Tic? A touch of OCD? Weird reading behavior

[loraxc]

DD (7) has been reading silently since age 5 and reads at about a 6th grade level, give or take. She has never appeared entirely neurotypical and may be somewhere at the far edge of the spectrum. Recently I have noticed her lips moving and her talking under her breath while she reads. When questioned, she says she is not reading the whole text but that she "has to" say certain "strong" letters (such as p) and words to herself when she sees them. She used the "has to" language herself--I did not suggest it.

This appears to be slowing down her reading, which is still pretty fast, but used to be very fast. It also makes it look like she cannot read silently. If I ask her to stop, she will for a while, but then starts up again.

Has anyone seen anything like this in their kids? This is the first OCD-ish thing I've seen from her, I guess, though she was a fairly rigid and ritualistic toddler (but so are many!) I don't know if I should be concerned or not. Maybe I should just ignore it...? Would this be a spectrumy kind of behavior?

ETA: On further thought, she used to do a throat-clearing thing that was sort of OCD/tic-like, but we weren't sure if it was allergies or what. She also used to chew her hair a lot, though this isn't really the same kind of issue, exactly.
Edited by loraxc - 6/8/11 at 1:37pm

[LynnS6]

Our son has a few tics, and we had him assessed the summer he was 8 -- he was doing a lot of weird things with his hands in front of his eyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz7HAOvk1Jk

In our case, the assessment didn't turn up much, but it did reassure me. He outgrew the hand movements and replaced them hair pulling (trichotillomania) which he's also stopped. Now, he does something with jaw clicking sometimes, which is less obvious, so it doesn't worry me so much. His 'tics' increase during allergy season, I noticed last year, and so I'm looking into treating those. I'm chalking it down to OEs and trying not to worry. He's my 'less' gifted, but more out of the box kid. (I'm convinced he's just as gifted as dd is, but he'll never demonstrate it academically. He does well enough to get by, but he's going to be an A and B student. His real gift is seeing amazing connections between things, amazing attention to details and amazing passion about his obsessions.)

[CassandraD]

Don't sweat the reading thing.  As far as fluency, many kids will sacrifice fluency to gain comprehension---which is great!  We read to gain understanding, not to win a race, so if she is still reading fast enough, then it's not a problem.  I often mouth the words to a book as I read if I am either deeply interested in what I'm reading or if I'm rereading to gain further understanding---because sometimes reading and hearing the info at the same time leads to better understanding and remembering of the info. 

I took a graduate class in reading last summer.  It sounds like your daughter has caught on to something that many great readers know.  YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ EVERY WORD.  Skimming and Scanning are skills that great readers pick up on to deal with large amounts of reading that they have to do.  I think your daughter is probably fine, but if you are still uneasy, then take her for a professional opinnion to set your mind at ease.

[KCMichigan]

Originally Posted by CassandraD 

Don't sweat the reading thing.  As far as fluency, many kids will sacrifice fluency to gain comprehension---which is great!  We read to gain understanding, not to win a race, so if she is still reading fast enough, then it's not a problem.  I often mouth the words to a book as I read if I am either deeply interested in what I'm reading or if I'm rereading to gain further understanding---because sometimes reading and hearing the info at the same time leads to better understanding and remembering of the info. 

I took a graduate class in reading last summer.  It sounds like your daughter has caught on to something that many great readers know.  YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ EVERY WORD.  Skimming and Scanning are skills that great readers pick up on to deal with large amounts of reading that they have to do.  I think your daughter is probably fine, but if you are still uneasy, then take her for a professional opinnion to set your mind at ease.

Ditto this (per my reading instructional courses) an advanced reader (and many adults) skim and dont read every word. That is why they can ad 'voice' and emphasis when reading outloud...you have to be able to 'read ahead' to see what is coming.

As an adult, I will say words outloud and reread outloud certain words- especially if I want to confirm or try out pronunciation.

As for kiddos-- unless a tic  or habit is bothering HER or seemingly impeding her enjoyment or ability to gather information from text, dont worry about it. Many kids (and adults) go through phases like that--- a few examples are : chewing on lips when reading, making small noises while reading, tapping foot to rhythm of the words, etc.

As for the OCDish stuff: my obsessive DD goes through phases and ALWAYS has since an infant- they sometimes are the 'usual' or temporary ones. Very often they flair up befor a growth spurt, during stress, when she is tired, or with a lot of changes in routine. Her twin does them too now and then, and is not at all obsessive- just quirky.

Edited by KCMichigan - 6/13/11 at 6:06am

[loraxc]

I was confused why people were talking about skimming, so I went back to my post and saw this: "When questioned, she says she is not reading the whole text ." Ah! Sorry...I meant that she says she is not *saying* ALL the words aloud to herself, not that she told me she is skimming. But I assume she also skims some, too. I certainly do. I skim too much, probably, but I'm also a speed demon with reading, so.

I often mouth the words to a book as I read if I am either deeply interested in what I'm reading or if I'm rereading to gain further understanding---because sometimes reading and hearing the info at the same time leads to better understanding and remembering of the info.

This is very interesting to me as I would never do this. Probably a learning style difference. Maybe it is a comprehension thing. If she had just been reading all of it aloud, I wouldn't have thought much of it--it was the "I have to say all the 'p's' " thing that seemed OCD to me.

Many kids (and adults) go through phases like that--- a few examples are : chewing on lips when reading, making small noises while reading, tapping foot to rhythm of the words, etc.

I did not know this--thanks for telling me about it!

It is true that she has had weird little phases of all kinds in her life...and she is quirky. So, maybe this is just another one. It doesn't bother HER that I can tell, but I want to ask her more about why she does it. Thanks!