14 yo ds not getting AQs- help

[Sue in Texas]

My oldest child is 14. He is in 9th grade. My next oldest is 12 and is very good reader and can understand and repeat the information that he reads very well. My 14 yo takes longer to do his reading and can hardly answer any AQs. I don't even assign the Thinking Questions because of the difficulty with AQs. This is our 5th year with TOG. He is still in D because I don't think he is ready to move up yet, since he can't do the D work. I tell him to read the AQs before he starts reading and have the AQs next to him when he reads so he can answer the questions. He hardly remembers what he read. He usually answers about 1/3 of the questions. I have started to show him the questions and to look at the books to see which book will talk about that question and where in the book. I think maybe I need to walk through answering the questions better so he can see how to do it.

How can I help him?

I want to move up to R in lit with him so he doesn't miss out on these books. But, that is going to require him to do even more reading and it takes him awhile to read as it is. It makes it difficult that his brother reads faster and "gets it" so easily. He doesn't say anything about that, but he doesn't want to still be reading in the late afternoon when everyone else is out playing, etc.

[Marcia]

I wonder if he might have a processing disorder of some kind? Many students do! The HSLDA website has tons of resources for exploring learning disabilities. Would you think of looking there for help?

Beyond that, I have a blog post (published on August 23) and 2 webinars ("Teaching G and D Students" and "Developing Learning Skills") that all talk about working with D's stepping up to the R level. The blog post is here: http://blog.tapestryofgrace.co...to-dialectic-studies (http://blog.tapestryofgrace.com/2010/08/transitioning-to-dialectic-studies)

You can get to the webinars from the Store. Hope this helps!

[Mom29]

Hi, Sue!
I think there are ways you can help your son. What you do depends on the reasons he's having trouble answering the questions. I've had a few children who have had trouble finding the answers, too, but each for different reasons.

One reason for slow reading or not comprehending is that that the student is reading the material with a different purpose in mind. We read books for fun differently than we read owners manuals and differently than we read history books for study - and sometimes we read different parts of the history book differently, too.

Another reason is not understanding the meanings of some words (and so just skipping over them). If the passage is important to understand, he must stop and look the word up or ask someone.

Another reason is getting lost in details and not seeing the main points. This includes just reading each sentence or paragraph as stand alone and not relating it to the overall message of the topic. One thing to do is to stop periodically and recap or review what you've read as a whole. Also, asking yourself how what you read relates to the topic helps.

Another is not paying attention to enough details. One of my children just remembers the parts that are interesting to her (usually exciting narratives!) and doesn't remember any dates or names. I don't require much date memorization, but noticing dates is important to see relationships. For example, she didn't notice the months of the Nile's inundation - she thought that the book didn't even mention it - although she did know a lot about the effects of the flooding; and knowing the number of months and time of year of the flooding helps to understand the structure of Egyptian society. I told her she needed to not just breeze over those details, but to think about their significance, paying attention to the AQ for what is important.

I sat down with my son and went through a history book with him. I first pointed out that the AQs showed him what the main points were that he was to learn. I modeled how I would read it, including looking at the AQ; so the parts of the book that were not specifically about the AQ, I skimmed out loud (and found that it was a new technique to him. The parts addressing the main points, we read more slowly and carefully, even asking questions of ourselves about them, wondering about things, picturing things, etc. It was really helpful to him to see a different way to read, and I learned a lot about why he was taking so long to read his assignments.

I hope this helps you some, and if you need more, I read a lot of these ideas in a book called "I Read It, But I Don't Get It" about teen reading comprehension. I had to read it through once, and then go back and glean what I needed from it.

God bless you as you teach your children,