Three hours later I had to pry the audiobook out of his hands at bedtime. He loved it! He covered 17 chapters in a day, an unprecedented feat.
When I asked the 6th grade teachers if he could use audiobooks they told me he should also follow along in a book to strengthen his reading ability. Will this type of practice be worth the time and effort involved and actually improve his reading that substantially?
Anyway, should he follow along even if it slows him down and steals the joy? Can I just let him listen instead of read without depriving him of important learning?
I say protect the joy, not steal it. I also agree with daytripper75 in that there will be enough content out there that's not available in audiobook form that he'll get practice.
If you support his love of audio-delivered content (rather than turning it into a tired chore) he may become more motivated to overcome his challenges to access the non-audio content.
Or... here's another option: offer him a choice: a) read along with his audio book and be done, or b) listen to and enjoy the audio book and do some different reading for practice later. I think this is what I would do for my son. I'd be really reluctant to steal the joy of the audio book by forcing him to read along.
Just my two cents... I'm not a teacher (just a book worm
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