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DS8 is MATH. Recently he decided he didn't have to really work on reading b/c he "wasn't good"... after discussion he changed it to "not as good as I am in math".

I basically appropriately without further dicussion said BS.

So, he doesn't really "like" to read, but he does. We focus on good fit books, interesting topics and he enjoys it but for only SHORT periods of time.

We work on simply 20 min. a day with some discussion of the text for a few minutes. Some days go better than others...

I am wondering if anyone has some other suggestions for making this more enjoyable, how to motivate and even tap into some enthusiasm.

I'd like his scores verbally to reflect his ability but he seems to have given up in the name of MATH.

?!?!??!

Try some mathy books.. Sir Cumference books and Life of Fred might be a start.

If he enjoys reading, but only for short periods of time, he might have tracking or convergence problems, scotopic sensitivity, or some other visual processing issue that makes it difficult, tiring, or physically uncomfortable to read for long periods of time. A standard vision screening won't necessarily pick up on these things. It's worth checking out.

NO. none of that, I am sure.

I think it's more appropriately diagnosed as LAZY.

Try fiction books like Percy Jackson series or Harry Potter. My DDs will read fiction books anytime compared with nonfiction books. My DD7 finished those before her 7th Birthday and she would read 3-4 hours a day. All I had to do was buy the books. I had to ask them not to read during meals and while using the bathroom. I have to bribe them if I want them to read nonfiction books.

If your school has AR (accelerated reading) program, they can earn points by answering the questions (sort of like comprehension test). They have AR points for almost all fiction books. We reward them for their AR points.

The only downside is that they have not found any books they enjoy as much after HP.

Sir cumference series is good for Mathy kids (probably your DS already read those). Life of Fred series will be good but those are for Math purposes and not reading.

Murderous Math, Cat in Numberland, The Number Devil there are bunches-
http://hoagiesgifted.org/mathematics.htm

@Peter- my son read Percy Jackson, followed by the two Kane Chronicles books. He then jumped to 39 Clues (many also by Rick Riordan). He's now happily into The Alchemyst. It was recommended by the Barnes and Noble guy as 39 Clues meets Harry Potter. So far, he's dead on! There are many of those as well in the series.

My DDs read kane chronicles and Lost Heroes. They complained that Rick Roprdan should have finsihed one series before starting another one. They did not like 39 clues (not yet anyway) and they kept on re-reading HP over and over...

Hopefully, we can wean them from HP (after the movie) and introduce other books like ranger apparentice and alchemyst, ...

My son has loved the Magic Treehouse series. I think reading studies have shown that just having the kids reading is good- even if it seems "dumb," like a biography of Justin Bieber or whatever.

Laura,

It's great that you have already had him tested to rule those things out. So many times, these sorts of things go undiagnosed for years because often there are no obvious signs or symptoms other than disliking reading, and parents and doctors don't think to check.

Kudos for checking it out early.

Maybe if he is really seriously mathy some history of math or science. Like Joy Hakim's The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way.

And for reluctant readers if you read a page and then he reads a page might work. Or each of you reading a section on your own and holding a discussion afterward (with you showing a lot of enthusiasm). Reading is a lot of fun if you can share your feelings about what you have read with someone else.