How do I help my daughter to build her reading and comprehension?

My daughter is 10 years old and in the 5th grade. She can read but I know she's having problems. I know she's not understanding what she reads. Could someone please help me to help her?

Parent Answers to "How do I help my daughter to build her reading and comprehension?"

View 7 answers: Newest-Oldest, Oldest-Newest
Display all answers

I recommend having your school diagnostician test her for Irlen Scotopic Sensitivity (you can read more about it with the book: READING BY THE COLORS). I was pleasantly surprised by the news that 2 of my children actually have this reading disability. They were able to focus and read and the change was dramatic. My daughter was misdiagnosed with ADD (ISS symptoms mirror ADD) but when we learned that what she perceives in writing is rivers of black/white making it difficult to focus on the letter much less the word. She had always struggled with reading throughout school. In 9th grade I asked WHY and diagnostician decided to test her for ISS and it was the answer. With those lenses on she's able to read fluently and since that time she's able to pick up and comprehend too. I had my other kids tested too, my 3rd grader had it too (though not as profound as my daughter).

Lastly, as far as comprehension goes. Start doing that with movies. Testing her with "who were the characters; what's the plot? parts of the story; etc." Once she's in the habit from a movie program - you can then do the same with a story. When my 7 th grader is given a novel response project, I have a poster board in the kitchen for him to write out the parts of the story as it progresses. Okay - he's the voracious reader in my group (reads a book/day).

Good Luck!

Children with ADHD often struggle with reading comprehension. I found these articles, from ADDitude magazine, which offer several strategies parents and teachers can use to help improve a child's comprehension of the written word: www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/4026.html and www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/2530.html.

A key point seems to be to make reading a more engaging, interactive task (as this will help kids remember). If your daughter's reading fiction, have her identify who (the main characters), where, when, the problem, and the solution as she reads. If she's reading a textbook, have her highlight (or write down in a notebook) the subheads and any words in boldface. Have her summarize what she's read at the end of each paragraph or section.

to help my daughter,i ordered the hooked on phonics books,last year.she was on a kindergarden reading level in first grade and now since i got the books she is in 2 grade this year and reading on a third grade level.it helped her alot,and now since the books she is not struggling to read anymore.hope this was helpful?

It';s important to understand the root cause of your child's troubles. Reading Comprehension can result of many issues: Low reading fluency, vocabulary issues, difficulty with abstract reasoning, difficulty with getting the big picture, memory, attention, overall language processing difficulties etc.

That said, it is important that the causes of the trouble are understood and are addressed by the instruction.

If you would like to learn more, you should request an evaluation in writing. Under the law, the school must comply in about 60 days (varies by state), The evaluation should look at her cognitive profile, language processing, overall reading (decoding, fluency, comprehension) as well as writing. Typically an evaluation includes standardized tests that will plot your child's skills against same aged peers as well as a survey of her school work, observations, and interviews with teacher and parents.

As a result of the evaluation you will have a better understanding of your child's strengths and weaknesses. You will also know if her comprehension difficulties are typical of students her age or not. You should also be able to pin point some of the areas of difficulty so that the prescribed reading program addresses her needs.

If you need help composing the letter, check back and I can provide a template.

I like the products by The Critical Thinking Co. I think the workbooks are good, but some of the software looks kind of clunky. You can see samples of all their products on line.

I don't know if your daughter would cooperate with you to do extra work book pages. If so, I'd start at least a grade level back so that it's easier and work back up.

www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=01506

There are similar workbooks for comprehension in the chain bookstores. But I haven't seen similar critical thinking books.

If your daughter won't work with you, you might try a tutor. Or perhaps the school has some program that would help her.

1 2 Next >

Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of GreatSchools. GreatSchools does not check for accuracy in community posts or verify the contributor’s identity. If you are searching for health-related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Community Guidelines for more details.

Local Q&A

Top cities

Los Angeles	Phoenix
Houston	San Diego
Chicago	Dallas
San Jose	San Antonio
New York	Miami

Browse questions about

Local Q&A is brand new! What do you think? Give us your feedback in our feedback forum.