Have you ever wanted to read a great book aloud to your “older” child but had second thoughts such as “he’s in middle school now? No way would he ever spend that kind of “quality time” with me!” Make Way for Ducklings preschool days seem a distant memory. You believe that reading to him is just not that cool anymore!
It’s time to rethink your ideas about age and know your child is never too old to enjoy a book with you! A mother, whose “older” dyslexic son I taught, had an enjoyable time reading all seven Harry Potter books to him! Whether it was a few pages each night or having to skip a few days, the reading “schedule” was determined by their own daily lives and it worked out just fine! Reading the books, of course, never felt like “work” for either one, because the interest (a recurring blog theme!)in the books was strong and that interest was all that was needed! It will be the same for you!
A parent should seize the “opportunity” when the opportunity arises. This is especially true if your child wants to read a book that his peers are reading, but the reading level is too difficult. Sensing his frustration along with his desire, creates the perfect segue for you to talk to him about reading it aloud (you must like the book too!). And before you know it, you’ll enter and “grow” a new type of “relationship” around all that the book inspires!
Jim Trealease, author of the acclaimed book, The Read-Aloud Handbook, believes in the value of reading aloud to students of all ages, whether they are proficient readers or dyslexic. He explains that a child’s reading level doesn’t catch up to his listening level until about the eighth grade,” referring to a 1984 study performed by Dr. Thomas G. Sticht showing that kids can understand books that are too hard to decode themselves if they are read aloud. “You have to hear it before you can speak it, and you have to speak it before you can read it. Reading at this level happens through the ear.” And if you find that your child is not decoding on the eighth grade level, he can still continue to grow his comprehension by leaps and bounds. How? Simply by “reading through his ear” – with you, his parent, providing sustenance!
Wishing you and your child – no matter what age, reading memories that last a lifetime!