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How to tell if your child is reading everything
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My son will be 7 next week. He reads well above his age with good comprehension. This year, I have been giving him more of his own reading and having him narrate. He is always able to narrate but it is usually just a few sentences. Nothing of great length. He does a lot of reading on his own that he does not have to narrate. I notice he narrates much better when he sees what we are reading vs just hearing it. We suspect he has some photographic tendencies by his ability to sometimes tell things back exactly word for word even days after seeing it or memorzing a poem after only seeing it a couple times.
(I don’t mean for this to sound like I am bragging by any means. I am baffled by it as well and have no clue how to handle it. I just want to give as much info as possible in order to get some input on how to handle this.)
Recently, I wanted him to start the habit of having his own personal devotion time. So before bed, I have him read the bible. He sets a timer for 8 minutes and reads till that is up. He can read 10-13 chapters in that time. My goal is not to have him narrate but I have been having him narrate just to see if he is really reading. He says he reads every line, every word. But how do I really know other than narration? When he narrates, he is able to tell me what is happening. Again, not a lengthy narration but a few sentences.
I am frustrated because I don’t know if he is reading it all but I take him at his word and he is able to narrate what is going on. Do I just leave it alone? But really, 10-13 chapters? My husband or I can’t even read near that fast. When I read aloud to him, I catch him skipping ahead to see what happens (or reading faster than me, don’t know which). If I have him read, we will read fine for awhile but then start studdering and stammering because I think he is trying to read but he eyes are way ahead trying to see what happens next.
ANY advice???
I would ask him to read one chapter before bed instead of for a certain amount of time. This would help his habit of attention to detail. Also, if I remember right, I believe Miss Mason states that telling something back verbatim is not narration. He must be required to use his own words and not the words of the author.
I would leave his leisure reading alone…but I would keep his schooltime readings short and have him narrate. I also think it would be acceptable to ask a few probing questions after his narration to try and get some details. Not to pepper him with questions…just try to help him form the habit of reading short amounts, with great attention.
My dd used to narrate with very little detail and, after taking some advice, I began asking small questions and I realized she knew way more details…she just wasn’t interested in sharing them. lol Her narrations are coming along quite nicely now and are involvling more detail as she grows in this area.
I have a six year old who is very similar. She seems to go through books incredibly fast. She’ll read three or more chapter books (100 or more pages each) in an hour. I haven’t yet figured out whether she is reading everything or just skimming. She tells me things that she has read and is constantly coming up with information that I didn’t even know. So I know she is getting something out if it. I haven’t actually let her read many of her school books independently, specifically for this reason. With anything longer than an Aesop’s Fable, I can’t tell if her narration is just not detailed, or if she didn’t really read it. The longer passages I still read to her so I can break it up into smaller chunks and thus get better narrations.
For leisure reading, I haven’t worried about it. For the Bible reading, I think I would stick with a time frame, and then let him gain what he can in that time. If he just reads three verses from each of 8 chapters, or 24 verses from a single chapter, he has still absorbed the same amount of scripture. He’ll get to the end relatively quickly, and then can go back and gain something different the next time through. Although, if he can’t tell you anything about what he read, then I’d try to get him to slow down.
Just my thoughts, although I’m hoping someone else has some words of more wisdom!
Joanne
I probably do need to keep the readings short and focus on the habit of attention and detail for narration. I have been using narration to see if he is reading rather than developing a skill.
And as far as saying something back verbatim, he doesn’t always do that and he does not do that during narrations. Only on free reading when it is something he enjoys.
Joanne, our children definitely do sound very familiar.
Thank you ladies for your input. I will be trying a few things differently this week.
I think if it were me I would ask a question at the end of his reading.
I would see where he stopped in his reading. Then, I would look up a couple paragraphs and see if there is any interesting information. I would make it towards the end because he will be a little more tired of reading it by then. If he is skipping things then right towards the end should be where he just comes back to it. Maybe a few paragraphs up should be enough to give you a good question about the story. If he is paying attention then he should be able to answer the question you ask. I would do this a couple of times just to make sure he wasn’t tired ect…
A study shows that you learn on a bell shape curve. You learn most of your information in 20 min. after that you loose the info.. The first 5 min. and the last 5 min your brain is absorbing the most. Anything after 20 min. and you don’t remember it. If he is remembering it all then you are probably right he probably has a photographic memory. If that is the case you are lucky because he will accel at anything he reads
Hope that helped? Blessing!
TreasuresFromHeaven,
I think that sounds like a good idea. And, please, be encouraged! Your son sounds very bright and, with some guidance, the sky will be the limit as far as what he will be able to teach himself. 🙂
Thank you 3littlegirls for your encouragement. Sometimes it is very difficult to know how to handle this situation. He is my oldest and I fear that I will miss something that actually hurts him in the long run.
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