Slow reader         

Syndicated column from The Parent Institute

[JAN. 17, 2005]  Q: My son struggles with reading. He reads to the bottom of a page and doesn't have a clue about what he has just read. I can see that he tries to concentrate, but he reads so slowly that he has lost the meaning by the time he finishes. How can I help my child read faster?

A: It's probably not that your son didn't understand the words. He simply didn't absorb them. People who are able to read quickly also understand more of what they read. You can help your child read faster for better understanding. Try these tips for helping your child read faster:

• Practice. Spend 15 minutes a day working on silent reading speed. Choose something easy and interesting for him to read. Ask him to read a little faster than he usually would. Keep track of how many words he can read in that time. Try to build speed each day.

• Challenge him to see how many words he can read in one minute. Pick a page in a book he can read easily. Give him one minute to read it. Then count the number of words he read.

• Preview. Before he reads anything, have him take a few minutes to think about what he's going to read. Have him look at the title, any subheadings and any words in bold type. Have him skim the first and last paragraphs. Then have him tell you what he'll be reading about.

• Don't let his eyes wander. Help your son train his eyes to move more quickly. Try having him move a 3-by-5 index card below the lines of text to guide his eyes down the page.

• Suggest he hold his fingertips gently to his mouth as he reads silently. Does he feel any lip movements? Students who read slowly often move their lips while they read. The lip movement -- or mouthing words one at a time -- slows them down. Have him practice keeping his lips still while he reads.

• Have his eyes checked. Often, very slow reading is the result of eye problems that have never been corrected.

We all want children to love reading. Studies show that having lots of reading materials around -- books, magazines, newspapers, letters, fliers, catalogs -- helps in more ways than we may ever know. Being surrounded by words will help make your son comfortable with language. And he will find it easier to do well in all subjects. From history to science to geography to math word problems, reading is an important part of learning in every school subject.

[The Parent Institute]

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Copyright 2005, The Parent Institute

"Ask the Learning Advisor -- Ideas for Raising Successful Children" is a free, syndicated column from the Parent Institute.