Who has a child that is struggling with Reading Comprehension?

Question

Reading fluency is different than understanding and knowing what is being read. When asked questions on a test about a story, being able to use context clues and vocabulary to determine the answers is the goal. This is to read and comprehend what is being read.

Answer 1

What I have found to be successful in reading comprehension is starting a dialogue about what we just read. Sometimes I do this by going off students' answers from short writing questions, and the rest of the time by trying to have a natural discussion. The short writing answers I feel like give them space to work through an idea that they hadn't considered while reading. From the answers they give I ask them to explain it to me and look for ways with them to expand on that idea. If their idea is different than mine I applaud them in coming up with that draw from the text. I also look for ways to circle back to other times we saw the same idea in other parts of the story or in other stories. I explain after a discussion what we just did and what its purpose was, and how this practice can be beneficial in other fields of study.

I am going to follow this question thread because I hope to acquire more reading comprehension tools from others tutors!

Answer 2

Many parents ask me to teach their child "reading comprehension" and the first question I always ask is, "Can your child read fluently?" If the child is not yet a fluent reader then I suspect the child is stressed! The child (or adult) is trying to decode or remember the words they have memorized and that makes it difficult to understand what the words and sentences MEAN, which is comprehension.

My recommendation is usually some remedial reading, intensive phonics decoding lessons. Then the child learns the sounds associated with the letters and can DECODE and SOUND OUT words without having to remember the memorized words from that dreaded weekly list.

Guessing is NOT the correct way to learn. The age-old method works best and sadly, nowadays that is not what is taught in most schools. I have had many college students who cannot sound out words.

I have great success using a phonics Reader and can teach any child or adult to sound out five and six syllable words very easily!

Answer 3

Yes, reading fluency is much different than comprehension and retrieval!

There are plenty of children who can read fluently and yet are unable to answer questions to the text they read. This is often due to a lack of movement. Movement is key to the learning process.

Gladly research this subject. Here's an article to begin: https://literacyandlanguagecenter.com/the-benefits-of-movement-in-the-classroom/#:~:text=Efficiency%20in%20Learning%201%20The%20hippocampus%20needs%20time,4%20Realigning%20the%20body%2Fbrain%20connection%20helps%20re-energize%20learning

Linked with plenty of encouragement, visualization (or in some cases, with sound), plenty of water, good eating habits, and plenty of fresh air, movement can make comprehension possible for almost any child. It is the combination that is necessary for most children if the child's highest potential is the goal.

Answer 4

I work with several students that struggle with reading comprehension. Many strategies help students better comprehend texts, such as the lookback strategy or visualization. Once students begin using these methods, reading comprehension improves.