teachers are not flagging up a specific reading difficulty, I think you should basically stop trying to get him to read. It won't work but will just put him off.

Back off; relax and just go with the flow. He will be fine.

Maybe he finds it hard, so doesn't want to? (Not saying that's ok, but I can see why he wouldn't want to if that's the case).

Perhaps you need a better motivator for him? What does he really want?
Audio books are good, and easy to access.
Some people just don't enjoy reading.
I know he has to read for school, but do you celebrate his strengths and successes that aren't reading too? He might need self-esteem boosting.
Also, does he see you and his other parent reading for pleasure regularly?

Patience, with boys especially.

Sometimes it's just finding the right book - are they into football? Or video games? If so, try a footballer's biography or a factual book about video games - it doesn't have to be fiction. A Year 3 pupil of mine from a long time ago loved computers so I gave him a book to read about the history of computers. Most people would be bored to pieces by it but he loved it and it visibly excited him to explain to me (in impressive detail) why Microsoft won the battle against Apple, Amiga etc in the mid-1980s.

And please don't see Twitter/FB posts as absolute fact, there's always some filtering going on there.
Try not to compare him to others- he is himself, and he's progressing at his own pace.
If you're concerned about KS2 tests, do speak to his teachers and see how they feel about his progress.

Could you read a fairly long book (I'm thinking Harry potter type books) read a bit each night alternating who reads. You one night, DS the next until you finish the book?

Thanks everyone. We've been trying to get the school to engage with a possible SEN need but the SENCO is crap, frankly (she hadn't even told DS's new teacher thant DS had previously had interventions in small groups as he was behind for reading when the SENCO was his previous class teacher and was supposed to have handed over properly) and the new teacher doesn't think he's far enough behind to need help and was surprised that the SENCO had ever been involved at all. He also never sits down when he can run but again, it requires work from the SENCO if we try and push for a ADHD diagnosis so school is best forgotten in all this.

We've read BeastQuest and How to Train your Dragon to DS; he likes the stories but just not enough to bother to read them himself.

He does lots of clubs outside of school as we specifically wanted to show him non-school things he was good at - dance, art, swimming, canoeing etc. so self esteem is less of an issue although he notices that friends get 200 house points on a certificate at school when he got 50 and they have "acheievement" assemblies where he gets recoginsed for "trying hard" and "being cheerful", and he's now old enough to recognise these for what they are when his more academic friends don't get them.

I don't know if he was just never going to be a reader per se or if school just knocked any enthusiasm out of him. SENCO pulling him out of the class Christmas party to assess him for reading difficulties anyone? He remembers the party where he only got 2 biscuits because he had to go out to help the SENCO with some hard work when they had a further 4 hours the same day that she could have chosen.

DH and I both read for pleasure and we also ask him to read instruction manuals if we're setting up something new - we all have at least one full height bookcase each so he sees the range of books DH and I have and read and we also read some books to him from our own childhoods - DH is reading him Famous Five at bedtime now so DH is seeing the impact of cliffhangers on him where he has to wait to see what happens next (but not keen enough to want to read it for himself).

As a primary teacher, I would NEVER recommend a parent to set a timer! Can think of no way of setting more negative connotations about reading!

I'd make it relevant, give him/her choices (including just to listen) and make time together for reading. If you are from a reading household, it should come together as decoding becomes increasingly easier and the value of reading becomes more apparent as he/she moves through school.

OP, you sound like you're doing everything right - just read your update.

Thanks for the suggestion sirlee. I had hopes of doing something like this but we're struggling to get him to read alternate paragraphs never mind alternate chapters.

One thing that really motivated DS1 (he read, but did prefer others to read to him while he was learning) was adventure games on the computer - it's tougher these days, because so many of them speak for you, but we found some that he enjoyed, but that he had to read to be able to play.

How is his reading now, has he caught up and is now theoretically able to read anything, but just not interested? Or is he still struggling?

If the latter, then I'd go with Matcat's suggestion, at the end of the day a certain amount of time reading per day is non-negotiable. It is homework, and is the only way he'll improve. Of course, if reading is hard and a struggle, he won't choose to do it for pleasure. But if he won't read, he won't improve. So he needs to read (a little) even if he doesn't (yet) enjoy it.
And/or you could work at finding really easy (easy enough for him to be able to enjoy) and fun books. If you share how well he reads, I'm sure people will have lots of suggestions.

If the former, yes often it is just a question of finding the right book(s). However, as a further though, I have made an observation with my own DS that really surprised me: For him, reading is a highly 'social' activity, in that the stories he reads get incorporated into his play with his friends. Most of his play is actually based on books. Of course, it is hard to join in if the playing revolves around a book you haven't, yourself, read... so he is especially keen to read whatever his friends are currently reading, and playing. And to share what he reads with his friends too.

So perhaps it would be worth checking with your DS what his friends are reading. Or if that is too direct/doesn't yield results, ask him what kind of games they play and try to determine if their playing might be based on books. Then suggest those books to your DS.
Of course, this 'social' reading may be quite particular to my DS and his friends, and everybody else in the world is more like myself (books are where I, alone, by myself, travel into foreign worlds and live through great adventures etc). But it may be worth a try.

You are doing all the right things. Just keep on keeping on.
Would he be interested in the newspaper? Maybe the crossword, or other puzzles would engage him?
Even if he doesn't read the articles, crosswords are a great way to build and strengthen vocabulary.

You've not actually said if he can read fluently or not, and if your problem is that he doesn't want to read and you think this is a negative, or if he's actually struggling and therefore the additional practice is required. The fact the teacher says not is suggestive that he's not actually behind, just not interested in reading for pleasure?

If he can read and doesn't need practice, punishing or rewarding is not going to encourage him, it just demonstrates that reading is not worth anything and you should only do it if rewarded or punished for not.

DD never sits when she can run, however it's wholly unrelated to her interest in reading, 'cos sometimes she can't run.

I could have written your posts. I have a 10yr old DS who gas only just starting reading for pleasure. Everything you are saying about reading to him, exposing him to all types of books and styles, taking it in turns, cliffhangers etc, I tried them all. Repeatedly. DH and I both read a lot and always have.

He loved bring read to, loved stories. But never enough to read himself. I bought the illustrated Harry potter books and read them to him and eventually, he started to read them himself, in very small doses. He us now reading the narnia chronicles and loving them.

It has all turned around in the last few months. So my advice is to keep with it. I know it is worrying and frustrating! One thing I did which I think helped was to always choose books for him that were slightly below his reading level, so less challenging than I'd have liked. That meant not going to Waterstones (advice I had received was to take him and let him choose) because they arrange their books with big 'Age 5-8' and 'Age 9-12' signs. At 9yo, he would never have been willing to look at age 5-8 books even though they were more at his level, and in any case, I don't think that books like George's Marvellous Medicine isn't for a 9yo.

swivelchair adventure games on the computer - it's tougher these days, because so many of them speak for you

You can play the old ones right in your browser e.g.
classicreload.com/secret-of-monkey-island.html
or get ScummVM

Just carry on reading with him. Don’t do anything that makes it a chore. Don’t say ‘read this book then you can do something fun’
My ds only ever wanted to read factual books about dinosaurs and sharks. He only got into reading at around 10 and now loves reading horror.
Just carry on making reading a cosy and nice experience.
Homework is homework and you can differentiate the reading he has to do for homework and the books that are for pleasure.

Try choose your own adventure books. Ds lives that the texts were quite short then you turned pages.
They’re not daunting books.

I have 2 reluctant readers. ds (18) starts an Engineering course at uni this year. dd (15) is severely dyslexic but just got an A in her English Nat5 prelim. Yes it would be nice if they would read. I love reading and always have a book on the go. But it honestly is not the be all and end all of things. ds at primary took the Argos Catalogue in when they had to take in their favourite book....but as he got older although he has never read for pleasure he has had to read manuals / magazines etc to do with his hobby and has evidently been able to read enough to progress academically. dd would like to read for pleasure but finds it too hard - but it has not held her back. Her written work (through a scribe) is really good.

Ooo what about trying to read in a different platform.. e.g. a Kindle? He might find it more of a novelty than a physical book?

I'm place marking as don't have time to read at the moment but I also have a ds who is almost 8 and a very reluctant reader so I don't have any advice op I do empathise though as it is so difficult at times.