My son is 9. He has dysgraphia and dyslexia BUT he reads at a 7th grade level in 4th grade. And he reads constantly. While riding the bus, while getting off the bus, walking the halls, eating lunch, during class, in afterschool. He reads and reads and reads. He is reading 3 books at a time. When the teachers take his books away he reads his textbooks.
BUT, he cannot write with any legibility and his spatial relations are nil. When he writes, he will write the shortest sentences he can because the act of writing is so difficult. If you ask him to TELL you the story, it is descriptive and detailed.
He has a writing IEP that is going to allow “Dictation to a Scribe” for the End-Of-Year Writing test here in NC. But, that does not help the trouble he is getting into in class for reading constantly. Wednesday morning the teacher took 3 books away from him before 10am. He is not handing in his homework because he is busy reading when the time comes to hand them in. His test scores are A’s but without homework he is going to do very poorly.
His father wants me to put him on medication. I don’t see that this will help.
Any thoughts????
Re: Help, my child won't stop reading!!
Well said, llp!
My son is also in this boat. It can be annoying and a challenge but it has up sides! Being the best reader in his class has done much for his self-esteem. His teachers have been able to use this in a positive way, usually by giving him books relating to the area under study. They frequently make suggestions for library books they think he might like and have books send down from the middle school. I simply can not image a teacher physically taking a book away from him or marking his grade down because of this! I know David is allowed to turn in assignments early and read while the rest of the class works on assignments.
I agree that it sounds like your son needs more accommodations. David tapes some assignments or dictates them to me. He is also working on his keyboarding skills and as that improves so will the use of the Alpha Smart.
Try to discover why he reads so much…a love of books (good) or to escape the frustrations of the day (bad). Also consider if he might have sensory integration issues. David does have problems in this area and when there is too much going on he hyper focuses on books in order to block out the other sensory input.
Good luck,
Barb
Re: Help, my child won't stop reading!!
So, why should he stop reading? Is there anything else going on of any interest or value to him?
Have you asked the teacher what she thinks she is teaching by taking books away from a child who wants and likes them?
I was much like this as a child — could read anything but could not write a simple sentence. And so was my daughter.
Mrs. Ross in Grade 3 taught me to write, teaching copperplate with dip pens and inkwells (she said we would know if we made a mistake and she was right) to a class of thirty-five eight year olds.
I taught my daughter enough about writing that she was able to get by — she never did learn cursive capitals, but she figured out that if she wrote slopy curvy print capitals they looked fine and were accepted.
Take the time with OT and teach him how to write enough to get by. It is a physical skill like a sport and requires coaching in how to do the moves correctly (inventing on your own and doing things backwards is as counterproductive in writing as it would be in soccer or hockey or any other physical skill). Like any physical activity it requires regular practice, usually daily, and time. Because he has been left on his own and not taught directly, he has lost two years of work time and will have to put that time in, but it can be done. Learning to write at least adequately is a very useful skill in the world — memos, notes, phone messages, notes to self, forms, … and it is worth putting in the work now.
People on this site have spoken highly of Handwriting Without Tears. I have also made up my own personal notes — email me and ask for a copy (will sendf things as soon as virus damage is cleared up.)
He won’t suddenly love to write pages of work overnight, but six hard months of work from now to the end of the school year can be a real turn-around.
sometimes meds help for the dysgraphia
I didn’t think it would until I saw it with my own eyes…
Your son is tuning out the rest of the world when he is reading…He could be ADD-Inattentive and have some other issues besides.
Granted he is learning when he is reading but he isn’t focusing on what the classroom teacher wants him to do. The fact that he loves to read will take him far but he really needs to master his ability to control when he reads and where he reads because this happy reading habit for him can be deemed as avoiding contact with people, his peers, because he is involved in his own little literary world and not the real living world.
Has he had an OT or PT evaluation recently? Perhaps they can shed some more light on his motor issues.
Re: Help, my child won't stop reading!!
I can’t imagine punishing a child for such a voracious appetite to read :o
I understand that there may be some negative impact on other areas, but his strength here should be utilized to help compensate for the areas of weakness.
As others suggest, more thorough testing from someone competent in diagnosis might not be a bad idea.
However, as a dysgraphic adult, with a dysgraphic son, I understand his desire for knowledge while avoiding that which he finds frustrating. Sounds to me like he finds reading easy and fun and writing tasks somehting to avoid. Hmmmm.
Outside of signing his name and basic printing, have you pursued typing? I cannot begin to describe what freedom typing has provided for me as well as our son. It took me quite a while to convince my son, but once he started the instant messaging with his friends, his skills improved and the one day he finally “got it”. For some time he has been typing all school work (college age now), but this made a huge difference in school at the high school level.
I know. Some teachers in the early grades insist on printing and cursive (blah blah blah), but odds are good they do not understand the physical challenge it is for those of us who are wired differently.
I guess what I’m saying is your son’s strength in reading needs to be reinforced, but then again, basic social skills regarding paying attention in class, crossing the street etc… needs to be addressed. Positive reinforcement and rewards for behaviors desired may work. I would sure try about anything before medicating him (my opinion). Possibly these could also be written into his IEP?
Headaches aren’t caused by lack of aspirin :?
Anyway, good luck to you all.
Andy
Re: Help, my child won't stop reading!!
Andy,
My 10 year old’s keyboarding skills have improved drastically since he’s began posting on the bulletin board of SparkTop.org . Its a board aimed at 8 -12 year old LDers. And he has just discovered instant messaging. I expect another leap in keyboarding skills. Just takes the right motivation, huh?
Re: Help, my child won't stop reading!!
Yep, as for the Bulletin board. A similar thing happened to me. My typing was just horrendous, very slow and difficult. I have used speech to text but I have allergies so it was hard to use. (It is anyway). I also used CoWriter. This helped but was still slow. Then I got on an aquarium group— with my current, at the time thing of saltwater tanks. I couldn’t post enough. But the trouble with CoWriter for that was that I had to get off CoWriter or type in various codes for nos. like tank size etc. So I ended up finding typing easier. I ended up being fair in typing. I still don’t like it that much but I can do it. And when I can do something interesting like typing here it is sort of fun.
Motivation may not be everything but it is a lot.
—des
reading all the time
Medication for what? It’s an interesting thought but I’m not sure what medication we’d be talking about.
It’s also an interesting problem and not one I’ve encountered in my 21 years of teaching. Is he reading in school to avoid doing the written work? If so, he needs greater support with the written work so he can feel as if he will be successful with it.
What does your son say when asked why he reads in defiance of the teacher’s instructions? I’d be interested to know what he says.
to sara
Gee Sara, you’ve never run into this in 21 years of teaching? I have two students of this general type — not as extreme, but reading two levels or more above their writing — right now. And I’ll be happy to introduce you to my family. Just because we are not the usual sort of problem doesn’t mean we don’t exist!
I was one of those too!
Had a window seat in Grade 2, and therefore access to the SRA library —which I would sneak when teacher was not lookin gand read through while pretending to do work. Only lasted a little while, and then they ganged up on me — seat moved and NO library books at home unless good daily report — but with the reward that AS SOON as work was done, I could pull out a book and read away! At that point I was avoiding due to boredom, so it worked well all around. And my ‘LD’ areas didn’t show til later, so it WAS possible for me to respond to the consequences. Sounds like this guy needs more help than he does punishment!
I agree that this guy needs support to get the work done — but he is reading NOT ONLY to ‘avoid’ — but to satisfy his hungry, bored intellect! This is NOT an ADD problem, IMO — please, don’t suggest meds FIRST. Not everything is attributable to ADD, and attention is much easier when work is possible. Plus, many ‘true-ADD’ folks I have spoken to say that reading is JUST as hard for them as focusing on the teacher or the work — if it is true ADD, it exists in ALL areas of life, ALL activities, unless hyperfocus is in play. He sounds GIFTED/LD, not ADD — there is a huge difference, despite the surface similarities (and the fact that many ADD types are ALSO GIFTED/LD!)
Many gifted children/people have trouble being bored — teach him how to engage with his work (given supports as many have mentioned) but let him READ, READ, READ after doing what is necessary and possible…and I think it is quite normal for a child to focus on what is pleasurable, easy, and rewarding, while avoiding what is hard, unpleasant, and ego-destroying. He needs HELP — not meds.
This may be a pain now, but this hunger for the printed word will serve him well all his life, and likely make it much easier for him to manage his deficient areas…GOOD LUCK!
My daughter is in 4th grade and also reads at a 7th grade level and has dysgraphia. She can’t write to save her life, but same as your son can tell you everything you want to know.
I think the reason your son won’t stop reading is because that’s the one thing he knows he can do well. I can’t imagine anything more frustrating than not being able to express your thoughts, or to demonstrate your knowledge of a subject via paper and pen.
Our daughter had horrible self-esteem issues due to this. Thanks to a classroom teacher who was willing to help her by writing for her, or let her use the PC to do her work, this greatly improved by the end of last year. Plus, her IEP includes social work to help her understand that’s she’s not stupid, or lazy, she has a disability.
Our daughter’s IEP has very specific limitations on the amount of writing she does in class and for homework. Her spelling tests are to be done verbally, or at a table by herself where she can say the word as she writes it. Her daily journal is done on the PC, and she has a resource teacher in the classroom to help with any written work as well. We do most of her homework on the PC at home, or I write it for her when it’s a worksheet that won’t translate to the PC.
Instead of medication, which won’t help anyway, I would address the writting requirements put on your son. I would also see if you can’t get him some help to understand that it isn’t his fault he can’t write.