<p>S2, a rising senior in high school, struggles with reading comprehension. He did poorly on the critical reading portion of the SAT (530 on first sitting and 500 on second). He feels that reading is hopeless. He has agreed to read for 30 minutes per day in exchange for having his Wii on the big TV and recently finished Ender's Game. He had trouble understanding some parts of that book, just to put his skill set into context. I have him reading Hacker Cracker right now. Any reading is clearly a struggle and not an enjoyable experience for him.</p>
<p>I am less concerned about his SAT score per se than trying to improve his skill level. I have a call into his guidance counselor at the high school to see what they may recommend, but don't have a lot of confidence in the school. He is getting a B in English and learns absolutely nothing through his classes. I consider next year will be an equal waste and am frankly concerned that college could be more of the same. I want him to actually learn something, not just collect a grade.</p>
<p>I am considering tutoring through Sylvan learning centers. People talk about getting a child tested for learning disabilities. Is that the kind of place you go for such testing? Does anybody have any experience with Sylvan or have any other suggestions? I will also add that his level of motivation in reading is low because he believes it is hopeless. So, I'm hoping to find something with good bang for the buck in terms of his effort. The 30 minutes of reading per day is something but if he is just staring at the words without getting much out of it, frankly not all that helpful.</p>
<p>His scores are about average for all college bound seniors. Keep in mind that most posters on the forum have kids who score above the 90th%ile as a matter of course, so what constitutes "good" here is really kind of warped. What did he get on his writing score? Recent studies have shown that the writing score predicts freshman year of college success as much as gpa. As far as I know, no studies have correlated the CR and Math on the new SAT to freshman year success. He should not feel hopeless at all, imo. He should read whatever kind of things he enjoys over the summer and try again in the fall. I don't think a kid with an average SAT score needs a learning center, not do I think he has a disability! The best thing to do to become a better reader is simply to read!</p>
<p>In my limited experience, the key to improving reading scores and reading ability in general is to find material that the child really likes so that reading isn't a chore. My own brother was a resistent reader until he discovered biographies of sports figures. He went on to become an English major. With my S, it took a bit of doing to help him discover what he likes. It turns out he likes a lot of non-fiction, both books and magazine articles. One of the problems for him with English classes in school was that students were assigned almost exclusively fiction, and much of what was assigned didn't appeal to him so much. He read what was assigned but sure wasn't inclined to seek out any other works by those authors outside of class. So now, outside of class, he reads mostly non-fiction and some more recent fiction, and this year he actually enjoyed a lot of what they read in AP Lit.</p>
<p>His writing was 540 and 530 with an 8 on the essay both times. The problem he has with writing, on the few papers he has let me see, is wrong word choice because of a weak vocabulary. His math was 640 and 650. He was sorely disappointed in his math score and is certain he can break 700. He probably went too fast and made careless errors since he thought he only missed a couple. I see no reason for him to retake the SAT. This isn’t about the score per se. The score is indicative of a larger problem, which is that he hates reading. He will not admit to ever having liked a book.</p>
<p>I am an avid reader and have spent my whole life trying to encourage my kids to read with everything from comics to magazines to Goosebumps, etc. My older son claimed to dislike reading throughout high school, but he managed to get through a fairly long list of books anyway. Each son receives a book for Christmas and at the end of each school year. I spend a considerable amount of time finding books that I think are age, interest, and reading level appropriate that they would like. S1 read his gifts (although never picked up a book on his own) and I was able to learn his tastes (non-fiction, gritty stuff for the most part). S2 did not ever read his beyond a page or two and says he hates everything, even books S1 swears his little brother should like, such as The Game. Now in college S1 has become an insatiable reader, branching out into all kinds of books, with no urging needed, although he still uses me as his primary feeder of suggestions. </p>
<p>I don't see this happening with S2 and it makes me extremely sad. I am running out of time to light that spark. Clearly, everything I am doing is not working. If I don’t try outside help, I will just be giving up.</p>
<p>It sounds like something's up if he's having so much trouble with reading comprehension. I'm assuming he doesn't have significant trouble in other areas. I've heard good things about Sylvan, so that may be worth looking into further. If I'm not mistaken, the student takes a battery of tests right away and then Sylvan uses the results to direct the tutoring appropriately, which sounds great. You can learn more on their website. Good luck in this.</p>
<p>I think testing is the next step. If his reading problems are just lack of effort, disinterest and/or laziness, then I will just learn to live with that, but if he really has some sort of vision or processing problem I need to know (and he needs to know). I have posted about this problem before and it has nagged at me for several years, but I finally have the resolve to take concrete action.</p>
<p>I hope to have an update one way or the other before the summer is out. Thanks cc people for being a good sounding board, as always.</p>
<p>Definitely get a consult if you think it will help him read because that is important for life, but don't stress out too much about the SAT scores themselves....there are plenty of successful people out there with average SATs (and your son seems above average, with the math). My daughter's PSAT and first SAT CR were about where your son is (and she loves to read!) but she went way up with a private tutor.</p>
<p>I agree testing seems in order. Ender's Game is not written at a terribly advanced level. It's read by 6th graders in our school system. It's a compelling story that usually grabs kids. I've never heard of anyone having trouble following it. In addition to looking at learning difficulties through IQ type testing, also have his eyes checked for tracking problems or double vision. I've known a number of reluctant readers that had eye problems as opposed to brain wiring problems. In the meantime, I think continuing to encourage him to read books of interest to him is appropriate. His math score may be affected by his reading problems BTW. Mathson (who should have known better) got several problems wrong by misreading the questions.</p>
<p>I certainly didn't mean to suggest that finding reading material of interest would solve any reading issue, especially if the issue is some sort of learning disability or even vision problem, so definitely have him tested. Beyond that, though, I think searching for subject matter of interest is important, and for some reason (at least in my admittedly limited knowledge) seems to be more of an issue with boys, even ones with 20/20 vision and no known learning disability. The other thing I've noticed, again, just with reluctant or resistant readers, is that when they do finally become interested in reading, it can happen really suddently.</p>
<p>Also, as an aside, it seems people have different reactions to books that others recommend to them. I was an avid reader growing up, but I refused to read any book my mother recommended to me. (We have a fine relationship, but there was something about her recommendations.) My S is generally most receptive to books recommended by peers, although most of his male peers outwardly assert that they "hate" to read. You may be experiencing a convergence of a number of factors, including some teenage boyness.</p>
<p>20/20 vision does not assure that there are no visual disabilities. As mathmom mentioned there can be problems with tracking or double vision. Many kids get the 20/20 designation and so parents wrongly assume there is no vision problem. Make sure to find an OD trained to check for other issues that can in some instances be improved through vision therapy and reading glasses.</p>
<p>Sylvan can do an academic assessment, but their staff is not credentialled to evaluate for a "learning disability". Where I live, if you can make a case for it, that should be persued through the school system. Very difficult to make that happen for a rising senior where I am, unless he has a history of having had a referral for one before, and it can take six months, but it's woth it if he would qualify for extra help in college. It sounds like there is a discrepency between reading and math ability, but as someone else noted, the reading score is still "average". </p>
<p>PS, Enders Game was my son's all time favorite book!.</p>
<p>Mathmom, that is a good point about the reading affecting his math as well. He really thought he knew all of the questions and generally does well in math. His mistakes are always careless.</p>
<p>I specifically chose Ender's Game as a book I thought would pose zero challenges for him (and hopefully be interesting) after I found he couldn't follow the plot in Timeline and realized I had overshot his ability. He seemed to generally follow Ender's Game, but he did ask me if the people Ender was commanding believed they were playing a game too or did they know it was a real war. I try to give him all kinds of choices in what he might like to read and I look to his brother for ideas since he has the boy thing in common. For example, I liked Curious Incident a lot but S1 didn’t so that got nixed from even going in the idea pile even though it is short and easy to read. I am not aware that his friends read at all, so I don’t think that would be a good source of recommendations. He usually just shrugs and says it doesn’t matter what he reads because he won’t like it anyway. We even tried not requiring him to read at all for over a year, with the result that he didn’t read at all for over a year. </p>
<p>He seems very bright at most things and excellent at memorization so this may have helped him compensate, if it turns out he does have a problem. I brought up the idea of testing to him today after school and his initial reaction was alarm. He seems to fear being labeled as learning disabled. I’m not looking for accommodations for him so much as trying to understand how his brain works. I just can’t wrap my arms around someone who doesn’t like to read anything at all. It just seems unnatural. And, of course failure to read probably leads an atrophy of the part of your brain used for reading and could be a serious handicap in life, I would think. Anyway, he ran off to the river and said we could talk later.</p>
<p>My son is pretty bright, does well on SAT's and doesn't read unless he has to (except if the printed word is on a computer). I don't get all the angst unless you are worried about the caliber of college he'll likely get into with a 530 CR score. It is not the kind of score that points to an ld in that area.</p>
<p>I'm less worried about the SAT score than the inability to follow the plot of Ender's Game. I'd continue to hunt around for things he might enjoy reading. My younger son for example really enjoys his subscription to Air and Space magazine, it's actually pretty meaty. Maybe he'd like the adult equivalent of Captain Underpants? Not sure what that might be, but maybe something like Terry Pratchett, or Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe? I consider that more goofy boy humor anyway. Or he may be more of a non-fiction kid - for some reason that's common with a lot of boys.</p>
<p>Back to testing - I wouldn't start at Sylvan - I'd go to an educational psychologist. Maybe there's even testing available through his school? That's what we did with our younger son. Younger son had some deficits, not in reading in his case, but he wasn't interested in accommodations or labeling either, we let him drop his 504 plan when he entered high school.</p>
<p>I'm not worried about the SAT score. He actually would be happy to go to the University of West Virginia, which he can get into easily with his SAT and GPA. We may look at some other schools, but his unweighted GPA will be more of a constraint than the SAT.</p>
<p>My concern is that he has problems understanding relatively simple books and he avoids reading like the plague (probably as a result of not understanding what he reads). Fifteen years of concerted effort to find him reading material that he would like and understand has yielded consistently negative results. I don't have any confidence that this situation will magically change in college (regardless of where he attends). Therefore, I feel like I have roughly one year left to figure out how to reach him. It does cause me to panic because my sense is that if I fail in this regard, he will in fact be severely handicapped for life. I simply cannot imagine going through life without being able to read. As far as I'm concerned he shows signs of being functionally illiterate, regardless of his average score on the SAT. He probably has good enough memorization skills to compensate for not understanding what he reads. </p>
<p>Since I have exhausted all the standard ideas of offering tons of different types of reading, I am left with testing to help me pinpoint a more targeted approach. My basic question was whether Sylvan is the place to go for such testing. From the many thoughtful responses, my answer is not to go to Sylvan, but to find a reputable educational psychologist as well as have a vision check performed. If the result of that testing is that he is just an average kid, then I will accept that and worry no longer. It just doesn't feel right to see him struggle with something that to me seems so simple, but maybe that is normal for some kids. I just need to know for sure.</p>
<p>Tried Harry Potter. He couldn't get through it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the adult equivalent of Captain Underpants
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maybe these books wouldn't resonate as well with a boy as they do for me, but Janet Evanovich's adventures of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum make me laugh out loud. There's a bit of sex and violence in them, which may make them "grown up" enough to make them appealing. Many, many car-blowing-up explosions. Amazon.com:</a> One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, No. 1): Janet Evanovich: Books </p>
<p>I think these are less demanding, an "easier read," than Harry Potter. The adult equivalent of Captain Underpants? Hmmm, not sure. But these books are pretty darn funny. And, if I recall my Douglas Adams, no worse than Hitchhiker's Guide as far as "mature themes" go.</p>
<p>(I loved Hitchhiker's Guide and the other Adams books but have not been able to get either of my reading teenagers hooked on them. Not sure why.)</p>
<p>I'll give him any mature theme he wants if it will get him to enjoy reading. I will try Evanovich for him. I didn't like her, but she may indeed appeal to his sense of humor. My father was a big fan. I have tried to go beyond my tastes, but am probably a little stuck with my biases. I just finished Hunting Unicorns, which I thought was great but understand nobody else in the family would like at all. Probably one in ten books I like are worth recommending to S1. I am reaching back to stuff I read in high school now to keep him in books. He is reading the Crystal Cave and loving it. Knew next to nothing about Merlin and King Arthur. What a generation gap.</p>
<p>I thought of Patricia Cornwell since her novels are often centered in Richmond and include lots of blood and guts. They just seemed a little long and complex. But, hey it's worth a try. Maybe a PlayBoy magazine would work. I am that desperate.</p>
<p>I haven't read Hitchhikers Guide so will put that on the list for myself.</p>
<p>With that kind of imbalance in scores, and a difficulty with a popular book, and a description of reading as "a struggle" I would second the suggestion that he be tested for reading problems.</p>
<p>I teach part time and am certified in three states, which required that I take "The teaching of reading" three times. </p>
<p>Some possibilities for what's wrong:
*he's really very smart and is mostly compensating for dyslexia
*he has some sort of vision problem (convergence comes to mind)
*he doesn't hear well and that is making it hard for him to learn new vocabulary
*he has an attention disorder (not likely, since that's generally overdiagnosed)</p>
<p>You probably will not be able to get him tested by the school since he is functioning at grade level. (In this state, he has to be reading two years below grade level; with a B in English, that's demonstrably not the case.) However, your school may be able to recommend someone who can do private testing. If you get it done quickly, you could probably get some help over the summer and he could hit the ground running in the fall.</p>
<p>Since your son is doing very well if in fact he does have a reading deficit, the odds are excellent that he can increase his skills dramatically and quickly if you can figure out what the problem is.</p>