[blparent] Sparking an interest in reading?

[Jennifer Jackson]

Jo Elizabeth, A very sensible mother I know just recently advised someone
else that " If he isn't interested, I'd just wait." :) Of course you were
talking about diaper freedom, but I think the advice is good here too.

It has not been that many years ago that children were expected to learn the
alphabet in kindergarten and then to read in the first grade. No matter how
early some kids read, some are just not ready until six or seven. Yes we can
make them memorize it and force the issue, but at the cost of what other
valuable things our children are supposed to be learning at those younger
ages.

You are already doing the important things. I really believe that if you
will just relax, this will all come together for her. 


Jennifer

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jo Elizabeth Pinto
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 9:53 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: [blparent] Sparking an interest in reading?

Hi.  I'm wondering, particularly from the parents of older kids on the list,
what you did to spark an interest in reading?  I've done the basics--Sarah
has had dozens of books of her own since she was an infant, and I used to
read to her all the time before she got too busy and active.  A lot of her
books are in print and braille, so I read to her when she wants me to, and
we talk about the pictures.  She usually gets a story or two at bedtime, and
when she feels like it, I'll stop what I'm doing to read with her.  She has
a great vocabulary and likes learning new words.  She'll often ask me what
something means, like today she wanted to know what "opposite" was, so we
talked about things that are opposite, like in and out, day and night, etc.
But she doesn't seem inclined to learn to read by herself at all.  I know
her preschool has done activities with letters--she came home the other day
with a foil tin in which she had planted grass seeds in the shape of her
initials.  I thought that was a great idea, but she didn't care much about
it, and the tin got knocked over before the seeds could grow.  She'll
pretend to spell something now and then because when the adults around her
spell words, she knows we're talking about something she's not supposed to
understand, like going to the park or a gift she's going to get, and so on.
But she's not interested in pointing out letters, or sounding out words, and
the last thing I want to do is push her and make a battle out of books
because that will give reading the kiss of death.  I asked her the other day
if she wanted to learn to read and she casually said no, Mommy and Daddy
will do it.  I'd appreciate any ideas.

Thanks,
Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of
the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of
these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist
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