Improving 8-year old's reading, one-on-one, concentration problems

Hi Everybody,

I took on a one-on-one lesson for an 8 year old in Bangkok. He's got trouble reading, connecting the words he sees into a sentence. Officially. Unofficially, the trouble is that he won't agree to concentrate for more than one word before he gets up to do something else. He also has the habit of saying "I'm not a good reader" as an excuse when he's asked to read something.

He likes to look at books he can't read but have a lot of exciting pictures, e.g. about astronomy.

I'll have my second lesson today. I thought I will try to draw up a contract with him, I teach five minutes, he teaches me a game he likes for five minutes, etc. But I would greatly appreciate some more advice on how I will be able to keep him more concentrated and on general ideas on the lesson contact, such as games to increase his reading ability.


Would be eternally grateful,


Dave

[lovedave]

Guess I forgot something important. The kid speaks very good English, very few mispronunciations, basically a native speaker as he visits an international school and has a Scottish dad. Then again, his dad has such a thick accent that I seriously wonder how the kid ever managed to speak that clearly (;

Furthermore, the problem is not that he cannot connect words into a sentence, but rather that he cannot connect letters to pronounce a word. Sorry for that. Any other questions, please ask.


Cheers,


Dave

[konungursvia]

I had this problem as a facilitator before. Essentially, the symptoms are what has led to the reading problems. Try playing a game with him: play-dough basketball, or plasticene hockey. Only have a magnet board with some letters and words patterns handy: eat; meat; feat; beat; tell him he doesn't get to count his points unless he correctly reads one more word you prepare for him. Give him a sweet as a prize if he wins (if he's not competitive enough to want to win). You flick the playdough ball around to win. This helps his visual tracking as well, one of the prime causes of poor reading.

[lovedave]

Thanks a lot for the prompt reply. Sounds very good to me. Two questions though:

1. How do you prepare play-dough basketball? OK, guess play-dough replaces the ball, but have you got any good idea for the basket?

2. I let him count the points he made only when he reads a word? meaning he throws, if he hits, I'll ask him to read a word, otherwise no count? or do I let him throw only after he read a word?

Thanks a lot in advance! If you should also have an advice to the following problem: I am supposed to do his homework with him, plus do additional reading exercises, all within one hour - the last two times, homework took 90 mins to finish ):

Best,

Dave

[konungursvia]

Use playdough or cups for baskets. Hockey is easier. And yes, just play with him as usual, but if he scores, tell him it doesn't count unless he correctly reads a word. Make them easy enough that he counts more of his points than he fails to count. Later, make him read series of similar words.