Hi everyone,
I’m having trouble with my 8 year old and his reading. I’m wondering if anyone has any tips or knows of any apps that can help him with this? I feel like he should be able to read a lot better and faster then he can but nothing I’m doing is helping. Thank you in advance!
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5 Replies
Have you spoken to his teachers? They will probably know what he struggles with and what you could do to help.
The best thing to do is to read with him, read to him, make it fun, no pressure.
Libraries also loan out readers, they have a massive section.
And the most important thing you can do is read with him, and make it enjoyable. To do that make it fun, make it easy, and follow his interests. If he likes comics, dogman, Lego, or sharks, great go with it. There is also a lot of phonics on YouTube, also alphablocks is great for sounds and blends and kids love it.
Is he in Year 2? Has the teacher flagged concerns with reading?
Is it him being able to read out loud or just getting it read silently? Is he neurodivergent (ADHD or autistic) or have other diagnoses? How's his comprehension? Is he understanding what he's reading and able to relate the story back?
Personally I'm neurodivergent (ADHD) and I can read super quick to myself. I find at times that reading out loud is harder because the processing from words in my head to speaking them takes time. If I'm distracted or tired, it's even harder.
If he's got good comprehension and able to show that he understands the story, he's probably doing quite well.
He will read when he is ready. He is reading just as he should for now. If you make it a horrible experience for him he will hate reading and will not improve because of the worry that will be attached to it. Stop comparing him to other children and your own feelings. It's irrelevant and frankly ridiculous.
You need to back off and let him get it on his own time.
Dr Suess books are quite easy to read and may be a fun way to help him to find and interest in reading. It’s a lot of rhyming so kind of helps to guide them along :)
I think a chat with his teacher is your first step ❤️ Our son has struggled with reading since kindy and was recently diagnosed with adhd and dyslexia. He’s been in a support group for literacy at school since kindy and working on comprehension with a speechy. Once that penny dropped though, everything fell into place, it’s the most beautiful sound hearing him reading in bed 😭❤️
He hated the home readers from school but really got interested once we’d grabbed him some more age appropriate books- Fly Guy, Dogman etc from the young reader section but the key was to make sure they weren’t too long or looked hard because he would’ve avoided trying then ❤️ Best of luck Mama