Dear D.W.,

There are several possibilities here. Two things to consider first: your student’s spoken-language comprehension, and his ease in 'translating' the written word into its spoken equivalent.

Your student may have trouble listening, comprehending and remembering a story told out loud. Naturally, then, he will have trouble comprehending what he has read, because for most of us, reading comprehension grows from our ability to listen. The speech/language pathologist is the right person to assess this basic language skill.

Does your student read fluently? If he struggles, hesitates and miscalls many words, he can lose the flow of the ideas that are written. Or if he spends a great deal of attention just to identify each word correctly, he may have little attention left over for the meaning of the message. His decoding skills--phonics, sight words, and prediction--may need to be more automatic and more fluent.

In any case, it is a good idea to back up to the level at which he is successful now. You can simplify and shorten the material he needs to read and comprehend. Perhaps he can follow one-sentence instructions for treasure hunts. He might be able to fill the blanks in sentences: 'We like to ride _____ after school.' (How many ways can he think of? Can he think of a ridiculous fill-in?) Or, if you give him a running start by reading two or three sentences of a selection, perhaps he can read the next sentence and understand it on his own (then you take another turn). Discover what he can comprehend, and begin there.

Best Wishes,
Ruth Alice Jurey, M.S.
Speech/Language Pathologist