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My son is 10 yrs old and now in the 5th grade. He has always struggled with reading but I'm worried that he is not improving well enough. I don't want him to have a hard time, as he gets older work will get harder.
Are there any suggestions of workbooks, games, or programs that are a sure thing to help my son?
You probably already know this point, but I would like to make it just in case.
If he is behind at grade 5, you might be getting a bit frustrated or discouraged or worried. Try your best for your son NOT to see that. Because if he thinks there is something wrong, then he will get stressed, then the learning will suffer. Just something I have learned from personal experience.
As to ways to help him improve:
Perhaps every night he can read a story to you or your significant other.
If he starts reading every day, this might help him get more comfortable with it.
I agree with everything so far. As ScottGem mentioned Hooked on Phonics is good, also the stress that you feel about his "lack" will reflect as CF suggested.
My mother-in-law is a 4th grade teacher and she also recommends Sylvan Learning Centers if it is within your budget.
I have heard alot about Sylvan and hooked on phonics, I'm looking into both. I know there have been times when my son knows how worried I am about his reading, I feel terrible about that. I do try to comfort him and let him know that its okay and we just need to spend more time reading together. It just gets hard when I have letters and phone calls home about this, and with this new year just starting I worry.
Hey! This is something my Mom and Dad did with me when they were teaching me to read and then progress in reading. If I had spelling, reading, or writing homework to do, my Dad would help me do it until it was all done (my Dad stopped working for a few years so he could take care of my siblings and me, and my Mom went to work to increase her education and finish up a degree).
Then at night, when my Mom got home from work/school, she would have me read to her. She would take me to the library on the weekends, have me pick out ONE book that I wanted (usually the cover looked cool and she had to approve it--reading level and ease), and then have me read it to her every night. My Mom would help me with words, etc., but as I read it every night, I started recognizing the words, etc. When my Mom saw that I read the book to her relatively smoothly and easily, she'd take me to the library again and we'd get something slightly more advanced, etc.
You might try this with your spouse/significant other. However, both of you have to be really good about doing this. If you guys are tired one night, well...you can't be And if your son is tired or doesn't want to, you still have to, but gauge how much you should do, etc.; maybe don't have him read a lot of the book, just a few pages or something like that. Hope this helps
Reading w/ your son every day/night is the best way to help him improve. I read to my children every night just before I tuck them in. It takes 15 minutes or less and does them a world of good.
Also, my daughter (6 years old) and I play Hang Man and scramble with her spelling words. We also try to point out all her spelling words for the week that might just happen to be in the bedtime stories we're reading. It's really fun for her and she learns to spell the words rather quickly. Fun learning is fast learning... Good luck...
Your son may enjoy the new approach... What does he like to do??? Find out, then find a way to plug learning into it.
What the teachers here recommend is simply reading. Unless he has a learning disability, he should learn with repetition. You need to read to him, so he can hear propor pronunciation and sentence structure. He needs to read EVERY day. This will help him immensely. Read everything. Read menus, signs, ingrediants, instuctions, warnings, the cereal box, etc. READ and don't stop.
About this Sylvan, a friend of mine taught at one and she didn't like their system at all. She would never recommend it. Just a thought.
A teacher with her degree in special reading gave me these suggestions for my grandson. Often times when children are slow readers they see the letters as jumbled up. You can get colored clear paper to put over the page he is reading and that helps. Yellow works well and she said there are other colors also available at any store that sells supplies for students and teachers. They are like 30 cents a sheet. I got him all different colors. Another tool she told me about and it has been great. The New York Library has textbooks on tape and reading books on tape. You can join yearly and you can get his textbooks on tape, he can listen and read them at the same time. Leisure books the same thing. It has been awesome. The principal of the school was so impressed the school pays for the annual fee and they now have several children on the program. I do not have the site any longer, but look on the internet for textbooks on tape and the one at the New York Library.
And if your son is tired or doesn't want to, you still have to, but gauge how much you should do, etc.; maybe don't have him read a lot of the book, just a few pages or something like that. Hope this helps
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