Jump Start – A 10 year old boy’s quest for better reading.

My young 10 year old son struggles. He’s a smart boy but is a slow stumbling reader. We’ve done testing and employed special education services. With many forms of intervention, he diligently plods on, but there have been frustrations. During his entire 3rd grade year, he outright refused to read at home. Because of his stress and anxiety over reading, I honored this refusal. But in 4th grade the dynamics were changing and I knew home reading was necessary for his success. Then, at the right time, a curious opportunity presented itself.

While on vacation, visiting family, a toddler cousin brought my son a book and asked him to read it. My son to his credit did not refuse. He slowly but successfully read the simple “I can read” book to his cousin. I pretended not to notice but silently celebrated because it gave me an idea. When we returned home, my son and I talked about his cousin and hatched a plan to send his cousin a gift. I nonchalantly asked my son if he would make an audio recording of his favorite picture books and send them to the little boy. At first my son gave a skeptical look, but I pulled out, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and showed him the easy text. And to my surprise, he tentatively agreed. We set up a sound studio at the computer work station. A head set recording device fit over his ears. I had him practice each book twice before we made a recording. With his confidence building, each day we worked on the project for 15 minutes and ended up recording about 10 books.

Until one day, it all came to an end. My son rebelled. He declared no more picture books, no more audio recordings. A proclamation came from his lips; he was ready for chapter books. His friends were not reading picture books at home, they were reading chapter books and he should do likewise. So again, I honored his rebellion and now we read two chapters a day, at home.

More than an extra requirement, my son needed someone to acknowledge his struggles, anxiety, and stress over reading. Rather than add another demand for home reading, I realize that looking for opportunities which create a desire for reading, yield better results. My son is still a slow reader but he shows continuous improvement. He can now imagine himself reading chapter books like his peers and imagination is the first step in creating any reality.

Word Count 425