I have a 8th grade son who after years of struggling to learn to read is now testing on grade level for reading. The problem is despite this when he reads at this level it is very slow and tiring. After compeleting several pages at this level he starts to get a headache and feel tired. I thought maybe he had an eye problem but his vision tested out fine. This is the 1st year he has had a joy for reading. He likes to read the Retrun of the Jedi Apprentice series which is on a 4th grade level. I think this is fine but his dad has a big fit and tells him to read something more “appropriatte” for his age such as the Lord of the Rings series. My hubby has always been a good reader so he can’t understand it not coming naturally. I think allowing my son to read this series has increased his joy of reading. He recently commented on how he now understands that reading can be for fun and not just learning. I have noticed that he can read these books usually in about an hour or so. They are very short and I think he finds this appealing. He also recently read Of Mice and Men with his class. I thought it would be way over his head but it was not. To my surprise he read the book ahead of the class because he HAD to find out what happened. This is also a shorter book and I think the trick for now is to stick to such short types of stories. Does anyone have any suggestions for books that might be closer to his grade level but still this short?
Re: Interest level VS reading level
Hi Lisa,
My son also only began to read on grade level by 8th grade. He’s 22 now and still reads slowly but tackles really long books (His favorite right now is Shogun). In 8th grade, I remember that he was reading anything and everything by Scott O’Dell. He also liked S.E. Hinton’s writing.
My feelings are that as long as he’s reading for pleasure, don’t worry about grade level. He’ll work through to his own level. Developmentally, he’s going to want to be reading content appropriate to his age. Since my son developed slowly physically, the content in the books he read, although geared for younger children, was really appropriate for him too. By high school, he was ready for more mature reading.
I’m just wondering if you also had your son’s eyes checked by a developmental optometrist for tracking problems or tunnel vision, etc. A regular optometrist or opthalmologist doesn’t check for this and it can be the cause of his headaches.
Re: Interest level VS reading level
Okay, I just read book 14 of the Jedi Apprentice series last night, but if you’re looking for something a bit more “classic” then books by Steinbeck and Hemingway are good choices. Also, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is an exciting book, although it’s not short. Sherlock Holmes stories are short but exciting. You might look for other short stories too.
Jean
Easy is *good.*
There are benefits to reading at his true “independent reading level” (or close to it) that simply can’t be had reading things at his age level. One of the htings that perpetuates the gap between readers and non-readers *is* that your natural reader is so frequently getting easy practice with everyday reading. When that same text is flashed by the struggling reader, generally they don’t read it unless they have to, and if they do, it’s not easy reading, it’s a task that requires some effort.
By practicing reading for pleasure, it makes it lots more likely that when there’s a newspaper nearby, he’ll actually glance at it and read something — more practice. It’s more than an attitude adjustment; he’s not being lazy by not tackling the classics.
Reading over your head also means you make more mistakes and you don’t really hear the “flow” of the language. If anything, you get more “practice” in forced language with missing words and holes in it.
Have him read a tougher book while listening to it on tape once in a while; then read three or four books that he wants to read. (Holes by Louis Sachar is a favorite for kids that age too.O)
Re: Easy is *good.*
I agree. I think the real challenge is getting kids to the level that they like anything they can read. Once they read, success builds on success. My nonLD daughter was not a quick start with reading. She barely read on grade level at the end of second grade. But then she discovered she could read books on her own. Within a year, she was scoring in the 90s on standardized tests in reading. The secret was reading on her own. When kids have to read outloud, they get so much less real reading practice.
Now this same daughter, who now reads way above grade level, likes to read her third grade LD brother’s Magic Tree House Books. She does this when she is tired or bored. (He got all bent out of shape but I told him that he had come a long way when she would take his books).
I am still waiting for the day when my LD son will willingly read anything. He reads close to grade level but only reads because we make him. Short of pornography I wouldn’t care what he read!!!
Beth
Re: Interest level VS reading level
Captain Underpants series are fun, and very popular with boys. They are written for younger boys, but I think preteens can appreciate the humour too.
Maybe encourge your husabdn to read the more challenging books out loud to your son.
Thanks everyone
Thank you for all your wonderful insight. Makes me feel better that I am not so off base for feeling the way I do. I do really enjoy the support I feel this board gives.
Re: Interest level VS reading level
Yes, my youngest son is reading this in his 3rd grade LD class. He has all the books. My oldest son though thought they were too goofy. His “niche” seems to be the sci-fi, he has always been a Star Trek and Star Wars fan. My hubby says he needs to get his head out of the clouds but I see value behind these 2 series. I have noticed he is very enviromentally and socially conscious. I think my dh suffers from what alot of our society suffers from, how is he to be tops? We all can’t be tops though and need to find our own way. Not to say I would not intervene if I felt he was in trouble but I see no problem with his interests. His teachers all feel he is a good citizen and has the potential to go far, just need to convince dh this is true.
Re: Interest level VS reading level
Look at it this way. I have a masters degree but I still enjoy reading books way below my reading level. I owuld encourage your son to read whatever he likes. The focus should be on instilling a love of reading and not working on speed. If you want to work on speed and fluency then get very short passages of grade level material and set a timer. Have him record how many words he reads in the time. Then, try it again. He can do both reading to increase speed and reading for pleasure just use different text.
Nan
Re: Interest level VS reading level
Lisa, Your son will love the Phillip Pullman books if he likes sci-fi. They’re addictive.
Titles of oneof his science fiction trilogy: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
Another trilogy by Pullman- more mystery than sci-fi: The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in The North, The Tiger in the Well
That depends on his reading level
Those might be a bit on the high end of the reading level. (I rather enjoyed the Pullman series myself — but it was also a bit complicated. Like most good fantasy you have to keep track of all the fascinating parameters of the fantasy world — who’s in what universe and what magical tools …
Re: That depends on his reading level
I don’t think the actual level of reading is very high. But I’d think, from what Lisa said, that her 8th grade boy could keep the plot in his mind OK. It would certainly be easier than reading any of the classics. I’ve found, both with my own son who was a very poor reader till mid-high school, that the classics were the very WORST books for him to read. The language is often stilted and old-fashioned. He had great difficulty with any and all the sorts of books I read as a young child.
But Pullman was just fine. Same with the LD kids I tutor. The middle school kids are compelled to read his books because their intelligence isn’t insulted even though the reading isn’t too difficult. My good 5th grade non-LD kids love Pullman as much as my LD 7th and 8th graders.
Great question and a great approach to helping your son develop his reading skills! What about The Pearl also by Steinbeck? It’s short. Also The Old Man and The Sea by Hemingway. Those are both classics, written for adults really and your husband could not object. But they are short.
Has your son seen the new version of the film made recently of Mice and Men? He might enjoy that.
Another book he might enjoy would be The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander and the following series of which it’s a part. It’s rich in historic detail as is Lord of The Rings but much more appropriate for your son’s reading level. And it grabs you and holds you and you just can’t put it down.
Also C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and its followups.