Reading fatigue?

[daytripper75]

My soon to be 5 year old has been reading early readers for the past 6 months or so but I am noticing that she tires quickly and that while she is capable of reading each word on a given page individually, when there is more than a sentence or two on each page she cannot (will not?) read the page.
We had her eyes tested last year with a COVD optometrist and she has normal vision for her age.
Is it normal for younger children who are reading to become fatigued? Should I take her in to the optometrist again? I'd say she has the capability of reading on a second grade level but too many words on the page makes her shut down. She is becoming bored with Level One readers but Level Two's seem to be too much for her to take.
Any advice?
Thanks!

[lara1828]

My first thought was vision. You could take her back to see if anything's changed or if they have some tools for her to keep track of where she is on the page.

Some simple things: using a ruler to separate lines or finger to follow along. Colored transparencies over the print to reduce contrast. Better lighting. Slant board. Even discussing the picture and/or concepts before reading the page can help.

My 6 yo does tire pretty quickly, but he has some vision issues, so I can't say if it's typical.

HTH

Lara

ETA: We love the EPS Primary Phonics books. They come in several levels and are all very fun stories (for phonics books anyway).

[no5no5]

It sounds normal to me, TBH. It could be vision, or it could be that she's just intimidated by so much text. DD has gone through the same thing at nearly every stage of reading. I think it's mostly because she wants to be able to read fluently. If there are a bunch of words on a page, she won't be as confident that she can get them all out without stumbling. For DD, this is more of a problem with speaking than reading at this point, but before she was a very strong reader we also saw it with reading. I think it may also be related to working memory. She reads ahead (she often looks up while reading and the looking up doesn't necessitate a pause), and if there are too many words that's harder to do. Then again, it could be that she just wants to take it slowly and look at the pictures, without feeling pressured to read more quickly.

Have you tried We Both Read or similar books? They're nice because they give the kid a break after each page (to look at pictures, etc.). They might help rule out a vision issue.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by daytripper75

We had her eyes tested last year with a COVD optometrist and she has normal vision for her age.

bold mine

Normal for a 4yo is slightly farsighted.

DS started reading at 2 3/4yo. He was quite able to decode words like Montana when he saw them isolated by the time he was 3 yo. However, he is now 4 yo, and though he could read every single word in a book such as a Magic Tree House book, the longest book he has ever read is Green Eggs and Ham. He generally prefers for me to read to him. He just has very very little reading endurance.

DS is slightly farsighted in a developmentally appropriate way, which he will out grow if we just leave it alone. It may have something to do with his lack of reading endurance.

I'm just not pushing it and letting it be. He's quite happy to just read little bits here and there, such as yesterday he read the titles of art work at the museum.

[LauraLoo]

Since you've already seen a COVD optometrist, I'd just keep an eye on it. If she starts tilting her head, or moving her head back and forth to read, or complains of headaches, holds the book unusually close or far, or any other unusual reading behavior then maybe another visit to the optometrist would be in order. Vision can change. But if she's just started reading early readers, I would guess that her eyes are adjusting to this.

[TiredX2]

Instead of going to level 2 readers, I would look for picture books. The words are larger and with many picture books the reading level is actually quite a bit higher than the beginning readers. That's because they are made for adults to read aloud (versus a 4-5 year old to read to themselves).

Good luck

[loraxc]

My DD was not willing to read chapter books or picture books with lots of text till she'd been reading about 8 months. She could read the words, but she was intimidated or tired out by reading for long periods. Now that she's been reading for about a year, she will polish off 5 (shorter) chapter books in an afternoon.

[daytripper75]

Great suggestions! I will be sure to get her back in with the same optometrist as soon as our insurance will allow and I will try the suggestions above.

It's hard when their minds want to do things that their bodies just aren't ready for!

[HeatherB]

Moving over to Learning at Home...

[One_Girl]

My dd did this and I noticed that just practicing reading and stopping when she was tired really helped. I also got her eyes thoroughly tested and there was no problem so I focused on giving her practice, but not pushing her past the point where it was fun. It took her a while to get the hang of switching lines when there were lots of lines, but she got to that point on her own.

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by daytripper75

We had her eyes tested last year with a COVD optometrist and she has normal vision for her age. Is it normal for younger children who are reading to become fatigued?

Our 7 yo has eye teaming issues and is in vision therapy. Our 4.5 yo also had an exam. I was told that his eyes have identical focus, team well, and are quite far-sighted.....and that the far-sightedness is completely developmentally normal for his age, that they do not want to correct it right now, because it will probably change on its own as he ages...and also that I should not expect him to be able to look at print close-up at this age unless it is large, dark, and visually simple, and that for him to look at small print or busy pages would be difficult and he probably wouldn't want to do it, but that it is nothing to worry about at this age. I wonder if your DD may be in a similar situation ?

[daytripper75]

I took her to the optometrist today and she does need glasses. Thanks for the help!