<p>DS is in a NE BS and he is doing honors level work in all subjects except English. His learning seems to be asymmetric, doing really well in all subjects except English. What can he do to improve his reading comprehension, literary analysis, and writing? Have you used a tutor in such situations? Did it help? Are there some good Summer English Programs that can help him? How do top colleges look at an honors student with a B in English? Thanks in advance for your help.</p>
<p>Does he have Learning disabilities that causes him to have difficulties with Language arts? If not known, an evaluation might help identify the exact issues. Some schools do have Academic support programs.</p>
<p>There was a thread related to this recently:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1399121-what-sort-books-should-students-read-improve-their-writing.html?highlight=better+writer[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1399121-what-sort-books-should-students-read-improve-their-writing.html?highlight=better+writer</a></p>
<p>No he doesn’t have learning disabilities. I’m not sure if some boys have a natural disinterest in languages and reading. He thinks he is doing his best, that doesn’t seem to be good enough to his teachers. I don’t know if there are some good techniques in note taking, annotation etc. He seems to be missing the literary analysis part, the central ideas of the authors, characters and such. The teachers are good but demanding.</p>
<p>@intparent, Thanks for the link.</p>
<p>FWIW, missing main ideas, etc is typical of learning disabilities. Not saying your son have them. My son does and he is very strong in everything except for Reading Comprehension and Writing.</p>
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<p>Only on CC does “B” = “Bad”. Next thing you know, people will be asking if they should hire tutors to help with those embarrassing "A-"s.</p>
<p>Will your son be home over the summer? Could you work with him yourself? You could have a mom-and-son book club where you read books and discuss them intensively. This is what homeschooled teens do all the time – read and discuss challenging books. It’s extremely effective (especially if you use literary guides, which are readily available through homeschool curriculum publishers) and costs next to nothing.</p>
<p>Sometimes it’s about knowing the framework for the analysis. Demystifies the process if he can focus on an opening paragraph, three paragraphs that each explain, support and analyze one area, then close with a summary.</p>
<p>For reading speed a librarian suggested watching movies and TV with only subtitles and captions. That was suggested for younger children so we didn’t try it but might help with older ones as well.</p>
<p>And don’t rule out a learning disability. It can be mild and go undiagnosed. Not every student is gifted in every area. Dyslexia, mild forms of Attention Deficit, etc. can have profound impact on school but not require medication to resolve. Good be as simple as need for glasses.</p>
<p>I say that because I tutor a boy that excels in most classes until it comes to reading. Comprehension is there for oral discussions, but not for visual reading. Not an IQ thing. He’s just a slow methodical reader, which sometimes causes him to miss things because he’s thinking too much and not absorbing the information.</p>
<p>One way to tell if it’s a condition needing medical diagnosis versus a general lack of interest or tutoring issue is to figure out if reading something for pleasure goes faster (i.e. if reading Lord of the Flies is like slogging through mud, but reading Lord of the Rings is a joy). </p>
<p>Good luck. Your issue is more common than you think.</p>