7 Year Old Hates to Read - Has Difficulties

What does he like? What interests him? Space? Comics? Animals. Let him read about what he would like to.
Get him some books that are for end of kindergarden and beginning first grade so that he feels a sense of accomplishment when he reads. It is not a race. Was HE disappointed to be 2nd to last or were you?
Be understanding. Let him know that we ALL have thing that we struggle with and it is frustrating, but the more we work at them the better we get.
Start with shorter reading times so that his level of frustration is lower.
B.
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You might try getting him some things to read...even magazines that are about things HE is interested in. Even if it's trucks or toads...at least he would be reading. He might be more interested and stay with it if it is something he would like to know more about.

The school should test him for a reading disability. If he has a reading disability, it will not matter what you do he will not learn with out specific intervention. My daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade and is now going into 4th grade and reads at grade level and now loves reading because she received appropriate intervention. You have to fight for it. Don't let anyone tell you he is too young for testing, that is not true, the earlier diagnosed the better the outcome. I am not saying that your son has a learning disability, I am just saying that if he is struggling and intervention has not helped testing will also put your mind at ease if he doesn't have a learning disability.

Martha R on this site has good advise regarding this subject.

My five year old behaved the same way at times. He reads fine when I can get him to read. His issues were following the text and skipping lines. Sometimes he makeups words that are not there.

What works for me to keep him interested is the selection of books we read. He won't read just any book because it's on his reading level but he has to be really interested in what he is reading. Otherwise I can forget it. So, it takes time and patience but I have to carefully select stuff that will get his attention. So, select books that your son is really interested in. Something that facsinates him.
Also, we take turns reading. I will read a few sentences or a paragraph then it's my son's turn and he will read. Sometimes we both read aloud together (reading the same text).
Also, if your son has problems following text and skpping sentences like my son does, get a indext card and block out the lines below what he is reading so he can stay on track.
Also, let him know that its okay if he does not read every word perfectly so he will not get frustrated. He will get better as time goes on. Also, its okay if he reads the same thing over until he memorizes it because he will be learning how to read with flow and how to stop at the end of sentences, how to pause at commas, etc.
You might even want to try some of those DVD's (fairytales mostly) which tale a story with the captions at the bottom so that he can read along. My 5 year old loves those.
good luck.

If I could suggest something to you, frustration with reading can have real causes. I would suggest that you take the summer to contact a nueropsycholgist and invest in an evaluation. It may be one of many different issues that can be helped with targeted instruction or therapy.

It could be decoding, fluency, tracking, eye muscularture convergence, visual perceptual, processing speed, or any number of things and what you do will be dependent on exactly what his issue is. Kids don't usually resist and dread reading for no reason at all, and they usually can't tell you exactly what it is.

I think you will find out what you need to do, and your insurance may cover it. If you discover something, your school may need to remediate it, and will still need to evaluate themselves, but you should always know more than they do about what your son needs. It is a very worthwile investement.

M.

It's hard when they are struggling. Having him tested is a great idea. What are his interests? If he like fire trucks, find him fire truck books. Dinosaurs, dragons, wizards, pirates, horse/dog stories, bugs, Dr Seuss, Narnia - what ever he likes, find books about it. The trick is finding something so interesting that he doesn't mind a bit of effort trying to read it. Reading with him is good. Keep it up as much as possible. Make it something fun that you do together. Play games with it. Have him read one page, then you read the next page. My son was coming along, but things didn't really click for him until the 2nd half of 2nd grade. And then there was no stopping him. He's starting 6th grade in the fall and reads at a 12th grade level. He's a voracious reader and sometimes I have to take away the recreational reading for a bit in order for him to concentrate on other work.

He should be tested. He may be dyslexic. Dyslexia can be a lot of things. Not just seeing in mirror image. You may be able to get some tips that will make all the difference to him.

Suggestions: Let him read out loud to you, but don't correct EVERYTHING. You want to build his confidence. Let him sit next to you while you read out loud to him. He can learn that way too. Let him try to follow what you read if he likes. Reading out loud to him is important and I'm glad you are doing it, but try not to worry if he doesn't understand every word. I CONFESS, I still don't know every word when I read. I can skip that word and still get the context of what I am reading just fine.

Let him hold a piece of paper or ruler as a guide while he reads so that he can't see the sentence below what he is reading. Sometimes there is just too much on the page.

Keep your sessions short. Better to do 15 minutes twice than a 1/2 hour at one time if he easily frustrates.

Encourage him that pretty much everyone reads at the same level eventually.

http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/readalouds/ht/readalou...

Dr Haba in Shelby Twsp has a vision institute that does vision therapy. They claim that this can really help kids struggling in school, and document successes. I have not used them for this, but it all sounded great, and is worth looking into for your son.

Hi Jodi! You seem to have gotten many great suggestions. I apologize if I repeat any since, I admit it, I just skimmed the other answers!

I know that you said you are having him read the book first, them you read it with him. Try it the other way around. That way he will be somewhat familiar with the book. Also, let him know it is o.k. to skip a word he doesn't know and go back to it. There are many words in English that do not "sound out" and kids get very caught up in this! Instead, have his skip it, then see what could make sense in that space. He should use some of the letters to see if the word he guessed makes sense. Usually the first few letters of a word are all the child will need at that point.

Instead of going to Borders, I would recommend the library. Some have the books color coded by different reading levels. This way, too, there are lots to choose from, but you aren't out a ton of money if he doesn't like them. Let him choose some to read to you, but also some for you to read to him! If he has an interest in a certain subject, there may also be non-fiction books at a lower level for him (bugs, dinosaurs, the jungle, etc.).

With my son we often do "I read a page, you read a page" too. What we see as a short book can seem like War and Peace to a young child. Try to find magazines for kids, too. The shorter articles can be less intimidating. I know of Highlights for Kids, but I am sure there are others out there as well.

When you have him do his reading on his own, are you reading as well? This can help if it is a "family activity" instead of him feeling like he is missing out on all the fun (since he clearly isn't viewing reading as fun :) ) If you are sitting next to him on the couch or on a blanket under a tree you are still there to help as well as modeling good reading for him.

Ask some family members to write letters to him. It is ALWAYS fun to get mail! I also leave my son notes in the morning when I leave for work before he is up. He can help you write grocery lists (use the ad for help spelling), or you can have his check to see if something is on sale. Let him write letters to family members,too.

I know I have written a long post here, but I hope that some of it is helpful! Please feel free to contact me if I can help in any other way! Good luck!

I'm sad to hear that reading is so hard for him. My son's teacher had me have him read out loud because hearing himself say the word somehow increases comprehension and fluency. Instead of having him read half an hour silently, he read half an hour out loud and I did see improvement over the course of a couple months.

The other thing that comes to mind is that if he continues to have difficulty, you might want to have him tested to make sure that there are no learning differences. If he struggles to keep letters in the right order when his eyes are tracking or something, there might be some compensation methods that would help him learn/read better (and the tester should be able to provide that information). Better for him to learn that when he's young, if it is a problem, than when he's older. (I didn't get tested until grad school and it's been a struggle to change.)

I've always been told that you just have to find books that interest the child. Take him to Borders or to the library and let him pick out several types of books. My daughter will be 8 August 8th, and has become an avid reader. To get her there, I bought her simple chapter books, Junie B Jones. They're not boy books, but my son who's 6 is starting to get into a series called Matt Christopher, sports series for boys. They have books that involve all the different sports, so you could get him one that pertains to a sport he likes. If your son likes video games, I've heard of parents telling their child that they can play video games as long as they read a certain number of minutes each time they're finished playing. I personally don't like this idea because I feel that it doesn't create a passion for reading, but rather an obligation. But, you never know, it may work great to atleast get a child reading, and maybe could lead to enjoyment.

Be sure to get his vision tested by someone who specializes in childrens vision issues (probably an opthamologist). There are tracking issues that can be helped with vision therapy. You would be amazed at how many kids have these types of issues and how much it helps.

You could try going through "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons." I taught all my boys to read with that book. Also, if he is given books with too many words that he doesn't know on each page, he will get discouraged and not enjoy reading. You might look at getting "Bob Books" for him to read. The first ones are very simple consonant-vowel-consonant words (cat, mat, sat). The first one is mostly short a words and a few sight words. The next book is mostly short e words, etc. Once he feels like he CAN read, he won't get so discouraged and he'll likely begin to enjoy reading. Continue to read to him as well. If he likes the computer, you can practice phonics at www.starfall.com

Good Luck!

Guess what? I'm 56 and I started willingly reading in college. And since then I totally enjoy it.
Sometimes it just takes the right time in the individual's life. Sometimes it takes having an interest in the subject matter. Sometimes there's no rhyme nor reason to why. Cosmopolitan magazine did it for me, reading the edited version of Jaws. So go figure. I was not into sharks or novels. But that still started me on the way. I have books at the present that I had as a kid and still haven't read!
Find out your son's interests. Take him to Barnes/Noble or Borders to find something specifically on that. One example is the Polar Express. Not only did it include the book, but a cassette tape and a jingle bell. Y'know? Little extras that make it fun and exciting.

Hi Jodi,
I've helped with my daughters' classmates reading in K, 1st and 2nd grades. The teachers have a lot of tricks to help the kids figure out a word, like breaking a word into "chunks" sounds, using the pictures or words before and after as a clue to help you figure out a word you don't know. See if you can find a pattern to what things he has difficulty with, does he get intimidated by long words or is he a perfectionist or thinks he sounds silly when sounding out a word? Practice the sight reading words (the words they are supposed to be able to read by the end of 1st grade) he worked on last year with flash cards, then start working on the 2nd grade list, if you know it yet.

My kids love reading comics (fun sound effect and action words) and there are some new easy reader books written in a comic format that are more fun to read, one is Phonics Comics (with different reading levels) and another is Toon Books, both written by numerous authors. Just try to make reading fun and keep it a positive experience, sneaking in various types of reading like helping you make a recipe or reading how-to instructions for a game or toy, or reading an easy to read board book to a young neighbor or cousin that likes to be read to would be a great confidence boost. Best wishes!

Do you have a pet? I've seen TV shows/read articles recently where children with reading problems read to a dog. The dog is non-judgmental (obviously!) and this helps to build the child's confidence level.

Sign him up for your library's summer reading program. Have your children's librarian work with him on books he likes. Take out books together that reflect his interests - snakes, sports, superheroes, whatever. Let him choose kids' books that have a CD with them so he can read along.

My five year old is in a special reading class. They do things slightly differently - basically I read first - a line or 2..3. Then I have her read it back to me. Before this class I would just sit down and expect her to read it. That wasn't working too well and this new system is!

Talk to his teacher. Did s/he notice any reason why he may have had difficulty? You may want to ask that he be tested for a learning disability. The earlier it's diagnosed and addressed the better for your son. The strategies and accommodations that are implemented could make the difference between your son loving school or hating every minute of it. I work with students with "learning differences" at the best university in the state. They are in law school, medical school and all of the best programs. Having this does not mean you cannot be successful in life! Good luck.

Hopefully it is just a phase and he will soon enjoy reading. The ideas that I have a simply to allow him to pick books on things that he enjoys doing. A trip to the library will help you save money doing this, because he can check them out and take them back if he doesn't like them.

Also, kids tend to want to imitate so if others in the house are taking time to read quietly for enjoyment then it may seem like less of a chore.

My son is the same age, and his favorite subjects is baseball and History. So he enjoys reading those. I also found that Borders has a Summer Reading Rewards Program. If kids read 10 books this summer, they get a free one. Target also had a wonderful suggestion in a sales paper recently. They have $5 gift coins that comes in a small sack of 5 ($25 total for the set). They suggested giving kids one for every 5 books that they read. Then they can go buy another book, toy, snack, whatever.

Have you had him checked for dyslexia? I know a lot of people that had it and they HATED reading because they kept confusing the letters and couldn't read things properly. Once they were diagnosed and worked with a specialist, they had no problems and one of them graduated within the top 15 of my graduation class from high school (we had a graduating class of 200-4) lol