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Anonymous ID: 9c3adf April 21, 2023, 10:25 a.m. No.18730235   🗄️.is đź”—kun

The struggle to read: One third grader’s winding journey

 

Thomas snuggles under the covers with me at bedtime, warm and wiggly.

 

It is our third tour through the “Harry Potter” series, and tonight is like so many others. I pause and ask him to read a few pages of the Dr. Seuss classic “Hop on Pop” before I continue recounting the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

 

And like so many times, he refuses. Finally he fumbles through a couple pages, over passages like “Pup Cup. Pup in Cup,” with copious praise. Then he is done.

 

It all seemed very normal that night last fall. But this was the beginning of third grade, and the Seuss book is sold as “The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use.”

 

Thomas has a learning disability, ADHD and epilepsy. And this is hard — harder than I thought possible.

 

___

 

Third grade is considered a crucial reading year. Children who can’t read well by the end of this year are more likely to become dropouts. All sorts of bad things are possible, the research shows.

 

Yet here we are.

 

I know our situation is extreme. But I also know testing suggests we aren’t alone. The pandemic was tough for these youngest of kids.

 

In kindergarten when the pandemic started, their schooling was disrupted at a crucial time. And because of their age, virtual learning was particularly hard for them. Kids like Thomas who needed something extra had an especially hard time.

 

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Thomas struggled to learn to talk, so much so that he met with a speech therapist as a preschooler.

 

I still remember the screening evaluation. The evaluator was giggling. Later she told me that she showed him a picture of a chair. Asked what it was, he responded, “Time out.” Other pictures were entirely mysterious.

 

https://apnews.com/article/reading-adhd-dyslexia-learning-disability-8636d7537cb25b8df1faf135301f9d92