[eepster]

This thread is about me, not DS. DS is doing fine at decoding and it will almost certainy never be an issue for him. However, I find that reading here tends to bring up a bunch of my own issues from growing up 2E in school. 3 threads here combined to make me start thinking about something. I thought about just posting in the school library book thread, but decided it was better to spin-off....

I took a peak at the novels for young readers thread, and the very first book listed (the mushroom planet one) happened to have been a book I loved as a kid. I checked it out of the school libray. It was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it

:.

In the libray thread many people mentioned the "five finger rule" where a child is only allowed to check out a book if they can read a pge of it without stumbling on more than five words. If our school library had had such a policy, I would never have been able to check out the mushroom planet book

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As I mentioned in the early reader thread for many chidren, comprehension is well ahead of decoding.

Why should a child be denied access to a world of great literature simply b/c they have poor decoding skills. Many of us dyslexic type people have very high comprehension and interest levels and will simply work harder and find strategies to compensate.

So yes, reading books like the mushroom planet one took me longer than it would have most kids my age (I had to renew it twice,) but had I been limited to books that were comfortable for my decoding level I probably just would not have read at all. As an adult I read for pleasure everyday, I don't think I would do that if I hadn't had access to books that were worth putting in the incredible effort it takes for me to read.

Poor decoders should not be denied access to good books.

 

[Freeman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eepster Poor decoders should not be denied access to good books.

Of course not! Why should someone have the right to limit someone else's quest for knowledge? The "five finger rule" (which I had never heard of) is just silly.

 

[hergrace]

eepster: thank you for sharing your experience so directly. It is such an important reminder that what works for one person doesn't always work for another.

DS1's teacher uses the "five finger" rule as part of her assessment for reading levels. she explained it to me as not wanting to make reading too hard so kids get tired and give up. I can understand it as a rule of thumb for working with reluctant readers, but not for kids who really want to work through the books anyway.

 

[LauraLoo]

My ds finds challenge with books that have a lot of words to decode. At the 5 finger mark, they're starting to get exciting for him.

If he had to prove that he was able to handle a book by reading a page or two out loud, he'd choke. That's the way that it is for him. He won't demonstrate until he's comfortable - and oral reading skills aren't where it's at for him. Silent reading is much easier for him.

And I've found that he can skip over a lot of words and still get the meaning through the context.

 

[zeldamomma]

I agree. I understand rules like the "five finger rule" are intended to keep kids from giving up on reading because they think it's too hard, but I think that when you don't let a kid try the books they find interesting, they may decide reading is dull and not worth the effort.

ZM

 

[LynnS6]

When ds was just learning to read and become really fluent at decoding, he would balk at any book where he had trouble decoding more than about 5 words. He's not Mr. Persistent, so it was crucial for us to get him books that were 'easy'. He's beyond that now, and is happily tackling words that he would have avoided at all costs last year. He's playing an online game that's introducing him to words like "mortician" and "tobacco" (which he pronounces "to-bah-co" it's really cute) and he's doing great with them.

From what I understand, the 5 finger rule is a GUIDELINE to be able to tell whether a book might be too hard for a child. Anyone who uses that as a hard and fast rule isn't using their brain!