Breaking Through

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I am currently tutoring a student in an Elementary school who is repeating the fifth grade and reads at a third grade level. At our first meeting the students tells me he doesn’t like to read and I can’t make him read and he doesn’t care if he is an adult who can’t read.

Well of course he doesn’t like to read. Reading comes hard to him. Children feel very badly for and about the things they cannot do well. But he’s only two years behind grade level. That’s not so bad. Who suggested to him he would be an adult who couldn’t read? If that was you, you need to amend that remark and quickly. It clearly didn’t motivate him and likely only further served to shut him down. If it wasn’t you that said it, be sure to tell him how wrong that person was.

Minimize this child’s problem. Don’t make it even bigger than it is. Point out to him that we don’t all learn to do the same things at the same time. We’re people, not robots. And point out ot him that we all need different kinds of instruction. Just as the people of the world speak many different languages, there are many different ways to explain and learn how to read. In the classroom, he got one kind of instruction and now with you he’s going to get a different kind. Doctors have many different kinds of medicines to give us and teachers have different kinds of reading instruction.

I have met with this student twice. During our first meeting he would only read a sentence, and during our second meeting he talked about his family life and read one paragraph with no questions asked.

I would have taken that as a good sign. He was opening up to you.

He seems to be lacking on decoding. But he is seems to keep people at a distance and will not show his true reading skills.

I will be tutoring this student for about 12 weeks and my goal is to assist him in raising his reading confedence so that he can move on to the sixth grade and have a better chance for success.

12 weeks is a very short time. It’s not likely that you can impact a great deal on his reading skills in that time. Why limit yourself to raising his reading confidence? Are there things you do less well than others? Talk to him about learning issues that you’ve struggled with. Children tend to see adults as perfect and it can help them to know we’ve all struggled. Let him know his reading skills will likely serve him very well in life. That will raise his confidence.

Undo the damage that some well-intentioned but unthinking person did by telling him his reading skills won’t serve him in life. That was just too scary for a child to hear.

Thanks Sara,

The information you provided helped me a great deal. To answer one of your questions; during our first meeting my student sat down and blurted out “I read at a 3rd grade level, I don’t like to read, you can’t make me read, and I don’t care about being an adult who can’t read.” I kind of guessed from that statement that someone had already talked to him about illiterate adulthood. I was sort of shocked by the opening statement that I responded, “Okay, well I’m Mr. Allen, what do you like to do?” I didn’t know what else to say, it was clear he wasn’t going to do a lot of reading for me that day. From that point on we just talked a little about things he does outside of school and he read one sentence for me.

Again, thanks for the advice, you have eased and enriched my concerns on what I am doing or can do to assist my student.

I’d go one of two directions — either face him down and take it to a higher level, and basically say “if you’re not going to participate, I could be working with somebody that would be helped; anybody could be your babysitter.”
Or… first, I’d try the tactic that worked for me ins wimming lessons — spend some time doing really easy things that they knew they could do. I’d ask what he would be interested in learning mroe about that has something to do with reading — learning some new words, even if you don’t read them, or read some really “easy” words that are phonetically regular but advanced in concept — unless of course that’s exaclty what he can’t do, in which case I’d get high interest stories, and then teach the decoding around that for a while — with *really* easy stuff.
This is assuming that his issue is being utterly sick of being pushed too fast and always being at his frustration level and feeling stupid, and not another behavior issue, in which case I’d try to figure out what that was.

Thanks Sue,

I will keep you posted!!

I have had two very reluctant readers…..
Finding them a book to read where they get so into the book, they can’t wait to read the next page seems to have done it for both of them. It has been so exciting to see these two borderline ED/BD students actually get into a book where they don’t want to put it down when the bell rings!

For both of them, I started reading a paragraph and then they read a paragraph, and gradually chpater by chapter. Both boys eventually asked me if they could continue on their own. I am happy to say they are both reading independently AND ENJOYING THEMSELVES!

[quote=”Sara”]quote-

I am currently tutoring a student in an Elementary school who is repeating the fifth grade and reads at a third grade level. At our first meeting the students tells me he doesn’t like to read and I can’t make him read and he doesn’t care if he is an adult who can’t read.

I’d say then - well, that’s ok if you don’t like to read. Not everybody does like to read. It’s good to be able to read the things we have to read in life, though, like signs on the road and instructions for our new computer. Isn’t it?

When children say they don’t like to read, too often adults act as if they’ve set a flag on fire or stomped on a kitten. Not everybody does like to read - we shouldn’t overreact to such a statement and it should be ok not to like to read. My husband doesn’t like to read and he has several graduate degrees. He likes to listen to things on tape. Not everyone finds reading a soothing activity.

And you didn’t overreact so good for you. This child will do well with you and he’s already opening up to you. With some one on one practice in a comfortable setting such as you’re providing for him, his skills will improve and his confidence may soar which can only do him and skills good.

Maybe you can figure out a way to make it longer than 12 weeks.

You can say to the student “I know how reading works and I know what doesn’t work, and I know I can help you do better. Do you want to get rid of this hassle?” Then you can teach him decoding. Whether he is supposed to know it or not, thinks he knows it or not, over 90% of the time there are glaring weaknesses in decoding for kids of this sort. Then follow it up with immediate real application reading a real book of high interest, and *show* him that this skill thing is useful. Look at Shay’s old posts here for outlines of how she teaches non-reading high schoolers. The main thing is to be positive that you do know how this thing works, and realistic that you are going to put in real work time with him, he’s going to have to put in real effort, but you are going to stop playing around and really teach him skills to read.

I want to thank all who responded to my posting, I took a bit of information from all of you and put it to use. I was firm, yet caring, and I put the school book away and picked out a book that the student is really interested in. I had my doubts but on ourl third tutoring session I show him the books I had checked out from the Library and he was excited. He opened the first book and started reading me saying anything. The book was about a 3.0 level book with short paragraphs about Mr. Yees job as a mechanic. My student read all 30 pages in this book. He did have trouble with a lot of the words but to keep the momentum I didn’t stress the he figure out what the words are, I waited for him to try the word and when he bacame silent I would just say the word and he would repeat it, and the next time the same word came up he did well at remembering.

I praised him on his word attack skills, and his reading the entire book, I then told him that we will need to begin thinking about writing but it is just a thought right now. He looked at me and said, “That’s cool.”

I was very excited that he read the book and I will gently start introducing sounding out words and phonics to him as we move along. I hope I am going in the right direction, and as always any thoughts ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

:P Lavell,
I’m just a dumb mom but I think you are a terrific person for trying so hard to help this student!! You genuinely seem to CARE! That is the kind of teacher all children need. Thank you for your attitude!! Jan

It’s something to really hang onto — to remind you that attitudes are so often defenses against total frustration and humiliation… but when you build a bit of trust…
:D :D :D :D :D
Makes ya feel like maybe you could be doing somebody some good…

Good start.

One warning — he has probably had a lot of this kind of help over the years. He has learned to recite a word orally, and when he sees the written form again soon he can guess from the first letter and the length, assuming it’s one of his new words for the day. But this word recognition generally melts away like snow in the summer; next week he stares at that same word as if it’s in Martian. This is what I mean when I say kids with this profile usually *think* they know how to read, but over 90% of the time they have huge weaknesses in decoding.

With this good start on attitude and working together, start him on a *good* decoding program that includes *vowels* and *vowel pairs* (he has probably been taught simple single consonants ten times over too, but since that alone is not enough to be useful, he probably thinks that phonics is worthless)

I persobnally use Scholar’s Choice Check and Double Check Book 2 with kids at this level — it is amazing how they progress.

With my students in this boat, I divide the tutoring session into three parts, 20-30 minutes reading for fluency and enjoyment, 15-20 minutes for phonics step by step (two or three pages a day), and 10-15 minutes for word study — writing, spelling, vocabulary, etc.

I’m not a teacher — but a mom of a dyslexic and a former adult literacy volunteer tutor. What you did, I was told to call ‘assisted reading’ and it is used in adult literacy tutoring exactly for the reason you did it — to show someone that reading is NOT ALL HORRIBLE WORK but can be pleasurable. Adult illiterates usually arrive with more baggage than anything else, and we were told that our most important job was to communicate that this was NOT going to be like the previous unsuccessful attempts at reading.

Of course, Victoria is right and the above is only PART of the puzzle — but if you awaken the desire, and as (I think) Sara said, make it OK to not ‘love reading’ but give him the confidence to believe you can help him attain the ‘needs to know’ level of reading every adult must have, you will have done a very great thing. I also have a successful husband who HATES to read unless it is the newspaper or a manual!

Just had to add my 2cents and commend you for your good work!

Just want to mention that Rewards from Sopris West is an excellent program for older students. It is very easy to use because it is entirely scripted.

Even just two or three lessons from this book can make a big difference in the ability to decode multi-syllable words, and therefore in the self-esteem and confidence of the older student. You might want to look at it.

Website is http://www.sopriswest.com/rewards/

Nancy

Lavell, from a Mom’s perspective this child is really lucky to have found you. One question—do you think you could persuade him to listen to a high interest, grade-level (or above) book on tape several times a week between your sessions with him? I have to tell you that this works miracles for my son’s vocabulary. My son and husband both are extremely intelligent and both have dyslexia. They listen to books on tape about 20-30 minutes/day on the way to school. They both love literature and have good vocabularies. But I have to tell you that they will never love reading—it is just too much cognitive strain for them. I think we avid readers have to get this through our thick heads, that a person can love literature and still dislike reading. Enough said—you sound like a real gem of a tutor.

I am a graduate student in a similar situation. Here are some things that you might find helpful. I hope I do not repeat what others have already written.
1. Let the students pick the novel from which you will practice reading.
2. Next time the student decides to open up about his family, use it as an opportunity to teach, by transcribing a small part of the conversation, having him read it. Take a few words for in-depth study. This will also make a powerful cloze activity.
3. Allow the student to take the book home to share with family. Have him report, in writing, family reactions to the text.
4. Will this kid be more responsive to real world texts such as the sports section of a newspaper or video game magaZINE
5. praise, praise praise the student for any effort and success.
6. Record the studet reading, chart WPM on CBM chart. Challenge the student to reacha certai goal, by the end of the twelve weeks. If a student reads 6 wpm in wek one, maybe he should read 18 words per minute by the twelfth week. I find st, tend to be very responsive to attractive visuals
especially when they are themed (i.e. field goals).

Hope this helps.
Thank You for caring about this student so much.

SPEDDIE

For short-cut decoding and reinforcement techniques, a great resource is “At Last! A Reading Method for Every Child.” It is by a reading specialist who shares her short-cut reading techniques for testing, remediating, reinforcing, and motivating students up to grade level. You can get information on the following links:

http://www.OnlineReadingTeacher.com/word_skills.html
http://www.OnlineReadingTeacher.com

Hello, I want to thank everyone for their input and ideas regarding reading instruction with a LD student. The semester is over and I will no longer work the this student after tomorrow. I have used many of the techniques mentioned in the many replies that I received.

I just wanted to share with everyone that I feel there was a little progress made by this student. I observed him in his class during social studies and he is now writing short reports using a computer. His spelling has much to be desired but the enthusiasm with the computer is high. I also shared a personal story of when I was in the 9th grade getting off of the bus one of my pigs was standing at the bus stop and I was extremely embarrassed. He seemed to enjoy the story. I wrote a poem about it that was recently published in my college’s literary magazine and I read the poem to him and asked him if he liked it or not and he did, it was encouraging to me because he remembered me telling him this story so that sparked interest and when I asked him to retell the poem to me he did with great enthusiasm.

I am hoping that him seeing that I have been published will inspire him a little to want to read and write more, even if only when using a computer.

Again, thanks to everyone who shared their ideas!! I’m sure I will have more questions and hopefully ideas to share.

Happy posting!
Lavell

The VERY first thing I would do with this student is discuss what he does like to do, then find materials that pertain to those preferences at a level he can manage. Then I would ease him into the next level.