I just wanted to share our success this week. I ‘think’ (knock on wood) my 9yr dd has finally started reading for pleasure. She has read for over an hour everynight this week and we had to argue with her to put the books down as it was way past bedtime. They were not Harry Potter level books, but books of her choosing and variety.
My dd is a real Gameboy and TV addict(to a point where she would hide in the closet to get her Gameboy ‘fix’). I finally put my foot down with her and we implemented a reward system several weeks ago. To watch TV or gameboy during the week, she had to earn 50 points. Reading more than the required 30min. a day, she could acquire a point for every min. over. This seemed to get her going.
We also got our state reading CSAP scores back today. She passed! She scored a solid proficient - right in the middle.
Re: We had a good week!
I am so happy for you. And just so you don’t think that she might have been reading on her own had you only put your foot down sooner, I must tell you my son does not play video games during the week and watches very little TV and he STILL does not read for pleasure. (He will lock himself in his room and listen to books on tape for hours at a time though.)
So, I suspect, your incentive coincided with her readiness—you gave her that extra push.
You must be singing!!
Beth
Re: Books on tape
I think listening to the books is still very good. I think it develops auditory processing abilities. My dd never liked to listen to tapes either. She has that strong visual side of her that needed the visual stimulation.
Re: Books on tape
I totally agree. It also builds language. They can listen to books above their reading level.
I know we are supposed to talk to our kids for that but I can only talk so much and I don’t know everything.
Congratulations on the good week.
Re: Books on tape
We get books now through Library of Congress for Blind and Dyslexic. He has listened to Harry Potter several times—even the third and fourth books which he did not have movies to see. He listened to Holes on tape and bunches of other books.
I agree that it is great for him. The neurologist recommended it because kids whose reading is behind don’t get the vocabulary and higher level thinking skill development. But I have to confess that part of me finds it very sad—he will lock himself in his room for hours and I will have to take the tape recorder away to get him to do anything else. It reminds me of my older daughter with books and makes me realize he would be a avid reader if it wasn’t so hard for him.
That is what makes me sad.
Beth
Wow, that IS a good week! Congratulations to both of you!
Janis