Son Not Wanting to Read

He's in kindergarten. I wouldn't push him too hard if he isn't ready. Some aren't yet at that young age. I know my son wasn't into reading until now. He's in second grade. Once they are more confident and able to read more fluently, I don't think you will have that much of an issue. Especially when it they are reading something of an interest to them.

My son loved planes at 5 ( still does), so I would find all of the plane books I could find, that were for beginner readers and read it to him first. Then, the second time, I asked him to read a few pages. Pretty soon he was reading the whole book. I would also praise him after each time we read together.

I went straight to the inappropriate humor for my son. The "Captain Underpants" series was great. It's a combination chapter book/comic book.

You have to read a lot with him, make it fun, show him it's important to you (let him see YOU enjoying reading).
Snuggle together with a book every chance you get.
If one book is boring, try all sorts till you find what interests him.
We did every Dr Seuss book till we both had them memorized.
We did all the 'How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight/Get Well Soon/etc'
We read fire truck books and shark books, dragon books,
comics and even Asterix the Gaul books.
And we played games.
He'd pick out words, or he'd have one word - the same word, for the whole story.
Then I'd read even pages and he read odd pages.
My son is a fantastic reader, but it didn't really take off till the 2nd half of 2nd grade, and then there was no holding him back - he was reading Harry Potter books on his own in the 3rd grade.
Be patient but keep working on it.

He sounds a bit burned out.

I would lay off for a while and instead read to him.. Is spring break coming up? Give him a real break and do not push so much..

This is not unusual. Many children have put the brakes on reading, but gladly pick it up a little while later.

Also use some real life things to read. Magazines, Billboards, movie posters, recipes... Greeting cards.. Maybe have some relatives mail him son=me letters.

When you are going to the grocery store. Make a list for you and for him.. See if he can be your "big helper" and have him call out the list in the grocery store. Then have him help you find the items you are looking for.

In the paper on Wed (here Wed, is when the specials come out) have him help you look for good deals. He can read the items and how much they are etc..

Maybe see if you can get him a magazine subscription of his own mailed to him.. Highlights. Comics etc..

I would not push him to read now. He's in kindergarten and has all summer to practice and the more you push the less fun reading will be for him. I think when he gets to 1st or 2nd grade it will be more fun at school than it is now. Let him pick books out and read what he can during the summer or in 1st grade.

He is finding the focus on his reading to be annoying or embarrassing.

He is going to a special reading group and he probably feels stupid or dumb. He is being segregated from the rest of the class for his reading skills. He is standing out for not being the same.

Be sure and lead him into a conversation where he can say those things if he is feeling them.

I would considre dropping the reading group at school and doing something more at home, like a special time where you or hubby can spend 20 mintues with him and do what they were doing in class.

Tell him that he can drop the reading group only if he does XX and XX at home every day. Then practice doing it to see how it goes. Let the teacher know what is going on so she get you in contact with the reading person so you can see what they do during this 20 minutes.

Kids need to feel normal, the same as everyone else.

It's hard to get some kids reading, and both of my kids have gone through a phase of not wanting to read ANYTHING right before they caught the reading "bug" and started reading everything they could get their hands on. I'm at a loss to explain it, except that they just have to get over the hump from being a non-reader (struggling to sound things out) to the point where everything just "clicks" and they can suddenly read paragraphs with very little effort. What may help is if you find a book or series where the subject matter really interests him. My younger daughter became fascinated with the Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott (you can find the series on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online). They are simple chapter books, kind of like Magic Treehouse or Junie B Jones (neither of which really grabbed my daughter). Now she's reading a book a day in the Droon series - no joke! With the first book, I read it to her (mostly). I would read a few pages and then hand her the book and say, "Here, you hold this while I (go to the bathroom, or turn off the oven, or answer the door)..." I'd come back 5 minutes later, and unable to help herself, she would have read several pages to find out what was going to happen next! Soon, she was begging to read to herself before bedtime, etc. Now, she reads independently all the time. It was a gradual process. I suggest reading to him and gradually having him read more and more. He will figure it out soon enough!

He's only in Kindergarten. Based both on my experiences with my daughter (now in 4th grade) and what I've read about children's brain development - don't push him! My daughter was well below grade-level in reading up until 2nd grade and that fact got SO much attention both at school and with her father, that I was afraid she would grow up HATING to read. Then, in 3rd grade, her reading went from below grade level to her scoring 99th percentile on the reading standardized test in reading in the Spring. She now LOVES to read and is in the highest reading group. Her brain was just not ready to read, until it was ready.

I would encourage your son and keep reading aloud to him. We did this every day, extensively. (Because of all the reading aloud we did for our daughter, she always had a huge vocabulary and high comprehension.) Being read to is, usually, enjoyable for kids and keeps them interested in books until they are ready to take the next step in reading for themselves.

lots of good ideas.

couple of other things, our library has books on CD, Junie B jones, Ato Z mysteries, even picture books like curious george, get him some head phones and a cd player and let him just listen, or with the picute books read along, we love them in the car for trips It might make it more fun. there maybe websites too you can down load audio books.

Do you let him play starfall on the computer, its a fun site for letter games and little easy books like zac the rat. maybe bribe him if he reads one page and you read one page of an easy book all the way through, then he can play starfall for 10 minutes.

comic books might be fun for him if you can find some easy ones, our dollar store had some donald duck ones a month or so ago.

reading and writing go hand in hand, maybe he would be willing to draw grandma a picture and write a few words. or maybe he could make a list of what he wants for lunch one day.

Read everything, but keep it casual. Comics in the paper, recipes, books on tape or even stories on dvd that have the closed caption option that highlights each word. Look at picture books and have a running dialogue about what is happening in it. Get those early reader books with repetitive sight words or focus on a phonics skill. As someone else mentioned, find out how much phonics help he is gettting. If he is having trouble remembering or pronouncing words, then working on certain skills can help immensely. Think about what interests him-fiction and non-fiction wise and get books based on those topics. Help him make connections between himself and the character/s in the story, connections to the story and the world around him or connections to another book he has read. Honestly, have you ever watched the show Super Why on PBS? This is such a great show in regards to the kind of reading skills taught in school. It regularly touches on making connections, spelling words, vocabulary and word families. These are all areas you can work on with your son that will strengthen his confidence and interest in reading. Also, don't feel like he has to do all the reading. A below-level reader can thrive just by listening to someone modeling reading at a higher level. Find some books you both enjoy and read together. If he isn't interested, then ease up for awhile and try again later. He will get it in his own time! Good luck!
A.

Have you talked to his teacher?

Is something going on in class, that he is turned off by reading now?
Since it seems so sudden?
Do kids make fun of him? Or the teacher?

Is he lagging in school or not?
Is his vision okay?

My son did not like to read until about 3rd grade. He would read for school and that was it. Nothing extra, nothing on his own. Then one day, I guess he found something he really liked and has had the book bug ever since. This past weekend he read a book from the Aragon series (at least i think it is-has a Dragon on the cover). This is a big book and he finished it. he stayed up late Sat night because he did not want to stop. Some kids just don;t get the bug until later. And unfortunately, some never do. Keep encouraging him and find something he really likes--even if it is just comics.

One thing suggested by my son's school for newer and/or struggling readers is to put on closed captioning whenever you have the TV on - it forces them to read along!

My kindergartner goes through this too,. He will be fine for a few days, then he will absolutely hate it for a few days.

I just end up reading to him, at least the gets the exposure, then the interest kind of perks back up in him. You can also do some other things to make reading more interesting. I saw this idea to tape words on leggos, then have your child build sentences out of the leggo blocks. Same with magnets on the fridge. Maybe you can cut out words together from a magazine and glue it on a piece of paper for a collage, and he has to try and tell a short story with the words. Just some ideas to make it a little out of the box.

Encourage him to pick out his own books. Withhold things like tv, computer and such until he reads at least one book a day. I know starfall.com has some fun early reader books.

maybe he is bored. when i was little and got bored with the school material i would shut down like that. maybe get him a book thats one step up from where he is

It sounds like he's having a hard time and is frustrated. Rather than asking him to read, you can just read to him. MOve your finger under the words as you read so he can follow along. It's the next best thing to reading himself.

Also, I wonder if the school is teaching phonics or just sight words right now. If they are not learning phonics, he may be having a hard time remembering the sight words and doesn't have a foundation in phonics. So, maybe you can work on phonics with him.

If you can afford it, I don't want to assume I know what your financial situation is, as mine is tight. But if you can the Tag Reading System by LeapFrog is incredible. It helps them learn how to read and sound out word but there are also games that the child can play in the books. Like find the number of 'e's on the page or how many flowers are there, ect. It makes it fun to read. My son got one for Christmas about 2 years ago and he loves it. He is 6 now (4 when he got it) and we are still buying new books for it. Also, once you register the Tag System online and download your books to the pen, once he finishes a book or completes one of the activities- LeapFrog emails you a certificate of achievement or Achievement Stars and my son loves to print them and put them on his walls =) He is very interested in reading now and I think it's all because of the Tag Reading System. I always did read to him, but he would get bored with that. I'm also a very avid reader, about a book every 2-3 days, so I wanted to make sure if my son didn't want me to read with him or to him that he was getting it somewhere =)
Hope this helps.

Get his eyes checked.....turn off the tv and computer.