Reading but not comprehending

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:55:10 GMT

schweppes — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:55:10 GMT

Nebbermind:
schweppes:

For non-fiction books, it's more straight forward and matter of fact. Hence the child is able to pick up the content more easily.

However, for non-fiction books, there's a lot more skills involved. There's inferencing, subtle nuances in language and expression and a plot to follow. That can be a lot to grasp for a young child.
OK...I wasn't reading the whole post and thinking properly then....schweppes probably meant 'fiction' in the 2nd para.

oops... pai seh :oops: Thanks Nebbermind for pointing this out. Have edited the above. Been typing a lot of non-fiction reports today, :skeptical: so getting crossed eyed :scared:

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:50:27 GMT

buds — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:50:27 GMT

Nebbermind:
what is non fiction children books?

Fiction-writing that uses characters,setting,and plot to convey stories that are not real.

Non-fiction-factual and true writing that tells about real people,places and events.

Fiction-means not true.
Non-fiction means real.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:41:19 GMT

Nebbermind — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:41:19 GMT

schweppes:

For non-fiction books, it's more straight forward and matter of fact. Hence the child is able to pick up the content more easily.

However, for non-fiction books, there's a lot more skills involved. There's inferencing, subtle nuances in language and expression and a plot to follow. That can be a lot to grasp for a young child.

OK...I wasn't reading the whole post and thinking properly then....schweppes probably meant 'fiction' in the 2nd para.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:07:24 GMT

sall — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:07:24 GMT

Nebbermind:
what is non fiction children books?

Maybe books about dinosaurs or animals or volcano etc. But such books come with lots of pictures too.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:53:05 GMT

Nebbermind — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:53:05 GMT

what is non fiction children books?

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:01:54 GMT

jedamum — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:01:54 GMT

thanks schweppes for the tips!

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:55:35 GMT

Mdm Koh — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:55:35 GMT

schweppes:
Personally I feel that kids who are overly exposed to tech gadgets => psp, ipad, pc educational games... may have shorter reading attention span. I know that there are good PC/ipad educational software and games out there which are supposed to enhance learning and make the kids more IT literate. But be mindful of over exposure.

With interactive gadgets, yes, it engages the child with the visual graphics and animation but I also feel that it \"slows down\" the brain when we read a static text. This is because the child is so used to the visual animation, he may get bored reading the traditional story books as it is not stimulating enough.

I'm not saying that we should do away with IT exposure, but everything in moderation.

:goodpost:

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:50:11 GMT

schweppes — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:50:11 GMT

Personally I feel that kids who are overly exposed to tech gadgets => psp, ipad, pc educational games… may have shorter reading attention span. I know that there are good PC/ipad educational software and games out there which are supposed to enhance learning and make the kids more IT literate. But be mindful of over exposure.

With interactive gadgets, yes, it engages the child with the visual graphics and animation but I also feel that it "slows down" the brain when we read a static text. This is because the child is so used to the visual animation, he may get bored reading the traditional story books as it is not stimulating enough.

I’m not saying that we should do away with IT exposure, but everything in moderation.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:33:42 GMT

schweppes — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:33:42 GMT

jedamum:
not sure how to train, but i realised my 6yr old can comprehend non-fiction books better than fiction books. interest maybe? or maybe for fiction books, he stares at the picture most of the time to try to get the story out of the picture while for non-fiction, if he does not read it, he won't be able to know what it is about.

For non-fiction books, it's more straight forward and matter of fact. Hence the child is able to pick up the content more easily.

However, for fiction books, there's a lot more skills involved. There's inferencing, subtle nuances in language and expression and a plot to follow. That can be a lot to grasp for a young child.

For a start, get ds to read a story book with a less complicated plot or thinner story books. It's less intimidating with less pages to cover. Each child at his/her own pace.

Another suggestion. Borrow books that have short chapters within the book. Again, with a shorter chapter, it seems less intimidating to a young kid as he subconsciously feels that he has less pages to read. Think they feel a personal sense of satisfaction when they complete a chapter, and then eventually the whole book.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:21:01 GMT

jedamum — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:21:01 GMT

not sure how to train, but i realised my 6yr old can comprehend non-fiction books better than fiction books. interest maybe? or maybe for fiction books, he stares at the picture most of the time to try to get the story out of the picture while for non-fiction, if he does not read it, he won't be able to know what it is about.

for fiction books, i'll let him read/browse first. when we read together, i'll ask questions before the plot develops and he'll be excited to show off what he already know (i pretend to be curious and said 'let's guess what's going to happen next').

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:14:04 GMT

Mdm Koh — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:14:04 GMT

Try reading aloud first. He can mouth the words softly to himself as he reads. Once he gets the hang of noting the details, he can read silently.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:45:13 GMT

Nebbermind — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:45:13 GMT

Aaronmom:
Anybody has that problem?

ME!!!

I had this problem at one time!!! I bookmarked where I left off....and when I come back a couple of days to continue, I only can remember, maybe, 1~2 chapters ago.

I think it's because of distraction when we were reading and we didn't quite register what we read.

That's for me.

But for your kid, he may find it a chore to read...so he just READ but never quite digest what he is reading.

Very common...like in my school days, can read and read the history book....but never quite remember the details....mainly due to the lack of interest.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:23:38 GMT

dragonflysg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:23:38 GMT

My suggestion will take some time and effort. How about doing up some paper figures and re-enacting the story or asking him to re-enact the story? Then ask questions along the way to make it interesting? Like if the boy picks up the stick part he forgets, ask him "where do you think the stick came from?"

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:53:27 GMT

Imami — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:53:27 GMT

My child used to have that problem when he was younger. Because he really like reading, I sent him to phonics and language classes since he’s 2.5yo and we had been reading everyday since he’s 18mth old. By 3.5yo, he was reading simple books independently (eg rigby readers emergent level). But I noticed that the level of comprehension was not there yet, although he could read the words using phonics skills or thru memory(sight words). So I incorporated discussion points subsequent to the reading to brush up his thinking skills.

Now he is doing fine already. Before he sleeps but after the lights are off, I would tell him more cheem stories just to develop his thinking and understanding further. It seems to work.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:50:01 GMT

Vevey — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:50:01 GMT

At 5yo, DS1 would come out of a story-telling session & told me he couldn't remember the story at all!

hahaahaa...:b
Guess at that age, they still need repetitions & more time to answer qns. Also they might b pressurised if qns r asked formally, so it might b easier to ask them leading qns casually. This, I just read abt it recently. Sigh~
Luckily, still can apply to DS2 who is 4yo.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:28:50 GMT

sleepy — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:28:50 GMT

The book may be too difficult for him then

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:51:04 GMT

Enbin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:51:04 GMT

Aaronmom:
Hi

My son is 5 years old and seems to read fine. However, his teacher said he reads so fast but he is not paying attention to the details of what he reads. When she ask him questions about the book, he only can answer one out of five questions. Anybody has that problem? He is also not very good at reciting the story he reads to me. Is that something that can be trained? How?

Thanks for any advice.
Sandra

Dun worry.. it takes time for them to learn
Otherwise, give him a shorter passage to read instead of a story book.

Reply to Reading but not comprehending on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 07:38:34 GMT

cherrygal — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 07:38:34 GMT

I used to get my son to read a book then test him on the contents after that. He could remember most of the details so I relaxed after a few books. Now I just let him read on his own and leave it as that.