Reading

Hi S.,

In my opinion the one thing that is gonna help him most is to read, have him read everyday a couple times a day, out loud, and to himself and then ask him what he just read. have him read a book to you at night set a timer see if he can read the book before the time runs out. Set it for the time that it takes you to read the same book and as he beats the times make them shorter and shorter also not just the same book. Hope this helps W.

We've done the local Sylvan, and they are very good, but they are also very expensive.

We've had my daughter (13 now) in Kumon Math for about 5 or 6 years and it has done wonders. We've just started our son (now 4, almost 5) in their reading program and he will start the math program probably at the end of the summer.

Those are the two programs I have actually used. E-mail me if you have any specific questions about these programs.

I can't find your request to read the other posts.
First off, there is no requirement for reading speed under NCLB. All of the NCLB stuff is based on the test scores.

I was going to say that the words per minute is just a benchmark....but that may not be true in your school district. (I am in SMSD and since they don't do honor roll in the 2nd grade I am guessing you aren't)

I know that the schools for some reason do put a lot of emphasis on reading speed...At our school that is ORAL reading. I don't know what evidence they have that this is critical---and since your son is on honor roll and has good comprehension I don't get what the big deal is. (I had a similar problem with my dd in second grade---she was actually reading 1.5 years ABOVE grade level and they said she needed to work with the reading specialist.)

Honestly, if I would recommend just having him read to you a lot this summer. Let him pick the books. Maybe he can read while you prepare dinner or right before bed. I don't think any reading tutor would be doing much more havin him read...From everything I have been told, the only way to increase the speed is more time spent reading....

I will also add that my dd was recommended for summer school every year until this year. (She is going into 5th grade)What is different this year? WEll the only difference I see is that her school is not the host site for summer school.

If you want to get him extra help, I would start with having his current skill level assessed. I think some schools are very 'competitive' and that may or may not be something you want to encourage in your child.

Look online for a speed reading program for the computer. When my older girls were young I had a couple of them. But they wouldn't even run on the computers of today.

These programs will allow them to read a selection, push the space bar when they are done and then answer questions for comprehension. My oldest daughter was reading 1000 words per minute by the time she was in the 5th or 6th grade.

I learned that the average adult reads between 200 and 300 words per minute. So that should give you an idea of where they want him to be now and where adults should be. That program was fun for the whole family.

Suzi

I tell you what, I cannot stand this entire NCLB thing. I am a current middle school reading/CA teacher and am very tired of what it has done to our students. I used to teach in Blue Valley and the kids there were so stressed from being over tested. It is crazy. As a reading teacher, the thing that I would ask you is whether or not he is comprehending what he is reading. In 6th grade, we really did not focus on reading speed. I had some students that read very slow, but scored high on assessments because it was the speed that they were successful at. My suggestion to you is to have your son read a lot this summer. Have him do a combination of silent reading and then oral reading. How old are your boys? He may be able to read aloud to you or you other son. The main thing is that he is comprehending what he is reading and is able to tell you details from what he read. I told some of my parents of students that I taught last year to have their child read and then write in a journal or answer questions that they come up with to see if they are comprehending. In my opinion, which it is different from NCLB, the purpose should be that he is understanding what he is reading. The more he reads, the better he will be at it. I really do not think any of the programs out there are worth the money, it is the time that he reads that can be valuable. How is he with vocabulary and pronunciation of words? If that is a problem, that can be what is slowing him down. You may also want to check to see if he is reading lines more than once, or spending too much time thinking about what is read. One thing that I have had 4th grade students do, which may be a little higher than he is able to do, is to write a one sentence summary after each page they have read in a chapter book. That way they can see what they are remembering. How are his reading skills other than speed? I hope this helps. I just finished my Master's and am working towards my specialist degree in REading, but I am in no way an expert.

Sylvan Learning center can help you do that but it would be cheaper to stick with summer school, and join the reading program at the library and get some books on tape for him to read along with. When he reads out loud with the personality on the tape he will get faster. Then you should get him to read aloud to you for 20 minutes every day. he should be able to read as fast as he talks when he's excited. If he doesn't by the end of the summer I would check with the doctor to see if he's got something else going on.

My son just finished 2nd grade. To increase reading fluency, they had the kids reading the same short reader for a week in their reading groups. They would also read them aloud to parents at home each night. It really seems to help.

Have you had his vision checked? Any number of vision or alignment problems could affect how fast he can decipher each word.

Finally, don't be too concerned about it. There is often a great leap in reading around this age, no matter what age they first learned to read. My older son was already reading fairly well at that age, but took off with longer books at that age. By the time he was 10, he was reading Lord of the Rings. My 8-yr-old was behind in reading, but progressed two grade-levels in reading over this past school year.

I'm not sure what school your child goes to, but my son was in Robinson (Raytown) and they had a program calle Title 1, that was actaually a reading class...I'd check into something like "Hooked on Phonics", I've heard though it's kinda expensive.

Is this what it has come to? Counting the number of words a child reads in order to let him pass into the next grade? I pray for all the future Einsteins of this country. Heaven forbid someone should understand what they are reading and apply all that they've learned correctly, if they aren't doing it fast enough it's not good enough.
Are there any alternatives to this speed reading requirement, like doing book reports over the summer, or working on some sort of project centered around literature? Even joining a summer reading group at your local library or school could count as credit if your school counselor or administrator is open minded. Something that centers on your son's strengths. Perhaps books on tape can help, I had a lot of those when I was younger, and as I followed the words and connected them to the vocals, my comprehension got better.

I can think of no better way to destroy a love of books than putting this arbitrary requirement on a child at this age. Shame on this law.