How should I help my good reader ?

[indignatio]

ds is nearly 5 and in reception. He is reading Ort level 8 - turquiose but can also read the words easily in gold (level 10?)
However, he:-
1.often substitutes a for the and vice versa
2.reads in quite a monotone
3.hates having to explain the story he has just read
4.can miss out words in the sentence and does not always go back to correct himself - almost as if he is reading the words but not taking in the storyline
5.Reads what he thinks should be in the sentence rather than reading the whole sentence carefully

Is this just a developmental stage ?

What can I do to help him ?

Is there any point in him progressing up the levels just so there are "tricky words" for him to read ?

He does enjoy reading and reads in bed to himself - own choice. At the w/e will often get out a book and settle down to read it to himself
He choses books from the library (just started this) to read to himself.
He spends a lot of time looking at the pictures on the page before starting to read.

Can't think of any more to add right now - how someone can help

TIA

Does he have the same problems with the books he choses for himself, or just the ORT ones?

It sounds to me as if he's bored with the ORT books. Skipping words, mixing words up and reading what he thinks should be the sentence suggest that he's not enjoying reading them. Maybe he's finding them too easy, so is getting complacent.

I'd keep up with the visits to the library, maybe find a few information books as well and get him talking about what he's found out in those. He might enjoy talking about what he's read if he's actually finding out new facts while he's doing it.

I think reading is divided into two sections - learning to read 'words' and then engaging with the story - it sounds like your ds is doing fantastically well, but perhaps would benefit from doing some easier books as well so he can concentrate on the story. If you ask him what has happened in the story does he know?

I'm not an expert but have two DCS Y1 and Y4 so have been through the reading stages...It's very important that at some stage the kids also understand what they are reading - your DS sounds like a fantastic reader, but he may be just reading words without following the story. On of the tests at Key Stage 1 in Y2 is a comprehension test, to check their reading level and comprehension levels tally, so it may be worth consolidating his reading vocab and at the same time double-checking her understands the story...if he gets fed up doing this try letting him read two pages, shut the book and ask him what he thinks happens next. Or try getting him to draw pictures afterwards re-telling bits of the story.

Does he behave in the same way if you ask him to read aloud from books he has chosen himself? DD used to do many of the same things if asked to read aloud from school reading books but would read aloud with different voices for different characters, make up her own stories that followed on from the books she'd read etc. with the books she'd chosen herself.

Thank you for the advice

WWB and ML- I can't answer you question as when he read to himself he is reading in his head and so I have no knowledge of whether he is skipping words.

Tshell - he knows what has happened, but it takes a lot to coax it out of him.

30sth - I like the idea of guess what happens next - far more interesting than put the story into your own words

I decided never to ask my DSs what was happening in their books - I thought I would leave that to school. I imagine I would find it hugely frustrating if someone kept asking me to repeat what I'd just read to them .

To be fair, I do sometimes ask if they know what a word means, and DS2 usually asks if he doesn't understand.

What does his teacher say about his comprehension? He may co-operate for her in a way he won't for you.

Would he read out loud from books of his choice if you ask him? At the same age, DS2 was very keen to read Beatrix Potter to me. Then you can help him to develop the right expression and so on.

I think it probably is a developmental stage - DS1 went through it in the first term of Y1, when he was at about the level your DS is, but he didn't voluntarily read much to himself. He did always read with excellent expression, but with the missing out/guessing stuff.

No, I meant that you should ask him to read aloud to you from the books he has chosen himself and also chat about those books. If he is reluctant or unable to do this I would think he is probably decoding words without really grasping the story, but if he can do these things happily with the books he has chosen for himself I'd think he's just not interested in the school readers and leave it.

Thanks Singersgirl - always great to hear from a mother of another dreamer

We generally read the school book over breakfast - too many playdates and garden playing after school - this means that I listen to part of the book, then dh takes over - so it is not ridiculous to ask ds to explain what has happened so far. With the reading he does to himself - I quite like that he does this and does not need/want parental imput so haven't asked him to read books of his choice to me as yet - will ponder this suggestion further.

I think teacher is concerned (too strong a word) about the comprehension and has asked me to concentrate on this - I think that it is more a matter of not wanting to be bothered to explain the storyline rather than an inability to do so - we shall see.

ML xed posts - shall keep pondering this one - thanks again for the advice

I'm 43, and a fantastic reader and I do ALL the things your ds does. In particular, I would loathe to have to give a synopsis of every book I read, particularly if I have just read it. I like to let it settle, iykwim. I also read fast, and I am sure I must miss odd words. Sometimes when reading to ds I make mistakes and I don't go back to correct myself.
Because of these things, I don't correct ds when he reads to me, and he's doing fine at five.

it's important too, to read a range of reading materials and not just focus on reading books or indeed the levels of what children are reading. Comics, children's magazines, football tables, nonfiction, poems - there are so many things out there to have a go at instead.
comprehension is really important - I've seen that with my students who can perhaps read something really really well but not have understood any of it
(not suggesting your ds is like that btw)

Thank you aloha - you could also be describing my reading skills - guess the apple doesn't fall far... However, not sure i can make the jump to not correcting ds. If, for example he struggles to pronounce a word correctly, then I will give him the correct pronounciation and praise him when he remembers this the next time he reads it (OK only if in the same book - my memory isn't that wonderful)

Hana - thank you. I understand that comprehension is vital (although I still enjoyed A Short History of Nearly Everything despite having huge gaps in my comprehension whilst reading this book). I will try him on different mediums - however, he reads everything he sees - to the extent of sinking under the water when swimming because he needed to tell me the depth of water as he read the sign as he went past!! Do you have any other suggestions as to how to improve comprehension/understand whether this is an issue.

non fiction is good for boys and should help comprehension - the Kingfisher young knowledge series is good for this, and the DK Eye wonder.

If he is skipping words and mixing them up, are you sure he is actually decoding words or using whole word recognition and guessing from the picture/ skipping those he does not know? if the latter try and work on phonics or he will struggle to understand the story if he is not reading all the words.

Also I found sharing a book with my dd - each reading a page - such as Magic Faraway tree, whispering chair etc helps a lot.

It's true that not all children - or adults -read well out loud, even though their comprehension and silent reading are excellent - DS1 is like this. His teacher in Y1 kept him back on a certain stage (can't remember which now) until he read slowly and clearly. I suppose at this age teachers just want to be certain that, if the child is reading 'advanced' stuff, they understand.

DS2 actually reads beautifully, so that it always sounds as if he understands, whereas sometimes he doesn't! (Mind you, he is not my dreamy one...)

If he doesn't want to read his own choices out loud to you, I wouldn't push it. It sounds as if he is doing brilliantly anyway, and it's better to have him keen and enjoying reading rather than bothering about whether he understands everything.

I know I read lots of stuff when I was a child that I didn't understand. I remember reading the sentence, "He slapped her buttocks, no velvet to cover them now" in a historical romance, and having to ask my mum what "buttocks" were - I was about 8!

Comprehension is essential, but assessing comprehension can be very tricky, especially if a child is reluctant to co-operate.

Ds1 has speech problems and at 5 his speech was very unclear, and some TAs and so on at school didn't realise at first that he was reading well and understanding. DS2, however, at this age had very clear speech and fantastic de-coding skills and could read a section of text beautifully; but his comprehension skills at that time were far worse than ds1! But this wasn't immediately apparent to oncomers.

So first I would say trust your own judgement. If he enjoys reading and reads to himself in bed it is extremely unlikely that he is understanding very little of what he reads. So I would just chill out about this, and let him get on with it.

You could ask him to recommend particular books to you, if they were very good, then you could read them and be able to discuss them with him afterwards.

DS1 is now 9, and we often recommend books to one another. The difficulty I find though is that he retains everything he ever read, and I'm the one left saying "The hero, what was his name? ... I can't remember... Do you know the bit I mean, when he went to Venice? ... Oh, wasn't it? ... Was it Paris? Oh yeah, I think you're right. I'm confusing it with something else."

I thoroughly enjoy reading, but honestly sometimes if you listened to my conversation with ds1 on a book I've just read and he read months ago, you'd think I was just pretending I'd read it and had skipped half the pages!

Maybe he's too small but how about a cookery book for dc where he reads the recipe step by step and then follows it (with your help)? Or experiments or something if you can find a book aimed at his level?

I would also work on the expression . Read dialogue together , in comics, books , poems etc perhaps take turns or you read it then he has a go. with both ours this came on quite suddenly. Sometimes the difficulty of the reading scheme type books which they can read, outstrips comprehension , so discuss any hard words, expressiosn and plot lines. Also get him to think of alternative plots to the book one. What else could have happened, other characters etc. Make up his own version and so on.

indig, I think it's just a developmental stage. Sounds like he's sort of reading ahead in his brain first and then speaking the words iyswim.

At about that level in ORT, there are loads of books for extended reading. I also agree with the non-fiction recommendations on this thread and things like magazines, comics.

Sounds like he's doing fine - wrt comprehension, I would honestly say that reception is too young to be worried about his ability to regurgitate the whole story. The teacher is probably more concerned about him being given stories that he is capable of understanding (and not giving him stuff that may be at a level beyond his maturity). Sometimes I find I get more from ds if I speak to him a few hours or the next day after we've read the book (so not immediately). So e.g. 'wasn't it funny when Kipper came back from his adventure all black and white with no colour' and for some reason, this will often prompt a reply more than 'tell me the story in your own words' iyswim.

re comprehension. Try more interesting ways of getting a feel for his understanding, don't ask him to explain the story.

Say a controversial statement after he's read it eg 'I think Ben was silly to go out in the dark (do you?)' Or a deliberately wrong statement 'He shouldn't have taken the bag' when you know it was a hat. He might be more likely to to challenge you and discuss it.

How about a joke book?

Dd has quite a few joke books and gets endless pleasure from reading them aloud to anyone who is prepared to listen.

Also we really enjoy reading the Dr Seuss books aloud to each other.
You really have to concentrate as a lot of them are quite tongue-twisterish.

How about asking him to read you a bedtime story.? Sometimes I lie on dd's bed with my eyes closed and she reads to me.

A favourite, that is brilliant for reading aloud is is "Bubble Trouble" by Margaret Mahy. You really have to concentrate and enunciate.

"Little Mabel blew a bubble and it caused a lot of trouble...
Such a lot of bubble trouble in a bibble-bobble way.
For it broke away from Mabel as it bobbed across the table,
Where it bobbled over Baby, and it wafted him away.

The baby didn't quibble. He began to smile and dribble,
For he liked the wibble-wobble of the bubble in the air.
But Mabel ran for cover as the bubble bobbed above her,
And she shouted out for Mother who was putting up her hair.

At the sudden cry of trouble, Mother took off at the double,
For the squealing left her reeling...made her terrified and tense,
Saw the bubble for a minute, with the baby bobbing in it,
As it bibbled by the letter-box and bobbed across the fence.

On her garden Chrysta Gribble had begun to cry and cavil
At her lazy brother, Greville, reading novels in his bed.
But she bellowed, "Gracious Greville!" and she grovelled on the gravel,
When the baby in the bubble bibble-bobbled overhead"

and it goes on for another 15 verses.

Sorry, probably no good for a four year old, but it is brilliant .

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions - I have printed out the thread and shall try each and every one (well I will try) - and will report back in a few months to let you all know which suited my child.

many thanks once again

I think that asking a child to regurgiate a story is likely to put them off. Asking the odd question like "Who did X?" is enough to assess the understanding of the story. The Oxford Reading Tree books we got often have suggested questions at the back.

It sounds like to me as if your child needs easier reading material than stage 8 of the Oxford Reading Tree. Learning to decode is only part of learning to read, comprehension is just as important.

If your son spends a lot of time looking at the pictures you could cover them up with a piece of paper so he HAS to look at the print. You could then remove the paper to see if he is right and ask questions about the pictures at the same time. Reading without looking at the pictures might give your son the challenge he needs wihout progressing up the reading levels.

Your son has done really well. I don't know anyone whose child is in reception and that high up the Oxford Reading Tree.

Relax. Singersgirl is right, reading is a life skill, you're meant to enjoy it fgs. Let him read in his head, ask him about the story - like you're genuinely interested, not like a teacher - and make sure he has lots of books at his disposal. If he's a good reader he'll work it out, just say to him - this is meant to be good, ask me if you don't understand anything - I loved this, what d'you think?
Stress too that reading in your head and reading out loud are totally different things. . . .