We all read the articles that detailed the benefits of reading. They tell us that if our child is an avid reader he will get better grades, have a stronger vocabulary, and succeed in life. We look at our reluctant reader and wonder what will become of him or her, our imagination going wild as we imagine the tough life he will have ahead. We may even wonder if it is our fault in some way. There is nothing more frustrating to us and our children than trying to get them to enjoy reading and they, in turn, dreading it even more. I have totally been there, and am going through it again now! But I have faith that it will work out because I watched my first go from comparing reading to getting a cavity filled to becoming an avid reader that is constantly looking for new literature to read, and rereading some for the fun of it. I want to share some of my tips in hopes that some of them will help you and your reader as well.
1) READING DISORDER?
The first thing you want to do is look for signs of a reading disorder. I’ve had two reluctant readers, one with and one without a reading disorder. In some children reading disorders can be tough to catch. My oldest daughter couldn’t stand to read, but when she read out loud, it sounded great. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t enjoy it. After sitting down with her and reading along, I noticed that she read all of the large words, but she put in her own words for any word with two or three letters. She did this so smoothly that unless you were looking at the words, you would have no idea she had changed it. It ended up she had dyslexia. If your child has a learning challenge or has had a hard time reading for any reason, they probably built up a strong aversion to reading and it won’t be easy to break through overnight. Be patient and try some of the tips below. I’ve used these tips to encourage reading in my children with and without learning or reading challenges.
2) BREAK IT UP
Have you ever started a huge project and felt overwhelmed? If you are like me, you dread even starting and don’t even want to think about it. It seems daunting, but if I break it up into a list of smaller tasks and take on one at a time, it becomes doable and much more enjoyable. When your child looks at a long list of practice sentences or a page of reading, it looks overwhelming; breaking it up into smaller parts helps. Take a list of practice sentences and cut it up so there is only one sentence per strip. Without seeing an entire sheet of sentences, the child can read the same amount without the stress. For tackling a page in a book, you can buy or make a piece of paper with a cut out the size of one line of text. Their minds can relax when they no longer lose their place as they read or are constantly reminded of the large amount of words on the page.
3) PLAY A GAME
The more sight words a child knows, the fewer words they need to sound out on the page. I am not advocating sight words over phonics, but there are still plenty of words on the page to sound out if they have a large sight word base. I make a few pages of sight words and print two copies of each. We then play Memory or Go Fish with the cards. After a week I have her quickly read through the cards so I can see which words stuck and which she needs to work on, and then we add a few more and continue. If the words don’t seem to stick for your child, look for my article coming soon on the techniques and ideas I use to help send the words to long term memory, then use the games to practice and to assess how well they are sticking. Most of the time I have the siblings play along. The older siblings enjoy the game, get practice, and can partner up with the younger siblings, who begin to pick up on a few words as well.
4) SECRET WEAPON
After working with my oldest, her reading skills were largely improved and her reading level was at the point that she could pick up most chapter books and novels, but she had absolutely no desire to read. When we have a hard time doing something, we can develop a strong aversion to it. I have known adults that do not like reading, and through talking to them have found that most of them struggled with reading at some time during their childhood, and though their reading skills improved, some of the feelings about reading never changed. Our goal is to help them associate reading with enjoyment instead of frustration. Graphic novels, or comic books, ended up being our answer. Each book is written with lots of pictures and only one to four sentences per picture, which seems much less intimidating. My daughter wasn’t sure about them at first, but after looking inside thought it had to be better than reading a book. We were soon visiting the library often for more comic books. She spent more and more free time reading, and soon, when a book title came out that sounded interesting, she checked out the book and has been an avid reader ever since. (As a side note, I have been told that some comic books have inappropriate language or pictures, but we stayed in the juvenile section and didn’t have any problems. You may want to preview materials first. There are some fun historical graphic novels as well.)
5) ALLOW THEM TO LISTEN
Read aloud and listen to audiobooks with your children. Make it part of your regular routine. We do a lot of driving and it is the perfect time to listen to a good book. Allow your children to listen to audiobooks in their free time. For audiobooks that must be purchased, I only buy one per month. After they are hooked and found a series they enjoy, I sometimes make the deal that I will buy the next book for them if they will follow along with an actual book as they listen. Many times they will pick up the actual book while they are waiting for my next purchase and will get hooked. Audiobooks are available at the library, for free on sites such as http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks and freeclassicaudiobooks.com, and from Audible.
6) FEED AN INTEREST
My third daughter has always been a good reader, but she is a bit stubborn and decided that reading is not worth the time when you could watch a movie in a fraction of the time and know what the book is about. Ever heard that one? No matter how much we all tried to convince her that books are so much better than the movies, she would not hear it. She made life miserable whenever we asked her to spend time reading, and occasionally when she would cave in and read, she would grab the tiniest book she could find off the shelf. (I did mention she is stubborn, didn’t I?) Anyway, one day she wanted to buy a rabbit. My husband grabbed a monstrous book off the shelf (his encyclopedia of caring for every animal you might come across) and put it in front of her with a highlighter. He told her to start learning everything she could about rabbits if she was serious about getting one. She grabbed the book and read through numerous pages, highlighting as she went, telling us all of the interesting information she found. Soon my husband would give her other animals to research that we currently cared for or that he was considering down the road, and she would go through the same process, giving us many interesting ideas we didn’t know. For my daughter, her love of animals allowed us to break through the “no reading” barrier. Every child has interests and there are books out there for everyone: Pokemon, superheroes, pets, cookbooks, videogame hints and tips, crafts, feel like a big girl books (American Girl has some great ones), hobbies, ect. If there is a book that has something in it that your child really enjoys, there is a good chance that reading will happen, even if they tell themselves they are only going to look at the pictures.
7) TOGETHER TIME
Sometimes it is hard to find the time with everything else going on, but this one has always been a winner with each one of our children. Kids love to feel important and to have your attention. One thing we have done when we have a reluctant reader is to pick a longer chapter book that the two of us could read together. We then sit down every day and read a chapter together, taking turns reading pages. They see the chapter going by quicker as you are reading half, and they enjoy having the one-on-one attention. Although I sometimes feel like I don’t have the time, I have never regretted spending this time with my child. (Tip: If your child is a very reluctant reader, there is no rule against you reading two to four pages for each page they read. That deal usually gets them started.)
8) STAYING UP
Every child tries to stay up past when you tell them is their bedtime. In our home we have an early bedtime, but everyone can stay up longer if they are reading. Even my most stubborn, reluctant readers eventually grab at least a few children’s books just so they can stay up that extra hour.
9) REWARDS
Some worry that if you give rewards you can take away the intrinsic rewards of reading, or cause the child to expect a reward every time they do something. Many children have shut their minds to even allowing enjoyment from any form of reading. I believe that reading in itself is a reward, but until the child allows themselves to relax and enjoy it, he will never feel the joy of reading. If our children picked a book that was beyond their
comfort zone in length (this may still be rather small in the beginning) and finished it, we usually gave them 30-45 minutes with my husband and I after the rest of the children went to bed. We could play a game, watch an episode of a show they liked, or talk. They enjoyed the time with mom and dad, and felt pretty special staying up past bedtime. Other rewards we’ve done in the past include picking what we will eat for dinner, a walk with mom and dad, a treat (though I try not to associate treats with rewards very often), an item from the dollar store, an item of clothing, a special friend over, or anything else that makes it worth it to your child. Sometimes I make rewards with different book values. For example, one book may be worth a dollar store item, while five books may be worth a night at Grandma’s. As they begin to read with a reward in mind, eventually they will stop associating reading with frustration and will begin to enjoy the things they read.
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