Hello everyone,
I am new to the board. I have a question about struggles in reading. I am concerned about my girlfriend (maybe there is no reason to be however). She is homeschooled, is a senior (18 years old) and makes mostly a’s and some b’s in her classes, and she is very bright. She seems to read at a fairly good pace silently (although she says reading stories takes less time than reading things like history books, etc.). When it comes to reading aloud, however, she seems to struggle a little more. She is much slower, seems to hesitate more, often adds an “s” to the end of some words. She says it is because when she loses her train of thought and when she trips over her tongue, lol, its hard to come back in. Any info. would be greatly appreciated. Also, her last act score was a 20. She also says she is not the world’s best speller. Is it possible that she has some sort of reading disorder? I looked at a list of symptoms, and she doesn’t possess many of them. She is very calm, mellow, very well-rounded, has good memory, etc. If she does not have a reading disorder, can this discrepancy be explained? Once again, any info. would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Aaron W.
Re: Question on Reading Difficulty: Reading Disability or Not?
OK, first off, an eighteen-year-old young adult is probably not asking for criticism. Especially from someone who is supposed to be a friend. Try to bite your tongue and not embarrass her.
I have lots of students of all ages who *claim* to be better at reading silently than orally. Almost every time, with the exception of a very few with stutters etc., this translates to mean that when they read silently they can make all kinds of errors but nobody catches them.
**IF** your friend seriously wants to improve her ACT scores and/or to do better in college-level work, she needs some work on reading accuracy, and one of the best tools for this is having a knowledgeable teacher — not a friend, sorry — work with her on sound-spelling patterns and, yes, oral reading. It is hard work for both teacher and student and takes time and dedication to changing habits.
if your friend is quite happy with where she is, you aren’t going to change anything by making her feel bad. As a young adult, she will have to decide for herself where she wants to go.
Re: Question on Reading Difficulty: Reading Disability or Not?
My experience has been like V’s in dealing with many older readers who struggle. Many of them claim to read “fine” silently.
One interesting experiment would be to give her some time to preview the reading before reading it. Does she do better if she’s read it through to herself, first? Whether or not she does, ask her what she does when she’s reading it to herself.
There’s absolutely nothing about being calm & well-rounded & bright that excludes having a specific problem with reading, especially if in the homesdchool environment it hasn’t caused the stress that it does in the brick-and-mortar environs.
How are her other language skills — especially writing? Can she write clear paragraphs & essays? Can she read them aloud?
Every once in a while I run across somebody who reads too *fast* silently, so when they try to read aloud their eyes are already halfway down the page… no wonder they get derailed. In that case, Arthur’s suggestions are good, since it is still good to be able to read aloud when called upon to do so. A little practice with the idea of imagining that the story is being told (and perhaps listening to a book on tape as a demonstration), with the energy that would have been spent speed-cruising down teh page being spent dramatizing every auditory nuance, could be a fun exercise.
Of course, a ***whole*** lot depends on just what she thinks is important.
Re: Question on Reading Difficulty: Reading Disability or Not?
When I was young I hated performing and that’s what reading to an audience is even if you’re the world’s best reader and making straight A’s. Talk about tripping over your own tongue. Later on I outgrew my nervousness about performing, most of it anyway. :) And you DON’T want to hear me sing, but that’s another tale.
John
Perhaps there is little reason for you to be concerned. My question: “Do your friend’s miscalls during oral reading concern her?”
Some home schooled students may have fewer opportunities to practice oral reading than those who were taught in small groups or classes. Additional practice over many years might have smoothed out your friend’s oral reading.
Your friend might be required to read aloud only on rare occasions. She might benefit from the kind of training TV and radio announcers experience.
Best wishes.