Why Students Say they Hate to Read !
Most children love to be read to. When they learn to read efficiently they enjoy reading. They may not like every academic assignment presented to them, but most students will read for pleasure. Reading efficiently is not as easy as it sounds. The act of efficient reading requires many different skills. Reading requires your visual system to track across from left to right (laterality) with both eyes operating as a team (convergence) clearing the print (accommodation ) then identifying the words (decoding) , all while making sense (comprehension) and remembering the text (visual memory).
These skills should function automatically and efficiently but often they may not . If any or even several of these skills are compromised or underdeveloped reading will become laborious and fatiguing. Difficulties in any of these areas may severely impact comprehension which is why the student who struggles with reading wants and needs to be read to.
Elementary students beyond second grade do very little reading in class. Most reading assignments are given as homework. After a long day at school many students are too tired to even master their required reading assignments and there is no time or energy left for reading for pleasure.
Home schooled students may require most of the lessons and subjects taught to them to be read orally aloud to them , and may be incapable to do any independent assignments, thus requiring twice the time and effort of the home school teacher. Third graders and up often do not wish to be read to at bedtime anymore and over time they are more and more underexposed to books and the world of pleasure they bring.
Students who actually have a reading disorder may even find the act of reading disorientating and uncomfortable and experience symptoms such as eye discomfort, blurriness, headache, nausea and upset stomach. They do not report these symptoms because they do not associate them with reading but may exhibit behaviors such as fidgeting, eye rubbing, avoidance , and even misconduct instead. When asked what is wrong the typical response is I HATE READING! Reading for them is unpleasant, uncomfortable and emotionally they may feel they are slower and more stupid than their peers. Even the student reading on grade level with excellent decoding skills may be reading too slowly for that grade and material ,or may have reduced comprehension preventing them from true efficient reading. They pass the tests, but reading tests usually only present short passages and if this student is not reading efficiently they may become underachievers and never reach their full academic potential. Third graders and up should be reading efficiently ,and they should be reading silently.
A teacher or parent may find it difficult to access the students silent reading skills. I use very special programs and materials to access the students silent reading rate. Efficient silent reading is not usually taught in the classroom. These students have the ability to read better but get stuck in a more inefficient elementary school level style of reading and may never become the avid readers they and their parents would like them to be.They may discover when they get to College level, the reading assignments may become more and more difficult.
If your student claims they hate reading, an evaluation may be warranted . Reading disorders develop from many different origins. Poor phonetic awareness, Dyslexia, visual skills disorders, visual perceptual skills disorders, ADD, ADHD, poor short term memory, weak visualization skills, etc. Some students read better than they can spell, or spell better then they can read. Spelling and visual motor disorders prevent them from efficient essay and story writing and soon they start to say " I HATE WRITING " ! , despite being creative story tellers. I have treated students with mild to severe reading disabilities and almost all reported a strong dislike of reading to me and to their parents. After treatment, the very same students were caught reading secretly after bedtime, repeatedly requested to go to the library or bookstore, even used their own money to by books, and asked for certain books as gifts for Christmas or their birthday.
I can provide many Testimonials from satisfied parents, but I find the following comments of my students provide more proof that reading disorders can be helped.
. If I knew Reading was this easy I would have done it along time ago ! 9yrs
. Wow this silent E trick is very interesting ! 11 years
. Brought to me due to avoidance in reading and writing M. soon exclaimed "Look I started writing my own newspaper" on another day she presented me with a empty scotch tape dispenser she filled with a trail of paper printed with all the words she could now write and spell. 8 yrs old
."I read a poem today and it actually rhymed . I didn't know I liked poems. " 9 yrs
. "Not only could I keep up with reading my part in the play I was the one who kept cueing all the other students when their part came up". 15 yrs old
."Wow ! I can actually read Harry Potter now. It's a really good book, better than the movie "! 12 years old
."Today I volunteered at school to help children in the younger grades learn to read".
8 yrs old
All these students have or had severe reading disorders and used to say I HATE READING
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