My son is 9 years old, and in the 4th grade. Last December, he was finally “officially” diagnosed as ADHD, and after long, arduous discussions, we decided to give him medication. He is on the lowest dose of Adderall, and he’s doing great. I have a questions though, that I can’t find any help with on the internet websites. My son is an excellent reader, and also great at comprehension. He currently reads at 143 wpm, and self corrects while reading. It has always been his strength. He is in the normal reading class in school, although I don’t think they even have “groups” like we used to when I was young. The teacher told us the normal average wpm for a 4th grader is 85 wpm. Obviously, he is way above average in that respect. I believe his state test scores last year placed him in the 90th percentile. My question? Should he be in some sort of gifted reading program at school? Is there even such a thing? I just started thinking about this tonite after talking to my son, who’s getting close to finishing his 2nd Harry Potter book. He’s been wizzing through it like you wouldn’t believe. If he took a test on it, he’d probably ace it. He does the Accelerated Reading program at school, and always aces those tests, except they are not alway very hard books, not hard like Harry Potter. My brother told me tonite that those Harry Potter books are approx at the 7th-9th grade reading levels. Should I push the teacher to provide more advanced reading curriculum than what he’s doing currently in class? Part of me thinks they haven’t suggested it yet is because he’s ADHD and has a few other problems. Although his midterm grades look great—3 A’s, 2 B’s, and one c+, which is for writing, which is one of his biggest problems. Any advice would be appreciated. I don’t want to approach his teacher yet, because I don’t want to appear as a parent who’s grasping at straws to have her son excel in at least SOMETHING. If this is normal, then I won’t go in to her, but if he should be challenged more, I will.Thanks to any and all responses!
: My son is 9 years old, and in the 4th grade. Last December, he was
: finally “officially” diagnosed as ADHD, and after long,
: arduous discussions, we decided to give him medication. He is on
: the lowest dose of Adderall, and he’s doing great. I have a
: questions though, that I can’t find any help with on the internet
: websites. My son is an excellent reader, and also great at
: comprehension. He currently reads at 143 wpm, and self corrects
: while reading. It has always been his strength. He is in the
: normal reading class in school, although I don’t think they even
: have “groups” like we used to when I was young. The
: teacher told us the normal average wpm for a 4th grader is 85 wpm.
: Obviously, he is way above average in that respect. I believe his
: state test scores last year placed him in the 90th percentile. My
: question? Should he be in some sort of gifted reading program at
: school? Is there even such a thing? I just started thinking about
: this tonite after talking to my son, who’s getting close to
: finishing his 2nd Harry Potter book. He’s been wizzing through it
: like you wouldn’t believe. If he took a test on it, he’d probably
: ace it. He does the Accelerated Reading program at school, and
: always aces those tests, except they are not alway very hard
: books, not hard like Harry Potter. My brother told me tonite that
: those Harry Potter books are approx at the 7th-9th grade reading
: levels. Should I push the teacher to provide more advanced reading
: curriculum than what he’s doing currently in class? Part of me
: thinks they haven’t suggested it yet is because he’s ADHD and has
: a few other problems. Although his midterm grades look great—3
: A’s, 2 B’s, and one c+, which is for writing, which is one of his
: biggest problems. Any advice would be appreciated. I don’t want to
: approach his teacher yet, because I don’t want to appear as a
: parent who’s grasping at straws to have her son excel in at least
: SOMETHING. If this is normal, then I won’t go in to her, but if he
: should be challenged more, I will.: Thanks to any and all responses!I teach 1st grade and see some of the same problems frequently. One option I might suggest is to have the teacher tell you your childs ZPD range. This is the Zone of Proximinal Development that can be derived by a S.T.A.R. test. Your child should pick books from the school library that fall within these reading ranges. He may be allowed to pick easier books to A.R. test on but he should pick books that challenge him a little more. We also group for reading in my school district. We have teachers that teach low, middle, or high students. We are fortunate to be able to teach reading for 2 hours and 5 minutes each morning. It’s great! The kids are performing at their level of ability. The high kids are being pushed and enriched and the low have the opportunity to learn at their pace. I would suggest to the teacher that she allow your child to read harder books for A.R. and perhaps set some fluency goals for him to see if he can improve his w.p.m. on the harder material. Good luck!