Another reading question

[chiguirre]

I have a soon to be 9yo who is reading on a second grade level. We're finishing up the SL 2 reading list. Ds can read these books with few errors and decent expression when he concentrates. The problem is that his attention wanders and he loses his place on the page, rereads a line, reads on a bit, loses his concentration and rereads again. He can decode basically all the words in the books with no problem, can read new text fairly fluently when he concentrates, but can't sustain the level of concentration required to read independently. OTOH, he's doing pretty well with Varied Exercises in Reading Comprehension A. That's probably because the paragraph they give is short and usually on an topic that ds finds interesting.

I've tried getting books that would appeal to ds's special interests in bugs and robots, but he can't attend independently to Ricky Ricotta or Sunny Patch Kids without getting lost in the pictures.

I think ds has the phonics in place to read more challenging books and his comprehension is good on short passages. How do I get him over the hump into reading independently? Is there another piece we're missing?

[Ottakee]

Does he have attention issues in other areas---like book work, etc? My now 12dd was very much like that and we started her on meds for ADHD and now she is reading lots of books, chapter books, etc. Before she just couldn't focus long enough to read.

The other thing might be vision issues if he is having trouble tracking, etc. The notched card might be helpful here.

[chiguirre]

He has attention issues, but they didn't respond to any class of ADHD drugs, depakote or risperdal. He is slowly getting better at staying on task in math and spelling work, so I guess there is hope. He does use his finger to track, when he's paying attention and that works well for him.

[Ottakee]

Just wondering what meds you did try for ADHD.

Depakote is a seizure med also used for mood issues. Risperdal is an atypical anti-psychotic also used for mood issues and rage issues. Neither of these are ADHD meds.

Does your son have other issues that might be at play here---just wondering since you said he had tried Depakote and Risperdal.

Not trying to be too nosey here---my own dd was on Depakote but it caused liver problems so we switched to Tegretol. She is on meds for ADHD (Dexedrine) and Risperdal along with the Tegretol, Keppra, and Lamictal.

Originally Posted by chiguirre

He has attention issues, but they didn't respond to any class of ADHD drugs, depakote or risperdal. He is slowly getting better at staying on task in math and spelling work, so I guess there is hope. He does use his finger to track, when he's paying attention and that works well for him.

[chiguirre]

He has high functioning autism. We tried depakote and risperdal because those have worked very well for my oldest's behavior. He didn't react badly, but they didn't improve his impulsivity or anxiety. We tried ritalin, adderall, and vyvanse before depakote and risperdal. All of them made him hyper and less controlled. They were all short trials because the negative effects were obvious. We've run out of medical options, but his behavior has improved a lot over the last year from maturity and social skills training.

It might be a matter of more practice reading easy books, it might be a matter of finding something that he loves, it might be that he'll never pick up a book voluntarily. He doesn't hate reading or make a fuss about reading to me, he just can't concentrate enough to do it on his own.

[Rod Everson]

Originally Posted by chiguirre

He does use his finger to track, when he's paying attention and that works well for him.

Just curious; have you had him to a developmental optometrist for a vision skills evaluation? Kids who read well for short periods of time but avoid sustained pleasure reading often have vision problems. Not always, but often.

Rod Everson