my 8 year old is struggling with literacy

[roneef]

Does anyone have any ideas?

Basically, he can't complete simple reading tests. His teachers always bring this up. He reads really well but rarely understands anything. He isn't very imaginative.

To get him to sit down and read is near impossible or he will read a couple of pages and give up. You can see the boredom on his face

The strange thing is he can spell and punctuate really well. I don't understand as reading is my passion!

Is it the same when he is reading non fiction on a subject he is interested in?

Yes. He has no interest. If you saw how many books we have

I also make a point of taking him to the library regularly. He loves choosing a book. It's the reading it part he can't be bothered with.

TIA x

Will he read if its on the internet - favourite websites? If so you could maybe encourage it that way...

Have you eliminated various things, e.g.

• seeing OK (eyetest? need glasses to read?)
• dyslexia?

If it's any consolation, my nearly 7 yr old DS is the same - getting him to read is like pulling teeth! He can read and is doing OK-ish for his age (ORT 10/11) but will NOT read for pleasure...except perhaps his Star Wars comic.

Meanwhile DS1 is a bookworm, read early, adores reading, and reads for about 2 hours a day!

Some kids just don't like it, or don't discover it until later. It's really hard if you're really into reading yourself.

Made me laugh when a friend was be-moaning a similar problem with her DD recently, and said, "But DH & I are both Oxford graduates... she must like reading..."

er... nope!

My 7 year old is the same. She can read and is quite far ahead in the class, but is simply not interested. I think it's because none of the books she can read really sustains her interest. It was different for me because I was a precocious early reader and by her age had worked my way through much of the secret seven and famous five canon. [sigh]

Is it worth stimulating his imagination with more complex stories? I get DD Doctor Who story CDs which are quite complex stories, but at her imagination level. She may not read very happily, but she cans spell Sontarian and tardis with ease.

Another series you can try are the Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III series of stories. We got 'How to be a Pirate' on CD and the rest of the books in traditional paperback form. I read the text to her and she reads the illustrations which have lots of workd in them.

Have you tried the fighting fantasy series by Steve jackson and Ian Livingstone. Short paragraphs followed by choices eg You come to the end of a corridor will you go left or right. Then you have to turn to a new page. Before they know it they have read the whole book but in small pieces.

What about Where's Wally and Puzzle Island etc. There's not a great deal of reading involved but it gets them looking at a book.

I'm a tad confused -roneef, you say that your son 'can't complete simple reading tests' but then you say he can read 'really well' and is good at spelling.

What sort of reading tests does he fail?
What do you mean by reading well -with what sort of reading books?
By spelling well, do you mean he does well on his spelling tests?

maverick - I mean comprehension tests(he calls them reading tests.) Basically you have to read a portion of text and answer questions related to it. These can show if you understand meanings of single descriptive words or the general gist of the text.

By reading well I mean he has always had an adanced reading age, according to the school.

By spelling he has always had full marks in his spelling tests. Even when he has been away when they handed the spelling list out.

I am really worried. Any exam he takes will require him to be able to understand the question. He is really good at maths/science but sometimes he cannot get his head around the questions.

I know he is still young but he feels quite sad about it sometimes. It's beginning to affect his confidence.

bump

if he has advanced reading age then he is not struggling is he?
maybe he just doesnt find literacy intersting?

is he old enough for Diary of a Wimpy Kid?
Very funny books with lots of cartoons and jokes.

or if he is interested in science, have you tried Horrible Science magazines? scientific facts in small chunks, with lots of pictures and jokes.

So the problem is that although he can technically read very well, he can't understand what he's reading?

I have a ds who was like this, although this was due to his SN. Basically, like your ds, he could read pretty much anything but had no idea what it meant. Like your ds he was/is also very good at spelling, maths and science.

A good comparison is asking someone with a basic understanding of French pronunciation to read a copy of "War and Peace" in French. They can technically read the words but wouldn't understand enough to be able to answer questions.

It can be due to something called hyperlexia (although obviously this might not be relevant to your ds, Roneef).

With ds1 we had to go back to the beginning and start with much easier books and slowly build up his comprehension with those. Once he had some basic understanding then he was able to learn the more abstract stuff related to what he was reading, eg inference, deeper meaning etc.

If your ds' teachers recognise that he doesn't understand what he is reading, have they discussed what they plan to do with him to build up his understanding?

Does any of this sound familiar?

I would still check his decoding (single word and nonsense word reading) and alphabet knowledge skills for yourself, roneef:

Use the tests here:
www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_2.htm

Can he follow a normal conversation -is his comprehension normal for verbal interaction?

Or perhaps he needs exam/test technique pracitice?

My DS is like this also - really switched on at maths but if he's set an exam question he goes "what? I can't do it! I don't understand!" Then if you explain it -' look, they are asking you to do this,' he says 'oh yeah, I get it now. That's easy!'

So really your DS needs lots of practice answering written questions. He needs to look at it logically and deconstruct the question. Use the question as his starting point - ie If the piece is about a boy whose cat died, and the question says 'Why do you think the boy is so sad here?', he has to set his answer up using the question:

"I think the boy is so sad because..."

By using the question in his answer he is already half way there! (I know I know it seems so basic and you probably know all this but perhaps he is looking too hard for the answer and so getting in a muddle?)

And then he has to pick out the sad words in the piece. You say he is good at reading so he should be able to point to these words (ie 'crying', 'upset')

..He has to kind of take a logical step by step approach rather than what it seems as if he is doing now which is to be so bamboozled by the question he has no strategy to answer it.

Thank you all.

I will take your points on board.

Thanks so much for all the comments above as I have been searching for help on exactly the same concern!!