So DS11, dysgraphic with ALL the symptoms of stealth dyslexia, has entered 6th grade, a grade with very taxing amounts of reading. He has always been an extremely slow and reluctant reader and will only read comics for enjoyment.
I finally bought him "Huck Finn" for school as an audiobook to try for a car trip. 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.
So, my question is: could all of his literature assignments be replaced by audiobooks? Does the act of reading rather than listening contain part of the learning such that audiobooks should not be substituted? 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?
I should mention that he scored 160 on the oral recall portion of the WJ III. He remembers everything that goes into his ears. When he reads aloud he word substitutes at least 10% of the words and is so very slow. I suspect he actually gets better comprehension from audio because he is hearing the actual words not the hodge podge of correct and incorrect that he sees when reading.
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? Or will it be a frustrating diminishing return like handwriting practice with no serious improvement?
Last edited by fwtxmom; 08/31/12 08:12 PM. Reason: Clarity
