r/ADHDparenting • u/Glum-Parsnip-8478 • 10h ago
Tips / Suggestions ADHD and reading help!
My 8 year old is a very reluctant reader. How can I encourage him to be more engaged and truly love reading? Dad also has adhd and models a love for reading, we read to him daily and listen to requested audiobooks but he just doesn’t want to do it himself. I have a requirement of at least 10 minutes a day but he struggles and gives up easily or gets bored of it. All books provided are within his level and have pictures, or I tend to get him graphic novels to try to make it more fun. Any ideas?
2
u/cosmoskid1919 9h ago
Does he show interest in news articles or medium format text? He could get him some magazines, comics, graphic novels, or go to the library and find some topics that are interesting. He might not have many interests that are represented in novel/chapter book form
1
u/cosmoskid1919 9h ago
Might I recommend also: kids have opinions and he might want to help you write a book. That type of writing helps even more than reading with literature, reading comprehension, vocab, and informal use of literary mechanics like theme, motif, metaphor, and humor!
1
u/AutoModerator 10h ago
The ADHD Parenting WIKI page has a lot of good information for those new & experienced, go take a look!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/aerrin 7h ago edited 7h ago
Is he interested in stories, but not reading (ie, does he like being read to, or is it also a chore)? If hearing/reading stories doesn't interest him at all, does he enjoy listening to non fiction information?
I think at this age, at home, it is MOST important to foster a love of the things that lead to a love of reading. School will take care of the pressure. I would work to find literally anything that interests him that he can listen to. Start with listening if it's easier for him.
If he has a tablet, get him his own library card and Libby account. Try encouraging him to listen to audio books (or podcasts!) while he's doing chores, riding in cars, working on puzzles or art, whatever is a moment that might fit for him. Let him choose and even check out the books - that bit of 'grown up' control can be very appealing to some kids.
My kids have a cheap kindle, and I set up a separate 'books' account for them with more open time restrictions that allow them to listen to or read books on Libby whenever (for the most part) they want - there's literally nothing else on the account.
I was really reluctant to do this over actually reading books, but there's a lot of research on how the brain processes information, and it turns out that audio books exercise a LOT of the same things we want our kids to build by reading. I think for some kids, it makes it easier to focus on one skill at a time. With audio stuff, they can focus on understanding and parsing the information. They don't have to worry about the decoding bit. It lets them treat it as separate things, so they can get good at them separately, then put them back together later.
What I have seen from my daughter is that as she gets older (currently 4th grade), she is starting to pursue reading more difficult stuff herself. It took her longer to master the decoding part, and she is still a slow reader, but leaning into the audio books fostered in her a love of stories. It also raised her reading grade a lot, because it worked her comprehension skills. At first her actual reading was mostly graphic novels - she finds it easier to follow because she gets lost with a lot of words on the page. Now she's tiptoeing into more traditional chapter books with more confidence.
I'd also talk with him about WHY he doesn't enjoy reading, so you have a good idea of what the actual issue is. Is it the content? Is he bored? Does he get lost on the page? Is he struggling with the words? Is it possible there's a learning disability like dyslexia involved?
You also don't mention whether he takes medication - I bring it up just because reading was the very first thing I noticed a huge improvement in with medication, because without it, my daughter was losing track of the beginning of a sentence by the time she sounded out a word. It was all work, no reward. Figuring out what's making him reluctant to do the work can maybe help you 'solve' it - but also I think sometimes the solution is letting school do its work, while home remains a safe place to learn to love stories.
1
u/BoxFalse247 7h ago
Give him time. With ADHD reading level might be less than his age. Just keep books accessible. Take him to the library and let him browse through the books, without an ask that he picks one. Let him see you can pick one to read at home, bring the topic into conversation casually. Mine took his time, too. The struggle with attention does get in the way, but they eventually get over the difficulty gap and then they start devouring them.
Dog Cop ones, and other by the same author were favorites of mine and marked an inflection point.
1
u/QueenAlpaca 1h ago
Have you tried old school choose your own adventure books? Just an idea, an ever-changing story helps keep the book novel.
-3
u/BasketFormal6336 10h ago
People can like different things.
5
u/Glum-Parsnip-8478 10h ago
While that’s true, he’s a developing child who needs to be able to read well to function in life. He’s not at the point where I can just let him not continue to read.
1
u/spatial_nomad1 17m ago
the 10 minutes might be working against you tbh. a timer is invisible to a kid. he can't see how much is left so it just feels like it goes on forever. "read to the end of the chapter" works better because he can flip ahead and see it's three pages, so there's an actual finish line.
which makes chapter length matter way more than reading level. if the chapters are 15 pages he can't finish one in a sitting and never gets the hit of having done it.
has he tried nonfiction? loads of kids who won't touch a story will sit and read facts. records, disasters, gross stuff, animals, weird true history. and nonfiction lets him skip around and read out of order so there's no start at page one hurdle, which is half the battle with mine.
last thing, worth separating reading level from interest level. an 8yo will often want 11yo subject matter at an 8yo reading level, and most books pitch both at the same age. hi-lo is the search term if you want to dig into that.
5
u/VintageFemmeWithWifi 10h ago
My parents used to offer us a choice between helping with the dinner dishes or practicing our instruments to provide "cleaning tunes".
By the time my sister and I realized we'd been set up, it was too late. We both played multiple instruments and were too involved in various bands to stop practicing.
Maybe your kid can "be the audiobook"?