Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How to make reading interesting again

Hi there! I was hoping for some advice about helping a 3 year old re-gain reading interest. My youngest will be 4 in July. Right at 3.5, she began decoding on her own and was quickly reading sentences and short level 1 readers (slowly and with encouragement - was never fluent). We never pushed her or worried about attempting to get her progress because of her age. Anyways, it seems that after (in her mind)"mastering" this skill, the novelty wore off. Now if I try to read a book with her or even get her to fill in a simple word while I read to her, she refuses saying that she doesn't like to read.

She writes well for her age, I think, and writes all over paper and drawings she makes (the other day she drew a picture of our family and wrote "love" and "famil". This makes me thinks that she still knows how to sound out words. It isn't important to me that she reads at this point, but I am a little concerned that she says reading is "not fun" and that she "doesn't like it". Any opinions or advice on this? Thanks in advance!

I'd consider getting her vision checked (or do your own test informally and on the sly), and stop applying even slight pressure for her to read. She'll be back to it soon enough. She's likely reading on the sly now anyway, but just doesn't want to perform in front of you. In the meantime strew plenty of interesting new reading material at an appropriate level, and continue reading to her-- with no requests to read a single word.

This is good advice. I never thought about her vision at all! I do think she is reading on the sly for sure... she is the most obstinate child ever - out of my 4 anyway. Lol. We went to Cheddar's the other day for lunch, which she had never been to, but heard her dad and I mention to each other at some point. When we pulled up, she said "Cheddar's"! When I said "How do you know this is Cheddar's?" She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms. Turkey.

Not that this will be helpful advice at all, but fwiw, my kids were like that about a lot of things when they were 3-4 years old - they'd be really into one type of new learning thing for awhile, we'd get excited about it and they would move on to something else. In some ways I can't help but think that it's the first developmental stage where they are focusing on how to completely confuse their parents

I wouldn't worry about the reading too much - it will come in time! I also don't know that I'd be for certain she's "reading" the Cheddar's sign - my kids all knew how to "read" the restaurant signs long before they could actually read - they knew the names from having been there before, and the signs usually have distinctive logos.

polarbear

Get a level 2 reader. Tell her if she wants to stay up past her bedtime she can stay up late to read. When my son tries a challenging book he only reads a page or two before he gets tired. Books on his level he can read anywhere from a few pages to the whole book in one sitting. Alternate which level book you offer. I'm not sure how the leveled readers match but from my limited experience my son reads level 2 chapter books and grade 1.5 books so I think they're the same level. Example Fly Guy and Goodnight Moon are grade 1.5 and The Magic Set and Henry and Mudge are level 2. Those are books he can read as much as he wants to which is usually a lot more when he can stay up late reading.
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny is grade level 3.5 and Maximum Boy is grade level 3.7. That's two books he's struggling through. That means he can only read one page or two pages and it literally makes him tired. He'll still gladly try it if it means he can stay up late reading. But then he doesn't stay up late he gets tired and goes to sleep.
That getting to read past bedtime really got my kid past the hump from "being able to read" to actually reading. And actively reading has recently lead to an interesting part in the book where he kept reading because it was a very interesting part. That's the first time he's done that so I think he's transitioning to where the decoding's automatic enough for him to start enjoying the story. We're on the cusp between reader and fluent reader. You're on the cusp between emergent reader and reader. The part that works to get past both "humps" is to offer to let them read past bedtime, it's the one time of day with a built in motivation.
Scholastic book wizard (google it) lets you know the level of many books.

I also agree with lucounu. No offense to La Texican, but her method would have turned off both my kids, or at least made them suspicious.

I am obviously working with a sample size of two here, but my experience with having a child who started reading at just-4 and one who started reading at just-5 has been that the younger child has much less stamina. He is decoding very well, but tires quickly and lacks the attention span that DD had when reading clicked for her. I am just now seeing him read a whole picture book at a time (aside from very easy early readers; I'm talking about a real picture book), though if you tested his actual ability and fluency he would probably be at about an early 2nd grade level. Still, he is a pretty different animal than a typical late first-grader reading at a grade level, you know?

I would just pick up some fun books and read them to her while you use your finger to follow the text. That got my DD who could read read books. We used late first grade leveled readers like "Frog and Toad." But...I do think that is how my phonics oriented girl became a whole language reader and now hates to have to sound out a word.

re: stamina--With DD3, stamina is always trailing behind the other reading skills. The second grade level books-- those books that are usually beginner chapter books like "Mercy Watson"-- overwhelm her, and I have to actually sit with her and guide her through. But, once she reads these thicker book to me she can pick them up and read through them. She remembers all the tricky words. That helps with confidence.

But, she could never read a late second grade leveled chapter book like a "magic treehouse" or "Ivy and Bean" book even though she could decode most of it. Those are a roadblock. Instead, we have gotten out some of her favorite picture books that are third grade or above. She has strabismus, so we know when she is having vision issues. Her eye turns out. So, in a way it has helped us to know her limits.

We also spell out long words to her orally. I wish she could write, but she is not there yet. But, I have heard of some kids spelling and writing before reading. Maybe, this is your DD's path.

Also, DD had a lot of fun reading her old "Wild Animal Baby" magazines. One day she read almost all 24. The text was simple but the words were big. They are meant for parents to read to babies. And, she was actually interested in reading to learn! So, maybe look into simple non-fiction.

There's no way I'd be offended by someone doing things differently than I. Here's a 30 minute video I watched this morning by a Waldorf teacher about the benefit of delayed text exposure for little kids. http://vimeo.com/9181078/. I always say "there's many angles to the dangle". I didn't make that up, a friend did. But I wholeheartedly agree.

It's so cute when Waldorf schoolers start talking about research!

LOL at lucounu--I have to kinda agree.


Right. This is where my DS is, too--he could decode those books, probably (and he does pick up chapter books and read a paragraph here and there) but it's way too much for him to tackle now, which is fine. Picture books are amazing and span such a range. Honestly, I'm pleased as punch to be done with our brief stint in easy readers. I mean, I love Cynthia Rylant, but.