Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Backslide in Reading

DS6 ended first grade in May reading at a 4th grade level, with comprehension to match. In June, as part of the library summer reading program, he read outloud to me most days for about 20 minutes, and he seemed to be improving a bit in his reading, but wasn't really loving reading. In July we traveled a lot and things got crazy, and he didn't read very often. In August, in an attempt to have him enjoy reading more, I let him read to himself every day and he started to really love it, often reading an hour or more a day and finishing a book a day (things like Dragon Slayers Academy, so slightly below reading level, but comfortable for him). I would ask him all sorts of questions about what he read and he could almost always answer all my questions, and he was just so excited about the stories that he would excitely tell me everything happening in the books.

Well, a couple of days ago he started up a new series (Flat Stanley's Adventures) and seemed to be reading them just a little too quickly and then couldn't answer questions about more than just the general plot, kinda like he was just skimming the book so that he could finish it quickly. So, I decided to have him read a chapter outloud to me. Well, he seems to have declined in his reading ability. He's missing all kinds of really easy words that he's know for years, I think because he's not truly looking where he's reading, and he's reading what he thinks it's going to say rather than what it actually does say. He's forgotten things he's known for years like "ph" makes the "f" sound. And, sometimes he'll read a word like "request" easily and then second-guess himself for some reason and then try to sound it out, and he gets confused.

Could this new difficulty where none ever existed come from having not read aloud for a few months? Is it because it's harder to read outloud then silently? Is it because he got used to reading to himself quickly and now he can't slow it down? Is this a normal adjustment period for an early and good reader? Is it just that he needs a lot more practice reading aloud after a summer of slacking off with this?

It's really frustrating listening to him reading now, when he's making all these little mistakes. Do I need to make sure he reads aloud to me every day? Or, should I allow him to just go back to reading to himself so long as he can answer all kinds of questions about what he's read?

Have any of your kids ever had something similar happen? Do I need to worry?

My dd, though a little younger, seems to go through stages of this. She will read really confidently and fluently for weeks and then literally overnight she will go backwards and suddenly she will struggle with words and sounds that she has known for years. But then, she will get back on track, usually ahead of where she was before 'fell back'. It's happened a couple of times and initially it worried me, but now I just leave it. So I guess really I am agreeing with CFK, it might worth just leaving it for a while and seeing what happens. Others might have had different experiences and be able to shed more light, but for us, just leaving it has worked.

Thanks.

I guess I'll just let him keep reading silently to himself since he really enjoys it. I guess I just got nervous with school starting knowing that one of their primary ways of accessing reading ability is reading aloud to the teacher (the other way is MAP testing, which I think is comprehension, and STAR testing, which I think is vocabulary -- both of which I think he'd have no trouble with). Thanks for talking me down!

I cut and paste my post from earlier today in the "learning styles thread" because I'm too lazy to type it out again. �Kids ebb and flow. �It's normal. It's natural.
I kind of liked the idea that forgetting what you've learned and then relearning it is the best way to learn stuff. I've said the same thing over the years. Well I said it's quicker to relearn something than to bother to try to remember it. My grandmother described it as kids know something one day and they don't the next because it's no longer accessible in the front of their mind. Everything they've learned is still in there somewhere and they'll get back to it sooner or later. This article just described it like, "no one knows for sure why. The idea is that forgetting is the friend of learning. It may be that the brain when it revisits the material at a later time has to relearn some of what has been absorbed before adding new stuff. And that process is re-inforcing. When you forget something it allows you to relearn and do so more effectively the next time you see it."

I Agree. And they said it more clearly than me. That's probably why they got the job at the NY Times. �

It's just wherever their attention's focused at the moment. �Sometimes there's a physical growth spurt happening that interrupts a train of thought. �The brainpower's diverted to physical growth sometimes.

He'll relearn it faster and better this time.

Something similar happened with my son. We homeschool and in 1st grade I had him read aloud to me every day. By the end of 1st grade he was reading solidly on a 5th grade level so I decided that the daily read aloud time was overkill. I didn't have him read aloud for most of 2nd grade and by the end when I did have him read aloud, he would guess at words and over anticipate. His comprehension also seemed to level off. I think he got used to skipping over hard words and guessing. I remember doing this myself at his age.

He is now just starting 3rd grade, and because I am compulsive, I am using REWARDS Secondary with him to reacquaint him with the process of decoding long words. I already see an improvement.

So this is a long way of saying that I think it's just a stage. If you want him to retain his oral reading ability you could have him practice reading aloud. It is a good skill to have.