13 year old son hates to read-HELP!

[SAM]

My 13 year old son hates to read and will do anything to get out of it. He is being tested for dyslexia but in the meantime, I need some pointers to get him to read. He is also going into 7th grade but is reading at a 3rd grade level. This is really frustrating to me
because I am not sure how to spark his interest and get him interested in a book. However, he will read to me but sometimes I am not always available to him and during those times he needs to read by himself but he won't unless I remind him a dozen times. He is also seeing a tutor to help improve his reading skills.

[PamE]

What about having him tested at someplace like Sylvan to find out where the breakdown occured? They seem to be able to pinpoint problems. If he's only reading at a 3rd grade level then it sounds like you need to go back and fill in some gaps in his learning that weren't detected earlier on. Maybe whatever method the school taught wasn't the one that he needed. Some kids thrive on phonics and some kids don't grasp it at all and need the another approach. There are remedial reading programs available in homeschool curriculum, something you could work with him on. Something that wouldn't start with the ABC's! Part of his reluctance to read could stem from his inability and embarrassment. I would imagine being in a remedial reading program at school at this age could be devastating to his self esteem.

As far as sparking his interest in reading at this point I would suggest that you not be concerned about WHAT he reads, just that he does. Find out what interests him and go from there. If he's into sports maybe you could get him a subscription to Sports Illustrated for Kids. Comic books might hold his interest at this point. Have him cook with you and read the recipes.

Good luck in finding the answers. :)

[SAM]

Pam,
Thanks for the advice! When we went to the library last week,
he did get out a magazine that seemed to spark his interest. This summer, I am having him tested for not only dyslexia but also alot of other stuff to see where the breakdown occurred. I am hopeful that we will find answers to help him. Thank god, he still has a positive attitude and even though he says he hates tutoring, I know that it is helping. He is a great kid, but I know how much he struggles and you are right, it is hard at this age to be behind his peers. However, we will try Sports Illustrated magazine because he really loves sports!:tinysmile

[TXmom]

Will he play board games with you? Some of them like Monopoly involve quite a lot of reading.

[SAM]

Yes, he will play board games. I borrowed some from school to
keep him on track this summer.

[Lynda/WA]

I think the suggestions given so far are great! Fo with what interests him and find ANYTHING to read that is related to it. I don't care if it's a comic book or what. You said he's interested in sports? Matt Christopher writes sports books. Otherwise you can get biographies of his favorite sports person. Or books on how to play his favorite sport. I like going to Amazon.com and reading the reviews of different books such as the how to books. It helps me find which books coaches liked. I wouldn't just stick with kids books and magazines if it's related to something he likes. If he's a baseball fan you could get the baseball newspaper or magazines. Also, if he wants to read something that is very easy for him that's fine too.
Some people knock down the series books such as Goosebumps. I'm all for them. They may never be classics but they do encourage the kids to keep getting another book and read it!
I let DS (9) earn Nintendo time by reading. Each minute spent reading is a minute on the Nintendo. I don't care if he's reading out loud to me or his little sister or silently to himself. He even gets time for when I read to him. You might be surprised at how important being read to is even to a child his age. First off it's no work for him which makes it more enjoyable but he is learning as he's listening. Especially if you ask questions that make him think. Like what do you think will happen next or what does that remind you of.
Let us know what his interests are or other books that he has liked and we can recommend some more.

[SAM]

He loves biographies, sports related-true books, and suspense stories. And, yes, he loves when I read to him-sometimes he will
even suggest I read a page, he reads a page, etc. The hardest part is finding high interest books that are challenging but not too
hard, so he doesn't get frustrated.

[Lynda/WA]

I wouldn't even worry about how challenging the reading material is at this point. I'd concentrate on getting him to want to read. Even reading below level can be helpful. It can build up speed and make reading more effortless.
We moved from CA to WA during the holidays of DS's first grade. His old school said he was reading at about a beginning 3rd grade level. At home he was reading one of the Harry Potter books and some Goosebumps books. That wasn't fluid reading though so I let him read those to himself knowing he was probably making plenty of errors. He read easier stuff aloud to me. I'd read harder books or books that had unfamiliar things in them aloud to him. Even though his new school was using the exact same literacy program they still had him re-read all of the leveled books starting with the first one. We're talking books that have anything from one word to 1 sentence per page! He was allowed to bring a couple home each night and read them to me. I think it was more of an admin thing than anything else. At first I was a little PO'd. Then I decided why not? I read below level all the time. Most of my *fun* reading is below level. For DS I used the below level reading as a chance to emphasis other aspects. If reading out loud I emphasised putting expresion in his voice. In order to do that you are doing much more than simply saying the word in front of you. You need to mentally put the word in context.
Especially for the summer I wouldn't even look at reading level. Just let him go for it. If he's reading it aloud to you and stumbles alot you can either take over reading or let him read it silently. Let him read something easier out loud to you. Build up a little confidence and pride. Everyone of the Matt Christopher books that I looked up is a leveled reader M. That's a high second grade to mid 3rd grade book. Perhaps those are the books he could read aloud? They certainly don't look like kid books but something an older kid would like as well. He has books for just about every sport. My SIL is now a 5th grade teacher. She says many of her boys enjoy Matt Christopher.
Then he could read anyting he wanted on his own - regardless of reading level. One baseball how to book that DS has been reading off and on is Play Better Baseball by Bob Cluck. How about Baseball Brain Teasers - Major League Puzzlers by Dom Forker? I don't know the reading level but paging through it it looks similar to the Matt Christopher books. The advantage to this one is that he will really need to think about what he is reading and want to do it. Assuming he likes baseball! Can you tell what DS's favorite is?

There's a series of math books geared towards sports that you may find interesting also. The one I have is Baseball Math - Grandslam Activities and Projects for grades 4-8. It uses baseball stats to do math. Nearly all of the activites include word problem type activities. I know my DS is starting to get into looking at the stats in the paper. It may be math but it includes reading as well. That would maybe convince him to read the sports page (and funnies since he's a male!) in the paper.

[arianna]

MM! I let my 8yo read gaming manuals. Heck, I have him reading. Does your son have a gameboy or play station? The gaming manuals are sold everywhere. I really disliked video games until he started asking me what the screen said, it just clicked that I could use this to my advantage. He has read some of these manulas over and over and they are falling apart. ßß!

[desiree]

Hi,
I have a daughter the same way I had her tested she wasn't dyslexic but she did have a reading comprehension problem I put her in a reading lab at school and speech to help her understand the words she was reading it has helped her tremedously. In third grade she was reading at a late first grade level and after the help she was almost at third grade level she is now in sixth grade and just about there in a reading level. Have your son sit down with you and have him read to you and then ask him questions about what he has read to you. I thought mine was dyslexic to but that wasn't how it turned out to be. Let me know how things turn out. Desiree