4Real Forums: Reading comprehension

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Topic: Reading comprehension

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teachingmyown
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Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Virginia
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Posted: April 06 2006 at 10:55am \| IP Logged

My question is similar to Patty's post about her son and reading comprehension.

My oldest is a 14 year freshman. THis year he is in public school. But the problem we are having has really been going on for years. He also used to be a prolific reader. His favorite book is Les Miserables and he enjoys fantasy and science fiction. He is more interested in friends and music these days and is so busy with school that he doesn't pick up a book unless I make him.

He has ALWAYS resisted narration, and any other "projects" for that matter. I have always worried whether he absorbed what he read.

I know that he will skip over words he doesn't understand and probably through whole sections. Whenever I try to discuss books with him, especially textbooks, but even some of the literature we would read for Sonlight, he would claim to not remember anything.

I never really followed up on this, thinking it was just part of his difficult personality. But now he is struggling with some of his classes, saying he doesn't remember information when he takes tests. My husband says he is lazy and doesn't want to try because he doesn't have an interest in what he is studying. Granted, his science book is very boring, but I am worried that I have overlooked a learning disability.

Should I have him tested? Is there an approach I am missing? If things go according to plans, I hope to homeschool again next year. I am so concerned about firing this kid up about something, anything! So, if he is genuinely not capable of absorbing information, I want to find a solution now or our struggles next year will be frustrating for us both.

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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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ALmom
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Joined: May 18 2005
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Posted: April 06 2006 at 4:48pm \| IP Logged

Molly,

I don't know you or your son at all so I cannot really say anything about whether or not learning issues are involved - sometimes it is all so subtle and only someone really qualified could say for sure.

That being shared, I can share some of our experience with some of our dc. One of ours was like you described - didn't like to read much, but seemed quite capable of more. Got very stressed over stuff and seemed to take forever. Resisted narration so much, we went to writing - but that was difficult too. She did have a vision problem - minor in comparison to some of our others. She got sick to her stomach after 20 minutes of close work, but never told us. She also had limits to comprehension based on lack of experience. Couldn't understand some stuff and still seems to miss important connections unless they are discussed orally - but she is reticent in personality and I am not a good discussion starter. The best thing for her was some vision therapy - so she didn't get sick to her stomach so soon and a very small English class where the teacher did a lot of oral presentation of historical background, etc. They did a lot of the typical public school things like reading a selection and answering a ton of questions about it. But it really helped dd learn where she was disconnecting and missing the point.

It is not unusual for someone with vision problems to have some reading comp trouble. This dd reading problems were detected when she was about 16 and have been corrected for the most part (only accomodation difficulties now which interfere with things like taking on-line tests). She taught herself to read at age 4, so I never in my wildest dreams would have suspected vision. We bogged down around 4th grade when dd didn't want to move beyond picture books. Evidently the smaller print is still a strain on her visual system. She does better with large print books or books with larger contrasts. We went to an optometrist specializing in vision development - just used him for regular eye exams but asked them to do the more extensive learning related exam. Our vision insurance covered it - and the benefits for our dc have been well worth the drive and inconvenience. We had one dc whose vision problem was so bad, but had 20/20 acuity. We have a family history of lazy eye although this was not what our children had.

There were times when it seemed like it was laziness as they seemed able to comprehend and read certain things of particular interest to them. So I'm sure there were lots of factors with our dc - just seemed to make sense to correct what we could to help. I know my dd is able to get a lot more done now that she doesn't get sick to her stomach - though she can still stress and freeze on some things.

Janet

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