DS9 can read non-fiction for hours, without complaint or concern, but resists fiction. It started with those horrid reading logs and was made worse by some truly ghastly assigned books in grade 4. I have treated it as a mental block and looked for ways to re-ignite his interest, ranging from pre-reading to ensure I'm strewing books he'll genuinely enjoy, to dropping clues of the excitement to come in the next chapter to most recently (and most shamefully) paying him a quarter per chapter just to get one finished. This with a kid for whom no extrinsic motivation measures have ever worked. He very reluctantly read the book, one painful chapter a day, but never asked for his money (he was really just doing it to make me happy). Meanwhile I can't keep him in non-fiction and his bedroom floor is covered with multiple books in various stages of completion.
He has, though, always had a preference for being read to, videos/documentaries and audiobooks (we did The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy recently - highly recommend). His psychologist describes him as an auditory learner. He says he learns through both hearing and seeing.
A few days ago he read part of the first chapter of a new book I suggested and stopped. He told me he was enjoying it, but that he was tired and had to stop. I asked in what way he was tired and he said that reading made his voice tired. This was perplexing as he had been reading silently (not even moving his lips). I asked about it and he said that's how he reads, he says the words to himself and he can't read without saying it in his head, that's how he understands it. He refused to discuss it further, so I haven't determined if this just occurs with fiction.
He has dysgraphia and his WISC showed a low PS (VC, PR & WM are all high and his GAI was 99%ile). WJ was mostly even, 130 total & lags in writing fluency (106), story recall (100) & story recall-delayed (105). Reading fluency was 119 and passage comprehension 124. I don't even know which subtests or other tests (he had many) may be relevant. Testing is 3 years old, as well.
He regularly pulls out fiction books that are below his tested reading level and that he's already read many times (Dr Suess, Geronimo Stilton, Amulet). Interestingly, as I ponder what I've seen him reading in fiction over the last months, they are all picture books, graphic novels, comics or books with many illustrations. His eyes have been tested and I've tried some of the suggestions on the forum to see if convergence is an issue and it doesn't seem to be. DS says his eyes don't bother him, just his voice.
Does this sound like something in particular? I'm at a loss. Thanks and apologies for how long this became.
