Son having difficulty with reading/writing?

Question

My son who is in grade 2 is having some difficulties with reading/ phonics and writing. He excells in other areas but not these. He does not have a learning disability or problems with his eyesite, it seems to be mostly disinterest. He refuses to read at home even books that should be of interest to him. Are there any programs or games online that one might recommend to stimulate his interest in reading and learning language skills? My son is very much a kinesthetic learner. I would love any suggestions to assist my son along so he doesn't struggle more, as he gets older.

Answer 1

My son is 7 years old and SHOULD BE in the 2nd grade. He also had reading and writing issues. The school district suggested retention because he didn't initially pass his "end of first grade" reading benchmark. At first I was completely against it. I mean, what parents wants the stigma of having a child held back in the first grade?

He went to summer school and was able to finally pass the benchmark - but we still decided to hold him back. He excels in all other subjects ESPECIALLY math. We placed him with the same teacher because she already knows his temperment, strengths and weaknesses. We also figured that if he was going to be held back, NOW was the time to do it - imagine not catching the problem until he's in the 7th grade...

Last year, he never wanted to do his homework because there was too much writing involved. He NEVER wanted to do his daily reading because he swore that he couldn't read (even though I knew he could, just not very well). We got him hooked on phonics for first graders - the reading AND math. Now, he finishes his homework packet within 2 days without being pushed. Now, he WANTS to read all the time. Now, his handwriting is better and he loves to write me notes and read them to me.

I'm fortunate to live in an area where the school district offers reading help. They also offered him in speech therapy to help with the phonics and language usage.

Speak to someone at the school. See if they have special programs that will help with his reading. Check out your local community college to see if they offer kiddie college classes for reading. Sylvan is REALLY expensive and even though it works, they find ways to keep adding things on and taking all of your money when there are OTHER less expensive ways to help him.

I'm glad we held my son back. It was the best decision we could've EVER made. He's young...he'll get over it.

Answer 2

slyvan learning center!!! :]

Answer 3

If he is a kinesthetic learner, you may try to find community drama classes or clubs for the kids.  Try your local arts center, community center or even the local homeschooling group (they know about all the cool classes around town,lol).  There is nothing quite like putting on plays to stimulate some kids to love language.  

Also make your home reader friendly.  Put all kinds of great materials everywhere, not shelves, leave them lying about.  There is nothing wrong, esp. for boys living life in the "short attention span theatre", to get into reading with fun comics, Highlights magazines and all their great games, etc.  

In second grade, you might want to get him involved in this years Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.  Just google it or go to the PBS website.  My son entered last year and won a prize writing a really goofy book that just made us laugh!  He LOVED illustrating the story with a variety of art techniques.  It was such a delightful project.  Your son will be eligible for 2 more years in this contest.  

You might try word magnets.  We have multiple sets of word magnets (you can get them in teacher store, Dollar General, Walmart sometime).  Some of them are themed.  We just stick them on the frigerator and make them into a family affair. He might create a sentence, then another family member makes the next sentence,  someone else might add the next.  It can end up being very interesting.

One of my favorite things is to go to the library and get a book and the book on tape.  Have the child listen to the cd while he reads the book.  You would be surprised how this works.  I first told my son to try to do it for 10 min.  and that was stretched, by him, to 20 min. within days.  Next thing you know, he is doing this instead of playing.  Before you know it, the cd player isn't running and he is engrossed in the book without it.

Try some of the Mad Lib books.  They are fun for a lot of laughs and a great way to review parts of speech and read.  

We did phonics roads outside.  You draw winding roads made of big squares in sidewalk chalk and in each square you write a word, or a sound or a digraph or something he needs to review, in each block.  You need a brick or something as well.  Now the child starts at well...........start.  He reads the first word or says the sound and if correct he moves to the next block.  He repeats that, block by block, until he makes a mistake.  You put the brick there and go over the content of that block. Now he has "Hit the Wall".  He goes back to start and does it over again and tries to "break through the wall" (get the square right this time) and keep going.  I've used this with many things that needed memory work, ex. mult. tables.

Set aside times to read to him and cuddle ,cuddle,cuddle.  

Try to have him read things that are easy for him to build confidence.  

This article was written by the director of our homeschool umbrella school and is quite good.  Enjoy and best wishes.

http://www.homelifeacademy.com/heart_for...

http://www.homelifeacademy.com/phpBB2/vi...

Answer 4

its up to you as a parent to teach your child what he needs to learn and improve in. remember learning starts at home.

Answer 5

make it fun for him if possible kinda make it into a learning game. If he  finishes his home work for a month reward him with extra time on the compter or extra tv time. or a day with just mom and dad at the movies. Do they have those talking books like the vsmile games for his age where he can read along or interact? Have you talked to his teacher ask if theres any thing he can do for your child any after school programs for him to help him.

Answer 6

leapfrog is always fun to them

Answer 7

Most schools have extra help for kids with reading problems.  Check with the school and see if they can help.

Answer 8

Have you had him tested for a learning disability? If not then do. Otherwise it is a power struggle and you can't do much. Take away "fun" things (which means keep him off the computer) until he realizes that school work comes first. When my sons complain about reading etc they loose their weekend PlayStation time.

Answer 9

I was like that when I was young. Best thing to do is set some time aside with your son and read with him so he improves in this area.

My mom did this for me when I was falling behind like your son and I dramatically improved my reading and writing skills. You could also pick up some books from the library and read them together

Answer 10

Think of different questions, Who is the youngest baseball player, or the oldest?  What is the largest or smallest animal?

Let him find the answers, either  by going to the library or on the internet.  Each day have a different question. If the answer isn't found in one day keep looking... How about something special from each state.... person place or thing....  Give him the sports page....  Do you bake cookies? Have him read you the recipe...  If you get something that comes with directions ask him to read them, showing him without telling him how necessary it is to read.

Does he see you read???

Answer 11

If the goal is to make reading seem more interesting to him generally, you might try to make reading more "active" for him.  Let him read something and then act it out with you.  It would make getting through a book a pretty slow process, but it might make reading seem more inherently interesting for him because he'll care about pthe story that is being told.    Another thing that might be fun, especially with things that rhyme, is reading something to him, pausing at certain words and letting him fill in the blanks as fast as he can -- that's partly a memorization thing that even preschoolers like to do, but if you stop at more random points, and it's like a race, then he may start following the words as you're reading to him.  And it takes the "pressure" of having to slowly read each word (during which time he loses the story) off of him a little so that he can enjoy it a bit more.