It sounds like there might be a couple of different things going on: too much pressure and perhaps his mom is taking too much of an active role but in the wrong way.
And it seems like she needs to spend the time to find out why he's a reluctant reader. I know the idea that your child my be dyslexic or have some other learning disability is scary, but ignoring it isn't going to make it go away and will only make the situation worse. You know this. You're a teacher. But I also know that you can make every recommendation in the world...parents are going to do what parents are going to do (or not do, as the case may be)
Once she's ruled out everything else, then if he still isn't super interested in reading she can back off and sort of allow things to evolve naturally.
Is she, perhaps, reading to him too much? I only say this because I used to work with a teacher whose son was a reluctant reader. He simply loved that his mom read to him and wasn't at all motivated to learn to read for himself. Gina finally had to tell him that if he wanted to know what was going on in a book he had to learn how to read. And he did. He's in middle school and reads The Lord of the Rings and books of that sort now so clearly this method worked. Sometimes it takes a little tough love.
manpreet![Tuteehub forum best answer]()
Best Answer
2 years ago
My seven-year-old nephew is such a reluctant reader that despite the many teacherly suggestions I have been able to offer his mom and a lot of work with his own teachers he still just won't read. She isn't yet ready to have him tested for dyslexia or anything, but I wondered if anyone visiting this site might have some additional suggestions.
Things she has already tried:
I actually think it might just be there is too much pressure. He has three older sisters that all read well and read on-time or early and a cousin that is almost his same age that started at three. It looks to me more like a matter of if mom just relaxes and lets it be for awhile, he might come around, but it is really hard to tell from a distance for sure.
With that context in mind, is there anything else I could suggest to her that may be helpful for him to get him started?
Requested Update The mom never did have him tested, but did take the advice to back off and enforcer her daughters backing off. She instilled a 30 minute period of "reading choice" at bedtime so they were choosing either reading or going straight to sleep in order to make sure there was a time for reading in the house when all was quiet and he had time to himself. I also suggested she start really focusing on his talents and strengths instead. They actually installed a back-yard pool and he swims a lot. They also started celebrating his accomplishments in math.
A year later, while math is still his best subject (and probably always will be - nothing wrong with that), he is now reading and doing well. Thanks for your ideas.