Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Low comprehension scores

One of DS' teachers told me that they are having an issue with DS comprehension scores on reading. She said that she's pretty well convinced that the reason is that he's not overly enthusiastic about what he's reading.

She suggested that in his evening reading sessions (reading log, 30 minutes)that I have him read one page, then illustrate everything that he read on the page. It could be as simple as trees with green leaves etc. She said it will force him to focus more on what he's reading, create a mental picture etc...

I was wondering if anyone else had tried this or if there are some other ways to increase comprehension of boring or noninteresting material?

Well my DS who hates to draw would hate that project and it would become a serious battle to get the evening reading session going if he knew he had to draw when it was over. I have asked him to act out the last chapter with his stuffed animals or lego people and he very much enjoys that. I get to see if he's grasped the vocab and the story that way as well. I sometimes read ahead and ask him questions or have him re-tell me the story so I know he's understanding.

By far the best thing we've done though is to find something interesting, then when dad gets home from work, "catch" him up on the story!

I have a neighbor who's 1st grader (who just read all the Harry Potter books) has a similar issue. I don't have any particular suggestions. I had somewhat of the same problem with my son last year. His first grade teacher kept him at the same reading level the entire year despite him working through many reading levels at home. I think she was asking for writing skills from him that just weren't there yet in terms of describing plots (which she never explained to him either).

Anyway - I found this interesting article for my neighbor I thought might be relevant. Basically what I think it says is boys can fully comprehend something without necessarily being able to regurgitate easily what they just read. I know my son isn't the kind of kid to pick up something and spend hours on something he doesn't get or comprehend.

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-boys-need-alternatives-with-reading.html

It might be interesting to compare his "comprehension" in a chapter read to him vs. a chapter he reads on his own as well. Our neighbor has tried more oral reading to help with her first grader.

Hi Shari,

Here's my experience with this. First, are the reading comprehension scores from Accelerated Reading program? We found that at early ages very bright kids don't want to read "age-appropriate" books. They were interested in more complex or sophisticated stories. Even if their reading level was tested as high, they can't read long books fast so it would take a long time. they'd forget and lose their place etc. So first I'd try shorter interesting books that were of a "decent" reading level like Roald Dahl, or Stone Fox, or The Whipping Boy, or any good book that was about 100 pages. That way they could actually finish within the week and test before the weekend. If there's still a problem, try what we did for longer books: I'd read a chapter to DS, then he'd read the next one to himself but have to tell me what happened to "catch me up" before I'd read the next chapter to him. By re-telling what happened, he would reinforce it in his memory. We'd blaze through neat series (Shadow Children, Warriors, Pendragon, etc.) by alternating chapters or re-capping what happened. This was also a great way for us to connect by conversing about "I wonder if so & so is really the traitor..." or

I still do this with DS7 but the older ones got tired of waiting for me to read the next chapter before age 9. Sometimes they'd read their own book and then we'd have another one we read by alternating. It helped them make big A.R. goals but also introduced them to books they probably wouldn't have read on their own--classics or otherwise slow-action books that might have lost their interest.

At the beginning of the year DD7 missed some questions on AR books that I thought were too far below her reading level. I told her part of the problem was she wasn't engaged in the books and I would have also missed the question about whether Clifford chased a ball, a butterfly or a cat.

I worked with the teacher to have DD take tests on books she was engaged with and were at her level. This helped her confidence and alleviated some of the unhealthy perfectionism that came out when she missed questions on books she knew were too easy for her.

If the teacher thinks the problem is he's not overly enthusiastic about what he's reading, I'd work to find books he IS enthusiastic about! I would expect that approach to have a better payoff than drawing pictures about books that don't engage him.

She tries to let him choose books of interest but it's hard to do reading comprehension with a math book!! LOLOL

Sounds like a worthwhile challenge...
maybe biographies of mathematicians?
Using the new Find a Book site, plugging in "math" as a keyword with science and 775 Lexile gave:
http://www.lexile.com/findabook/SearchResults.aspx?hi=0

Is comprehension a problem for fiction, nonfiction, or both? Is it a problem at a particular reading level, and would it help to back down a level or two? And is she judging a difficulty in comprehension based on AR tests?

LOL. Priceless.


Wow. That's a really great idea. I have to try that!

Shari,

To make boring (necessary) text interesting, I find the use of technology seems to inspire a sudden burst of interest.

Try this link for kidspiration software:

http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration

If your child likes to create schematic maps on the computer, this tool is fun. It also has many reading comprehension type of maps to use with any type of reading.

Furthermore, you'll be hitting two skills with one stone While reading boring text, he'll be fine tuning his tech skills. Oh oh, I didn't mean for this to sound like an ad. I've used this many times and it is for kid friendly than cmap tools.