I feel like I’ve failed my son. We’ve done CM for 4 years, but while he went through vision therapy for 2 years, I was instructed not to assign any written work and to read all of his books aloud. During that time, I was very relaxed with the narrations; we mostly had discussions together after each reading.
His reading comprehension has improved greatly since he’s completed therapy and he reads half his books himself and I read the other half aloud, but I still get two-word phrases or maybe two in-complete sentences, which never include an actual name or place. “They went to that place and did something.” Most times he’s making things up that weren’t even in the text or he gets the whole story wrong. He draws a blank if I ask for a written or typed narration and it leads to tears and he says he feels stupid and like a failure since it’s been years of this and he can’t get the words out.
When I give a sample narration, it spurs him on and he’s like, oh yeah, now I remember that, etc. I’ve tried giving him phrases or word prompts, shorter and easier reads to narrate, and he’s still stuck.
I feel this pressure since we only have 3.5 years left of school together and I wonder if he’ll ever be able to write a paper or write anything. No idea where to even start to help him write a basic essay.
He’s extremely smart; very gifted in other areas. He’s the very typical engineer type who can tell you how an airplane engine works, but can’t spell engine, ha!
