<p>NYMom, after years of trying to get the school to test him with no luck (they kept telling me he was gifted, he was doing fine, therefore he didn’t have a problem) I finally took him to a private psychologist to have a full workup of tests done, and they identified several learning disabilities, including processing problems, phoneme awareness problems and dyscalculia. Now that he understands that his brain works a little differently from many other people, he has much greater self-confidence and has learned how to handle difficult situations, like timed-tests, which have always been torture for him. You could ask him to describe the history of Europe from 1400 to 1600 and he could do it eloquently if he could speak to you about it – but if he has to write it down or answer “bubbled” questions in a limited amount of time, he has a lot of difficulty finishing.</p>
<p>definitely have him tested for various learning issue</p>
<p>Also, about the audiobooks – we were told (I don’t remember who told us) that listening to an audiobook activates the same parts of the brain as though you read the book the traditional way. Which makes sense. When I listen to an audiobook, I still feel like I have “read” the book – no differently than if I process it with my eyes instead of my ears. :)</p>
<p>springisintheair, my concern is that he is extracting only discrete pieces of information from the nonfiction sources he uses, and not reading entire paragraphs. His major interest in life is geography, which has spilled over into things like ancient civilizations, armor, etc. When he was a toddler he used to sleep with his globe, and he carried it around with him everywhere. He was always drawing maps; I was struck by a map that he drew at age 6, the US with state boundaries, from memory, and it was pretty accurate. He knows the name and can map every country in the world, and knows the names and locations of most cities. He also knows a lot about the countries and cities, populations, climate. He likes to draw temperature maps at different times of year. So he has a large collection of facts, many drawn from books or the internet, some from asking questions. And he integrates the information. When he was only about 6, he used to ask my H and me for information about populations. We usually estimated, and if he got an answer that was inconsistent with other information in his internal database, he would say so (along the lines of, “City A is larger than City B, and last week you told me that City B has XX people, and now you say that City A has YY people, but the entire country has ZZ population, and there are 6 cities over AA population, so this doesn’t make sense…”) So much of the information is visual, and much consists of facts. So I’m not sure that he’s reading and comprehending extended passages even in the nonfiction books he refers to.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information, MQD and orchid. I will definitely look into having him tested for learning issues and vision issues. </p>
<p>I, also, “read” audiobooks these days for lack of time. I can “read” while doing the laundry! And I do feel as if I’ve read the book.</p>
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<p>My son was hooked onto Redwall books when he was in 3rd grade but that was because he wanted to be in the reading group led by a volunteer he particularly liked. The group otherwise was made up of <em>advanced</em> 4th graders. Until then, S had been reading short chapter books.
There’s a huge difference between “being able to read” in 1st grade and being able to read Harry Potter.</p>
<p>My son and I got involved this summer with the paperback swap website. ([PaperBackSwap</a> : Your source for swapping books online!](<a href=“http://www.paperbackswap.com%5DPaperBackSwap”>http://www.paperbackswap.com)) He’s having fun browsing through the selections and picking out books to request. </p>
<p>My two kids got interested in reading sort of by accident. When they were in elementary school they were always fighting with each other. The only places they could agree on to go were Barnes & Nobles or Half Price Books (conveniently in the same shopping center) So we started going there several times a week and it became a habit we still follow.</p>
<p>Some people just don’t care for fiction. A certain amount is of course required in school, and even for those who don’t choose it, a couple of books read over the summer (kid’s choice) won’t hurt. If all the health issues check out fine, try non fiction suitable to his age. I think there are books on birds, weather, astronomy, mountains, animals,etc. that might be of interest and on a level that is appropriate. Have you tried any of these?</p>
<p>One of my sons doesn’t like to read standard fiction AT ALL, but will read non-fiction, sports pages, graphic novels, almanacs. There’s a section at Barnes and Noble I think just for books about weird stuff like the Encyclopedia of Gross…that’s what he liked. Harry Potters are the only novels he really liked. I have the feeling from other parents of boys that this is very common. He’s been evaluated privately several times and had tutoring, both at great expense; some of it was helpful.</p>
<p>NYmomof2 … pardon the intrusion and you need not reply but if your son tends to monologue about his interests and has a hard time with transitioning away from his interests and maybe has some sensory issues, look into what is called NLD … non-verbal learning disorders. He is obviously quite smart and very visual/spatial. This is just a hunch being in the middle of raising a smart boy with some issues … I wonder if looking at the page with all of the words lined up in a row makes him kind of dizzy. I know kids who have a hard time looking at the keys of a piano while playing because of the visual repetitiveness of the keys. My son can not look at graph paper or anything with a tight grid pattern. </p>
<p>Try using the paper idea of blocking out text as he reads to help him focus his eyes and attention. At his age you might be also dealing with learned behavior but he is not a teenager yet!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>My son didn’t learn to read fluently until he was 8. He felt bad about it because everyone else in the family loves to read, and he felt left out. Fortunately he was at a private school that didn’t have kids on a set schedule for reading.</p>
<p>For about two or three years after that, he only read nonfiction. He especially enjoyed the “Eyewitness” books on many different topics. We bought some and checked out many more from the library. He had a good school librarian who tracked kids from kindergarten through 8th grade; she kept a record of what every child read during those years and gave it to them at graduation. She was good at trying to match kids’ interests while encouraging them in a few new directions too, and she kept slipping a fiction book into his stack now and then. If your school doesn’t have a librarian like that, maybe you could introduce your son to a children’s librarian at your town library and see if they have some good ideas.</p>
<p>After I had just about decided that our son wasn’t going to read fiction on his own (though he liked to listen to it), he started reading it - mostly fantasy and science fiction: Redwall, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Ender’s Game, the usual suspects. One little idiosyncrasy is that he likes to own books in hardback and rereads them many times for enjoyment. The hardback thing limits the size of his library, but it works for him. It never occurred to me that there might be some vision issues - now I wonder if this is why he likes hardback!</p>
<p>When he was in 8th grade, he was introduced to the idea of literary analysis and fell in love with it. It became his favorite subject in school. So there’s one story of how a non-reader became a very happy reader :-).</p>
<p>Calreader, Congratualtion. Sounds like you have a son who is a book lover. I bet you that he loves the feel and smell of a new book.</p>
<p>Keep reading, borrow books on tape he can listen to on his own. I found my ds would start reading ahead of what I read or the tape because he couldn’t wait to find out what happended next. </p>
<p>Buy or borrow books from all disciplines. I like to buy lots of books from ebay, I get a variety of books for the kids, books that I might not normally pick out. </p>
<p>So long as vision issues are ruled out, you are doing all you can. Sounds like your s is doing well in school, don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Joan</p>
<p>“He had a good school librarian who tracked kids from kindergarten through 8th grade; she kept a record of what every child read during those years and gave it to them at graduation.”</p>
<p>Wow!</p>
<p>^^ Pretty cool, isn’t it.</p>
<p>This librarian also wrote my daughter a letter of appreciation when she graduated - the librarian said she had had to race to find new books so my daughter wouldn’t run out of things to read, and she said it was a good way to keep on her toes professionally. My daughter was/is a nut about reading. For several months in 5th grade she took her stilts to school and used them to walk around the campus. One of the teachers told me that she usually had a book open while she walked :-).</p>
<p>In the small town I grew up in, one of our town librarians was also great at helping kids find books. I remember her calling me at home once to tell me about a new book that had just come in that she thought I’d like.</p>
<p>You said that you get together and trade off reading, and then he says he doesn’t under the part that he read. Is it possible he only has trouble comprehending when he reads out loud? The kids having trouble with reading at my elementary school were always made to read out loud–they went so far as to let these kids go into the hall or isolated areas of the classroom in order to read out loud to themselves during reading time. Well, I’m a very good reader, but my comprehension drops off a cliff when I’m reading out loud. As in, if I’m asked to read out loud in class, I’ll do it, and then I’ll re-read it to myself afterwards. Could he have a similar issue going on? Also, I naturally read in blocks of text rather than word-by-word. When I was in elementary school, teachers really pushed for reading out loud which necessitates reading word-by-word, which was slower and not as natural for me. (I think reading in blocks of text is more like seeing the words as pictures, whereas word-by-word reading is more similar to speaking or listening since you’re more likely to be “reading out loud in your head.”) Maybe he’s being pushed to read in a certain way or in the most common way while his brain wants to do it differently.</p>
<p>Anyway, it’s just a thought.</p>
<p>
That sounds like a good idea, particularly if you leave him at a cliff-hanger. :)</p>
<p>I would definitely have a full work up done by an educational psychologist. It is expensive, but worth the money. Even if your son does not have a learning or visual disorder, you will find out a lot about how he learns best. One friend of mine (years ago) took her son in suspecting an LD and left with a prescription for glasses with different colored lenses in them. That solved her son’s reading problems. At least if he is tested and found to be A-OK, you can relax and just assume it is a matter of interest or is a developmental issue that will resolve itself over time. I would want to make sure before too much time passes because when kids have undiagnosed learning disorders it can really affect the way their self esteem and learning habits. This I learned the super hard way with my oldest!</p>
<p>I agree with corranged.</p>
<p>I remember when I was in first through third grade my teachers would ask me to read out loud to the class because I was one of the top students in the class. However, I found that when I read out loud I did not comprehend as well as when I listened (I am not sure if it was because I was trying to be careful to enunciate properly or what). Anyway, I never had difficulty in school, graduated valedictorian of hs, and had straight A’s other than two B+'s through undergrad and PhD. </p>
<p>I also agree with those who have suggested audio books, which your son may be encouraged either to read ahead or even to read again after he has heard the books read aloud. Make sure to get the unabridged versions. Even kids prefer better written prose. Simpler is not necessarily better.</p>
<p>I sent NYMomof2 a PM, so I don’t want to get into details about her son here - but I do want to note for others who may be reading this thread that difficulties with developing reading fluency and comprehension skills are a common manifestation of a learning disability or dyslexia, especially in very bright kids. So it’s best to look at this as an indication of a possible problem that will need specialized intervention. </p>
<p>The problem is that kids with such learning barriers will not simply grow out of the problem – rather, they may continue a pattern of avoiding reading, and rather than improving things can get worse over time as the volume and difficulty of reading at school increases. </p>
<p>It is also very likely to be missed at schools – this is the paradox of the “twice gifted” or “gifted + LD” learner. A high IQ kid can compensate well enough to do well on most school-based assessments, but “well” is based on the school’s expectations of average level performance. So you might see a kid performing in, say, the 75th percentile range on standardized tests, when that kid is capable of performing in the 95th percentile if the reading problems were addressed. (On a college board like this I am sure that we can all appreciate that this may be the difference between a score of 1800 and 2200 on SATs, and what an impact that is on college admissions, even though the lower score is perfectly respectable.)</p>
<p>The good news is that bright kids like this also potentially can do very well with appropriate interventions. My own son was barely reading at age 10 – in fact, he used to have his 5 year old sister read his text books to him. (My d. was a very early reader, and in hindsight I think that my son actually taught her to read because that was easier than overcoming his own dyslexia). However, I was able to help my son at age 11, and within a very short time he was reading well above grade level and also since that time has been a very avid reader. I’m grateful that we dealt with this barrier before high school years, because I honestly thought when my son was younger that he would be lucky to pursue his education at community college – so I was absolutely stunned when he showed up with NM qualifying scores on his PSAT. </p>
<p>Of course it is also possible that this is simply a bright kid who doesn’t like to read. Ironically, my early reading daughter never really enjoyed reading fiction (with the notable exception of Harry Potter) - but the point is, if the parent thinks there may be a problem, there very likely is one.</p>