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Adventures of a Reluctant Reader
Learning at an Individual Pace
By Tara Swords
"If a kid is a reluctant reader I'd be trying to cater to the child's interests," Anderson says. "If he's interested in sports or building things, find books about those things."
Now 13 years old and a good student, Lexie reads everything she's supposed to. But her mother is still hoping a love of recreational reading will eventually "click."
"She has The Catcher in The Rye. She was at an overnight camp and one of the counselors was talking about it and it intrigued her," Alison says. "She asked me to send it to her and I thought, 'Any book she's interested in. Whatever she wants to read, I'll give her to read. I'd be glad if she read a comic book."
While Lexie excels despite her difference, that's not always the case with nonreaders. In fact, studies have shown a high correlation between independent reading as a child and later success in all areas of school. There's even a relation between childhood reading and level of educational attainment. And because so much of the information that we learn in our lives is acquired through reading, Anderson says the correlation simply makes sense.
"If I told you that one group of boys or girls had a thousand hours where they played basketball and another group had a thousand hours where they watched TV, which group would be playing basketball better?"
Alison encourages parents to be vigilant about what's going on at school. While her daughter attended a private school with a high amount of individual attention from teachers, it was her mother who noticed that Lexie was behind in reading skills – and her mother who pushed for the testing that would unveil the mystery.
