Why Can't Johnny Read?

Reading and math are the two primary determining factors used by most parents to determine their child's chance of success in school. Progress is fairly easy to assess and can be judged more easily than other subjects. A teacher who understands that the scope of the student's vocabulary and reading comprehension are critical aspects of reading can more closely assess reading skills. When parents only have a simplistic view of reading skills, they can be slow to realize the need for more aggressive pursuit of training.

Reading comprehension is extremely important. Does the student just know the words or what the meaning of the whole sentence, paragraph or document is? When the time comes, the student will need to read a history, science or economics book for its meaning. Many students can read an entire chapter very well but have absolutely no idea what the chapter meant. This is one of the reasons parents say things like "but he/she was doing so well before". Suddenly reading comprehension became very important and very difficult but their child was not prepared.

My niece was about to start the first grade when I came to town for a visit. She was sitting by me while I was reading a newspaper. The five year-old began to read an article on the front page about Ghadafi in Libya. I was astounded. I yelled at my sister, "Did you know that your daughter is able to read the front page of the paper?" My sister really had my attention when she said, "Yes, it is going to be a real problem for the teacher when she starts school because she cannot write the word "cat". It turns out that she had spent hours at a TV watching selected educational shows with her older brother. She could sound out words but could not write and did not understand what she read. She could read but it did not serve any purpose. This is a somewhat exaggerated example of where some much older students are today. They read but lack understanding of what they have read. When they try to grasp English literature, economics, computer programming and other subjects they fail to understand what they are reading.

I once worked with a lady while we were developing a computer program in telecommunications. She was a programmer and I was one of the technical experts on the team. We were working with switches, digital remotes and remote line test equipment. She had no knowledge of any of this equipment. The shocking part of this experience was that she was able to read very technical documents and comprehend enough of it to ask really pertinent questions and absorb very complex technical requirements. She had the most amazing reading comprehension skills I had ever encountered.

An Associated Content search for "reading comprehension" resulted in 351 articles available. They included hundreds of possible ways to improve your child's reading comprehension. There is one problem with this. The parent must have sufficient concern to take the time to search for and use all this assistance that is available. Only a small percentage of students have the luxury of having parents that can or will provide the time and support to make a difference. In today's society we have teachers who expect parents to get involved and parents who expect teachers to take care of the problem. Guess who gets caught in the middle...Johnny.