Chapter 2 - Reading From The Child’s Point Of View

Listen + Learn | Reading Development | Parents Role | Children's Feelings | Reading Interests | Influence | Dissatisfactions | Personal Development | Concluding Statement | Questions And Answers

One reason why Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are classics is that Mark Twain got inside his characters, and thought and felt as they did. To understand children and adolescents we, too, need to see things from their point of view rather than from ours. We need to view their world through their eyes.

Do we really know what reading means to a child? Have we any idea of the eagerness with which a six-year-old goes to school to learn to read? Can we imagine a child's joy in being able to recognize a printed word already rich in meanings that his experiences have brought to it? Can we comprehend the bewilderment some children feel when they try to make sense out of sentences? Do we have any idea of the emotional effects exerted on the child by our attempts to help him in learning to read? When he is slow in learning to read, does he sense our disappointment in him? Are we aware of other attractions that pull him away from books? Do we know how his self-concept is affected when we label him a retarded reader? Have we ever thought how a child or adolescent feels when he is subjected day after day to reading tasks that are too difficult for him? Do we have any idea of the joy or despair that great books may bring, or the ways in which they may enrich the child's life now and later?

Labels conceal rather than explain a child's behavior. What we call "laziness" may be languor, lack of vigor, or a low energy level. What we call "stubbornness" may be caused by a feeling of inadequacy, of inability to do the reading task required. What we call "stupidity" may be stupor, an unresponsiveness stemming from repeated failure and the fear of failing again. "Inattention" may be attention to something else—some stimulus that is more insistent than the desire to learn to read. "Resistance" may be caused by anxiety—the child's unconscious fear that he will lose himself if he conforms to the pattern a parent has prescribed for him. If the child perceives reading as part of the parent's imposed pattern, he may unconsciously resist learning to read. In this case interest in reading can emerge only as the child overcomes his anxiety about loss of self. Anxious parents tend to make anxious children. If parents overemphasize the importance of reading, or attach too much prestige to achievement in reading, they may put too heavy a burden on a child who has many other problems of growing up. Intense fear of losing parental love or of being a disgrace to the family tends to discourage rather than to spur learning. On the other hand, emphasis on progress and success facilitates learning.

Listen And Learn

There are two main ways in which we may increase our understanding of what reading means to our own child. One is to listen to what other children tell us about their attempts to read, and about the attempts of parents or teachers to help them. These reports give us a background for understanding our own child; they alert us to possible interpretations and explanations of his reading behavior. But these introspective reports by other children are only a prelude to the second approach: to observe and listen to our own child, not as we would observe an animal in the zoo, but as we would listen to and sympathize with a good friend.

All children are different. The complex web of relationships in each family is different. The only way to judge the effectiveness of any procedure is to observe its effect on the child. If we get indications of resentment, of mounting anxiety that interferes with learning, of boredom that leads to dislike of reading, we know something is wrong with the procedure, or with the relationship in which it is being used. If, on the other hand, the child enjoys the experience, puts forth more effort, gets satisfaction from the progress he is making, then the procedure has stood the test of use.

According to an old Chinese saying, a good method used by a bad person brings bad results, but a bad method used by a good person brings good results. So much depends on the personal relation between the child and the adult. The ideal, of course, is sound teaching procedure used by a person who conveys his loving concern for the child's best development.

In this chapter we shall listen to the children themselves. What do they recall about their reading development? How do they think parents helped or hindered them in learning to read? How do they feel about reading? What kinds of books interest them? What difficulties have they met? How do they think radio, television, movies, and comic books have influenced their reading? Have particular books or articles contributed to their personal development?

Evidence on these matters was obtained by reading introspective reports written by teen-agers, by listening to their discussions about reading, and by talking with them individually.

Reading Development

Children learn to read at different ages and at different rates. Some begin to read before entering school. Others do not begin until eight or nine years of age.

Many conditions influence a child's reading development. Bright children often learn to read of their own accord without any apparent instruction. Ellen Glasgow, looking back on her own childhood, wrote:

When or where or how I learned to read, I could never remember. When I look back, it seems to me that one day the alphabet was merely a row of black or red marks on paper, and the next day I was earnestly picking out letters in Old Mortality. I must have taught myself, for the doctors had warned my mother not to begin teaching me, and had prophesied that it was unlikely I should ever live to grow up. There were few things one would need less in Heaven than a command of the alphabet. "Don't push her, whatever you do. Let her take her own time about learning." But the trouble was that my own time was quick time. After hearing dear old Aunt Rebecca, my father's eldest sister and the perfect story teller, relate the plots of the Waverley Novels, I resolved, apparently, that as soon as possible I would read them for myself in my own way, which meant spelling out the words, letter by letter, as I went on. All that I now remember clearly is that Old Mortality and a little blue book called Reading Without Tears were the beginning of my serious education, and that, so far as I am aware, nobody ever taught me to read.1

Another highly gifted child, Marie Curie, learned to read before going to school by sitting beside her older sister who was struggling with beginning reading books in her first year of school. One evening, when the family were all together in the living room, the father asked the older sister to read to them. As she stumbled through the first page, little Marie became impatient. She took the book and read it fluently; misinterpreting the astonishment of her parents as rebuke, she said quickly, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll not do it again."

Quite different was the reading development of a third highly gifted child—Agnes Repplier. At eight years of age she did not know how to read. She was satisfying her desire to hear stories by getting people to read to her. When her mother realized this, she issued the "edict, wise, harsh and menacing"—no one was to read to her. When Agnes saw the door closed to all the stories in her bookcase, she spent a few days of blank despair. Then she sized up the situation, and quickly, though not without effort, learned to read.2

The gifted children of today describe equally various and devious paths of reading development. Some cannot recollect any special instruction in reading. "I just learned to read," they say. Others say they learned by recognizing words in books that were being read to them. Others built a basic vocabulary before they came to school by asking how to pronounce words on signs, packages, labels, and other articles they were curious about. Still others said they learned by sounding out words.

Beyond this beginning stage, the course of a child's reading development depends a great deal on home and school conditions and on his own motivation or drive. The following reading autobiography reproduced just as it was written 3 by a sixteen-year-old boy of higher than average intelligence, shows high achievement-motivation as well as favorable home and school conditions:

At first, before I started school, I was able to recognize my name and a few simple words like is; are; and; to. However, this was as far as I was able to read. Among the first books from which we started to read was a book which contained the characters named Dick and Jane. The first books contained simple sentences using simple words such as, "See Dick run, he runs fast." As I improved, I progressed toward books which were harder.

My parents bought for me books which were at my reading level or just above it. They never forced me to read more. Today my parents pay for about 10% of the books which I want. The remainder of the books I buy comes from the money which I get or earn.

I have always liked to read and my interests are centered around science and some adventure books (non-fiction type) as long as I can remember. My chief source of books are the books which I purchase and those which I borrow from the public library or from one of my friends.

Books have aided me to choose my career after my education is completed. It will be in the field of physics and chemistry. Now, I am working to establish the basis of my career by taking all of the science and mathematics I can in high school.

Television, radio, movies have influenced me in my reading. When a program such as the Bell Telephone Science Series was on television, I often did some research on the subject to be telecast before the program to get a more complete understanding of that subject. Often in these programs, an interesting fact, topic, or information may be given to which I sometimes try to read books on it in order to get a more complete and detailed information.

My reading is not limited only to reading books although books comprise a large part of the reading. I personally suscribe to the magazine Time and Scientific American and from January, 1961, I will get the National Geographic Magazine. My parents suscribe to several magazines also; among them I like to read The Readers' Digest. I purchase approximately 8 to 12 books per year, without counting the paperback books.

The pattern this boy established of reading serious books thoughtfully earned him high vocabulary and total comprehension scores (93 and 95 percentile) and an average rate-of-reading score (53 percentile) .4 Persons who are especially interested in mathematics and science may read relatively slowly; these subjects require a slower rate of reading than most fiction and other less technical reading.

Another boy of about the same mental ability, but two years younger and in the ninth grade, described his reading development, somewhat less felicitously, as follows:

When I was seven years old, our family moved from one school district to another. I was put in the beginning group of the first grade. Here I first learned to read. By the time the year was over, I had gone from the lowest to the highest reading group. In this group we read science books.

My parents have not tried to make me read any better than I can, or done anything to make me dislike reading or become worried about my reading.

I have always liked to read. When I was in fifth and sixth grade I always got my book reports in before anyone else. I made it a regular habit to read an average of about three or four books a week. Sometimes I read two books in a night after my homework was done. I still like to read, but I don't have as much time as I used to.

When I was in second, third, and fourth grade, I liked to read just about any kind of book, except romance and animal stories. In fifth grade, my favorite books were biographys. In sixth grade, my favorite books were science fiction and science books. I also, during this period, liked books that told of famous places around the world. In seventh and eighth grade I enjoyed myths, science fiction, and classic books. I still like these kinds of books, but now classic books are my favorite and I also enjoy sports books. Some classics I have read are the following: A Connecticut Yankee in King Authors Court, The Human Comedy, The War of the Worlds; Five Weeks in a Baloon, The Swiss Family Robinson, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, and Little Men. As you can see, many of them are science fiction classics by Jules Verne.

Jules Verne is my favorite author. I read every book I can get that he wrote. I also enjoy H. G. Wells classics.

I have no difficulties with reading and I never have had any difficulties with reading.
Reading the story of Abraham Lincoln has made me dispise cheating and lying. Many books have stimulated my sense of adventure to make me enjoy science because it is an adventourous subject.

The comics have stimulated my interest in science fiction stories. Good movies have affected me by having classic stories, science fiction stories, and adventure stories that stimulate my interest in books that these movies were made from.

From reading this autobiography, I suppose you have concluded that I enjoy books. If you've come to that conclusion you're right.

The central factor here seems to be an enjoyment of reading that is a habit of long standing. It is interesting to note that this pattern —rapid reading of many interesting books—has enabled the boy to make a high score in reading rate (94 percentile) and in vocabulary (85 percentile), but has produced a lower total comprehension score (50 percentile). He might well have expanded his reading program to include some serious books, which he would have had to read more thoughtfully.

Children of good average ability who have had the advantages of favorable home and school conditions have generally reported rather smooth, uneventful progression of experiences.

Some have suggested conditions that resulted in reading below their potential ability. A boy of average ability gave this plausible explanation of his low achievement in reading (12 percentile): "I didn't care too much for reading and never thought of it being important. After reading a few books that I couldn't understand, I just didn't want to be troubled reading. . . . Now I am a freshman in senior high and I realize now what reading means to me and my subjects in school."

Less able students frequently mention a rise and fall of reading interest that seems to be quite typical. They seem to feel a kind of excitement about beginning to learn to read. This interest continues until the fourth or fifth grade. Then they undergo a slump. Interest picks up again when they have acquired sufficient skill to read the kinds of books that are of real interest to them. One boy described this early reading development as follows: "When I was in the first grade, I thought reading was all right. In second and third grade when I was understanding it, it was much better. Then farther up I didn't like it. And I don't like reading now [ninth grade} because I can't read fast enough and most of the time I don't know what I am reading." A fifteen-year-old girl described the fluctuations in her reading interest and proficiency as follows:

"My reading was real good the first part of school. Then about the fifth grade I didn't read very much, so I sort of got out of practice in reading. When I got into junior high school, I had to read library books to make book reports. ... I guess that was when I really began reading for my own interest and enjoyment."

Slow-learning children often say they liked reading in the first and second grades, but were not interested from then on. This decline in interest may be due to the fact that they could make the simple associations between separate words and their meanings, but found it difficult to do more complex tasks—reasoning and relating ideas—that are required in fourth- and fifth-grade reading.

Some of these slow-learning youngsters, by making a truly heroic effort, are reading better than could be expected. Regardless of intelligence test results, they should be given the best possible conditions for improving their reading. The following reading autobiography was written by a slow-learning boy in the ninth grade:

I learnt to read a little in first grade. I could not read because I did not no that I needed glasses. So they got me glasses when I was in the third grade. My parents did not no that I could not read. Last summer I went to reading school. It helped me a lot. Last year in the eighth grade I had a spesial class in reading in school. It help me a lot. I can read better than I used to. I like to read more than before. I have tried to larn to sound out words. But I still do not like to read books because I cannot read good.

More power to him! More appreciation for his persistence; and, especially, more sympathy for his general language handicap and his struggles to overcome it! He needs praise, not criticism; we should accept the progress he has made, not press him to accomplish the impossible.

Contrasted with the reading growth made by the boy just mentioned is the record of a boy who had more ability but scored close to zero in reading. This boy had an unrealistic concept of his reading ability, and little recognition of the importance of reading. In his composition, he gave the impression that his parents shared his lack of concern about whether he read well or not.

Many more descriptions of reading development could be cited, but these suggest the wide variations in the reading patterns of children, even of children who are similar in mental ability. Home influences, early school experiences, the availability of interesting books, the degree to which reading is recognized as important, the quality of reading instruction, the individual's self-concept, goals, and purposes—these are among the many factors that affect a child's reading development.

The Role Of The Parents As Viewed by Teachers of Reading

As Viewed By Teachers Of Reading | As Viewed By Children And Adolescents | Complexity Of The Parents' Role

Reading specialists and teachers usually advise parents not to give instruction in reading at home. They point out that methods of teaching reading have changed since the parents' school days, and that the child may be confused by being taught by two different methods. Moreover, if the teacher refused to accept the method that the parents have been using, the parents may become annoyed with the child because he prefers the teacher's method.

There is also danger that the parents, who are more emotionally involved than the teacher, in the welfare of the child, will be more likely to show impatience and disappointment when the child learns slowly. They may express their annoyance verbally or in more subtle ways: "What's the matter with you today? I thought you knew that word; you just learned it yesterday." This kind of response sets the child back. It makes him feel inferior and dependent. It may increase his anxiety about losing his parents' love. It may give him the impression that his parents care only for his achievement, and not for him as a person.

As Viewed by Children and Adolescents

No matter what teachers and experts recommend, many boys and girls express appreciation of the help their parents gave them in learning to read. As they look backward from the vantage point of early adolescence, they recall many different ways in which their parents have tried to help them.

They mention the following ways most frequently: reading aloud to the child during the preschool years, asking the child to read aloud to them once he has acquired some reading ability, buying books for him, or bringing home books from the library or county bookmobile.

Reading aloud to children is frequently mentioned as a way in which parents have helped children learn to read. It is too valuable an experience to be crowded out of the child's day by radio and television. It is a means of communication between parent and child as well as an introduction, as Agnes Repplier expressed it, to "the delight that lies between the covers of books." 5 The child who has become acquainted with the language patterns of literature by hearing stories read aloud finds it easier to anticipate words and phrases when he begins to read for himself.

Adolescents recall many variations of the practice of adults' reading aloud to them as children:
"If I had to pick out one person who influenced my reading the most, it would be my grandmother. She is the one who really started me reading. She used to sit and read to me by the hour when I was little. Now that I can read by myself she just makes sure I have enough to read. She gives me four or five books a year for my birthday, Christmas, or other occasion." 6

"My mother said that while she was expecting my younger brother and sister, she would read for hours to my older sister and me. Then after the birth of the twins she was so busy that it was impossible to read to us, and therefore the twins missed out on that early experience. However important this is, I don't know, but I do know that my older sister and I read a lot more than the twins, especially the girl twin who would rather work than read."

"When I came home from school, my mother would make me read a Dick and Jane book. My parents encouraged my reading."

"My mother read to me some when I just started to school, but not something I could learn to read myself. She didn't have much time to help me learn to read because she worked."

"I began to read in the first grade but I didn't make much headway until I tried reading stories my mother had read to me. I remembered the plot of the story and was able to guess the words I didn't know."

Reading to the parents. As soon as the child has learned to read, this may also be an enjoyable—and memorable—experience. It not only gives the child extra practice in reading; it also affords the parents opportunities to give him the approval and praise that help him along the road to better reading. In the words of several adolescents:

"It was very hard for me to learn to read. In the first grade it took me a long time to get started. My parents would sit down with me about every night and listen to me read. I know now what they must have gone through because now I listen to my brother and it is not easy to be patient with him."

"My parents helped my reading along by listening to me read. When I would stumble over a word, they wouldn't tell me what it was. They would help me find out what the word was by looking at the surrounding words and the spelling of the word. At the time I thought they were being mean, but as I grew older I learned that they did it for my own benefit."

"My parents would help me by reading one page and I would read one. This got me more interested in reading."
"My mom and dad helped by making me read the newspaper, books, and signs. They tried to teach me words and how to break them into syllables."

If reading aloud to the child or listening to him read becomes a burden or a bore to either the parent or the child, or if it interferes with other things that either party very much wants to do, then its value is lost.

Specific instruction in reading seems to have been appreciated by some youngsters. They describe the following procedures, which seem sound:

"To help me find out how a word was pronounced, Father would say, *Sound the word out by syllables.'"

"My parents have helped me to read better by teaching me how to pronounce words and telling me the meaning of them, so I would know what they meant when I used them again."

"When I started in the first grade I was in the poorest readers' group. My mother made some reading cards to give me more practice. She would flash the cards at me every morning and night. They helped me to become a better reader fast. Since then I have been in the highest reading group."

Another child reported that a similar procedure made him dislike Teading. The effect of any attempts by parents to give instruction in reading depends very largely on the parent-child relation and the spirit in which the instruction is given.

"My parents keep telling me, 'If you don't understand a word look it up in the dictionary. And do not run sentences together.'"

"My family helped me a lot in reading, not by standing over me with a broom, but by telling me what I should do and what not to do. One way my dad helped me was to look up one word a day in the dictionary and one word in the encyclopedia."

And another teen-ager made this wise comment, "A person helps you when he helps you see the best ways out, not tells you what to do."

Recommending suitable books and making them available. This is more important than giving specific instruction in reading. In their compositions teen-agers frequently mention their parents' help in this respect:
"My parents have helped me by taking me to the library and reading with me. I wish they had made me read more because now I don't care much for reading."
"Mother and Dad would both give me books to read, saying that they were too hard for me. I would read the books and they would both act real surprised. I know now that actually what they were doing was giving me challenges in reading."

A sixteen-year-old boy of average mental ability attributes his high reading score (92 percentile) to his home experiences: "I always did like reading and still do. We used to get our books from the county bookmobile. But now I buy them because it's almost a hobby and if I lose them I don't owe anybody money."

By hook or by crook, books must be made available. Teen-agers express their appreciation of parents who bring them the right books. One boy wrote: "A lot of times my mother brings home some good award-winning books from the county bookmobile, but sometimes she brings home a book that is girlish."

Thinking of his early school days, another boy said, "Almost every time my parents went shopping, they would bring a little story book for me to read or look at."

Like adults, children will often pick up a book that is lying around, when they would not bother to get it from the library. Some teen-agers would rather buy a paperback book at the corner store than go to the library. Fortunately, publishers are now issuing more and more paperback books of excellent quality that are of interest to teen-agers, such as those selected for the Scholastic magazines book clubs.

Both children and young people appreciate personal book recommendations by parents. They are proof that parents care enough to notice and remember things that they think the child would especially enjoy.

Recommending a book is quite different from nagging the child to read it. Some youngsters resent nagging. Others make comments like the following: "At first I resented being made to read a certain book, but after I got into the book, I liked it and was glad I had read it."

To make successful recommendations we must find books that are really appropriate for a particular child or adolescent. What does he really want to read about? Most of us do not read just for the sake of reading. We read to find out something we want to know or learn how to do something we want to do; we read to share ideas with our friends; we read to satisfy our curiosity about the word of nature and the world of man; we read for sheer enjoyment; we read to open new doors for the mind. These are some of the values that we should keep in mind when recommending and buying books for our children.

No parental help in reading was reported in some of the compositions. Some children regret that their parents had not helped them more:

"My parents never taught me anything besides manners. All the things I know today I was taught in school. I wish they had taught me how to read a book faster."

"If my mother and father would of got me to read a little bite mor I might of become interested in reading. They wanted me to do better in my other school work and didn't stress reading much."

Both of those ninth-grade boys had the ability to read much better than their very low reading test scores indicated. Perhaps if their parents had responded to their interest in learning to read, not by giving them boring instruction but by showing them how they could get the meaning of words they wanted to know; or if the parents had encouraged and reinforced their efforts to read and had provided them with suitable reading material at each stage of their development, they might have been reading up to their ability.

On the other hand, one fifteen-year-old boy who made an exceptionally high score in reading comprehension said: "My parents never did help me much in reading. Once in a blue moon, they might read me a short story. I have always liked to read. Sometimes I would get a book over my head. Sometimes I could read it and sometimes I couldn't." Instead of merely helping the child with his reading, these parents seem to have accomplished something still more important: they made him feel responsible for his own improvement. Parents and teachers often assume the full burden of responsibility for a child's learning. This responsibility should be shared. The child should take an increasingly larger share as he grows older. Ideally we should give the child just enough help to get him over the hurdle—enough to prevent frustration and discouragement, but not so much as to make him dependent. Timing is very important in the giving of help.

Attempts to help that backfired. Adolescents frequently recall that their parents made ill-timed or misdirected attempts to help them. Practices that some children regarded as favorable to learning had the opposite effect in other cases. This is illustrated by the following quotations:

"When I came home from school mother would say, 'Open the book,' and she would help me with the words that I had trouble with. When she would say, 'Read the book out loud,' it would make me mad because I always like to read in a quiet place by myself so I wouldn't be bothered."

"I wish my parents hadn't made me read so much, for now I have to wear glasses and can only read twenty minutes at a time."

"I was about four years old when my mother tried to teach me to read. She would take a card and write a word on it and then say it. This way took a very long time and after a while I became very tired of reading."

One poor reader in the ninth grade wrote:

There was one thing I wish they hadn't done and that was to tell me all the words instead of letting me try to pronounce them in syllables. I needed help in pronouncing the syllables and working out the pronunciation myself. Since I didn't know how to do this, I didn't like to read.

This child was ambitious; she wanted to be on her own in reading. But apparently no one at home or at school—and this was the school's responsibility—taught her word recognition skills.

A fourteen-year-old girl with a much lower reading score than would be expected of her complained of her parents' critical attitude: "When I used to read to my parents, they used to tell me I was reading too fast or too slow. If I missed a word when I was reading, they would always tell me I shouldn't have missed that word. It would always get me so mad that I wouldn't like to read and that would worry me, too."

Too often parents and teachers tell children they should read better, but do not show them just how they can improve.

Although a child may seem indifferent about his reading, he may really be concerned about it. If he lacks the ability to read better, he becomes discouraged about himself and resentful of his parents' criticism and pressure. One fifteen-year-old boy, who seemed to be reading about as well as he was able, wrote:

"I no I should improvent my reading. I never do it. I just waist time. My parents have plenty wanted me to read but I never set around to doing it. One reason is because my parents made me read and I do not like them to do it. So I do not like to read as I used to when I was back in the third grade." Reading has become increasingly difficult for this slow-learning boy, and the nagging of his parents has added resentment to his feelings of inferiority and complete confusion about all the language arts.
Other home conditions that are unfavorable to reading and study are more fully described in Chapters 7 and 13 of The Adolescent Views Himself.7 Adolescents frequently mention distractions, other work or recreational activities, and worries. The first two are illustrated by these quotations:

"Sometimes I would start reading a book and my brother would come in and turn on the TV or radio. That would disturb my reading."

"After I'd learned to read I liked it, but I worked on the crops and didn't have time to read any except in school. Now, at fourteen years, I don't read much because of homework, movies and TV."

Many irrelevant thoughts may pull a child's attention away from reading—thoughts about a rival sister or brother who has Mother's exclusive attention while he is cooped up in school, memories charged with emotion that are evoked by a word or sentence in the reading selection, anticipations of a party in the near future, feelings of guilt over some real or imagined mistake, or fantasies that provide escape from a frustrating world. These irrelevant thoughts should not be confused with an imaginative response to reading material, nor with prethinking about the selection to be read.

Choosing appropriate books for a given child requires knowledge of books and understanding of the child. A skillfully chosen book may start a child on the road to reading after years of indifference:

"I never cared much for reading," one boy wrote, "until I started reading Mark Twain's books. They were very interesting to me. I have read

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more than ten times. When I watched Huckleberry Finn on TV, I found it wasn't as good as reading the book."

If we require, or even recommend, unsuitable reading material, we may cause the child to dislike reading, as in this case:

"My parents used to buy books I didn't like," one poor reader said. "That made me not like to read."

Sometimes the books we give a child are not interesting because they are too difficult; he cannot read them without frustration. Sometimes a book is intrinsically dull. Sometimes it bears no relation to the child's real interests or needs. Selecting the right book for the right child is as important as it is difficult.

Unsuitable reading material appears to have been partly responsible for this boy's dislike of reading:

When I was five or six years old, my older brother was in the first grade. My father and mother thought I should read the books he brought home to study and read. My father also bought some cards that had words on them, and he would drill me on these cards.

Whenever we went on long trips, I would try to read all the signs. . . . Now I just read for facts and when it is necessary. I hardly ever read for enjoyment unless it is comic books or comic strips.

This boy has average intelligence. Other factors behind his lack of enjoyment in reading and his relatively low score on the reading test (20 percentile at age fourteen) may be too much early pressure, followed, possibly, by a withdrawal of parental interest in his reading as he grew older.

Another boy who showed about the same mental ability and made the same reading score described home conditions and parental teaching methods that seem also to have had a poor effect on later reading proficiency:

I learned to read at home before I went to school. My mother taught me. First she taught me the alphabet and vowels, then she taught me how to say words using the alfabet. Both of my parent were good readers but they could not teach me how to read fast like them. I never have been interested in reading. I had very few books that I could concentrate on and read for meaning. Radio and TV are two things that keep me from reading becaus I have been lisening to them every time I wanted to hear a story.

Complexity of the Parents' Role

These few quotations serve to show the complexity of the parents' role in helping a child learn to read.

Even some children who speak favorably of their parents' attempts to help them reveal by their reading scores that they are still reading below their potential ability. They rush through a reading assignment with feverish haste, comprehending very little of it. Or they plod along, word by word, hating every minute of the reading period. One discouraged girl wrote, "My parents have trided to make me a better reader from little on up." Apparently they did not succeed in making her proficient in any of the language arts.

One fourteen-year-old boy of average mental ability had a speed-of-reading score at the 85 percentile, but his vocabulary score was at the 3 percentile and his comprehension at the 17 percentile. His reading history included the following unfavorable features: (1) lack of effective instruction in the first grade: "they just told me the words and that's all"; (2) parents who made him read: "they forced me to read books and I didn't like it. It was boring and it didn't help at all"; and (3) dull books: "from the first to the third grade I didn't like any book whatsoever." However, in the fourth and fifth grades this boy became interested in dog and horse stories, and in one year read ten books. This spurt of interest was followed by a lapse; it was not sufficient to counteract the previous unfavorable influences.

That some children do profit by parental help is verified by their fine subsequent achievement.

What makes the difference? The important thing is the way the child feels about the help his parents try to give. If he feels that they are spending the time to help him with his reading because they love him and want him to be happy and successful, he will usually respond to whatever methods they use. If, on the other hand, he feels they are merely performing a duty, or helping him because they don't want him to disgrace the family by becoming a "remedial reading case," he may resent their help and not profit by it.

If the parents convey to the child their own respect for reading and delight in books, he may catch their attitude. Similarly, boredom may be contagious.

Sensitivity about the way the child is feeling is all-important. Does he resent being deprived of the normal playtime for children of his age? Is he discouraged because he receives only criticism when he is doing his best? Does he get the impression from his parents' impatience that he is slow and stupid? Is he afraid of losing his parents' love if he does not measure up to their standards? Sensitivity to the child's feelings will help the parent determine the role he should play in a given situation.

The parent's help will consist mainly in providing suitable reading material—books that are interesting to a particular child, that meet his needs at a given time, that are challenging but not frustrating. By reading a great deal of varied material that is interesting but relatively easy, the child develops fluency and builds vocabulary naturally through context.

Too often parents push the child ahead too fast. Their attitude is: "He can read a first-grade book—then let's go ahead to a second-grade book." It is better for him to read and enjoy a number of the interesting trade books for beginners than to stumble through a more difficult schoolbook. It takes thought and time to provide a suitable progression of reading experiences.

It is also better for the parent not to dispute the teacher's methods. Some popular books on reading are as unsound as they are persuasive. It is disturbing and confusing for the child to be caught in a conflict of methods—and of allegiances.

All sorts of methods work for some children at some times. We should watch the child's response to the procedure we are using. If he learns successfully and happily, it is a good method for him. If he fails to learn or becomes restless, anxious, or rebellious, it is a bad method for him.

Children's Feelings

It is not difficult to get clues as to how a child is feeling. He reveals this by his facial expression, by signs of fatigue or eyestrain, by twisting and squirming like an animal that wants to get out of a cage, or by subdued docility, as well as by the words he says. Of course, we cannot observe feelings directly; we have to make inferences from the clues we observe. The way a child feels about himself, his reading, and his parents' efforts to help him improve is of great importance; his feelings and attitudes govern his responses to the reading situation in which he is placed.

Children are often remarkably tolerant toward adults. As one fourteen-year-old girl said: "If I don't like reading, and if I'm worried about it, I don't believe it's my parents' fault, I believe it's my own fault."

Children often give parents the benefit of the doubt: "My parents said I was dumb (but I know they're kidding). But that doesn't worry me cause I know I am pretty dumb." One does not know to what extent this child has accepted her parents' thoughtless kidding at its face value, or how deep her feeling of failure and defeat really is. Some parents who have the best intentions will say in Johnny's presence, "Helen does well in her schoolwork, but Johnny is captain of the baseball team." Unfortunately, Johnny knows all too well that reading is important; it is not reassuring, as the parent intended, to have his skill in baseball set up against Helen's superior reading ability. If parents only knew how deeply children may suffer from their feelings of inadequacy, they would be more cautious about comparing reading accomplishments within the family circle.

The feelings of failure that develop at home are often reinforced at school. The poor reader cannot fail to observe that others read much more fluently than he does, that they finish the test questions long before he does, that they are reading books he cannot comprehend, and that he is placed in the lowest reading group, which is recognized as the "dumb group," regardless of the fancy name that may be given to it. As the child grows older, we can help him to accept his limitations, and focus on the things he can do well and on the level of reading ability he can achieve.

We probably do not know how many children worry about making mistakes when they read. Some mention it specifically in their accounts of reading aloud to their parents. Older boys and girls mention their embarrassment in reading aloud before their classmates.

Some children are discouraged from reading by the negative attitude of their classmates: "The reason I dislike reading is because my friends used to call me a bookworm and I didn't like that."

Many adolescents indicate that their attitude toward reading changed when they realized its personal importance to them: "I'm beginning to like reading now [at fifteen years] because I know reading is important to me."

Fear underlies many reading problems. The child may not recognize his fear of failure, of losing his parents' love, of being ridiculed by his classmates, of being stupid. Fears may lurk behind many fagades. To the parent and teacher the child may appear to be indifferent to or content with his poor reading. He may appear stubborn, hostile, or unreasonable, or merely docile and conformable. He may refuse even to try to learn to read because his previous efforts have all met with failure; he is afraid to try again. Failure can significantly lower the child's feeling of personal worth; self-esteem is built on successful experience. A child's worry about his failure in school may be intensified by a guilty feeling that it is all his fault—he did not work hard enough. To be sure, this may be true in some cases, but in others the fault lies in circumstances that are beyond the child's control.

If we recognize the possibility that the child's ostensible attitude is a mask for underlying fears, we shall be in a better position to give him two kinds of help: to help him understand and handle his fears, and to change conditions that are beyond his control.

The way children view themselves determines to a great extent the way they approach reading. Behavior stems from attitudes. We should try to understand the child's attitudes:

1. Toward his parents and brothers and sisters. If he considers that his parents have a negative feeling toward him, his resentment may express itself in self-sabotage. Failure to learn to read hurts both the child and his parents. If he has a brother or sister who is a good reader, the child who is having reading difficulties may prefer not to try to learn; if he tries and fails, he will make his rival's superiority still more evident.
2. Toward himself as a person—dependent or independent, competent or incompetent, worthy or unworthy. One boy identified himself as "the black sheep of the family," and added, "Every family has to have a black sheep, I guess." Such an attitude often cancels effort—he's licked before he begins.
 
3. Toward himself in relation to reading—a child may think of himself as "a boy who can't learn to read." So, why try!

4. Toward reading—"reading isn't important," "reading is sissy," "reading is drudgery."

Attitudes in these crucial areas, whether negative or positive, determine, to a great extent, the kind of response a child makes in a reading situation. His attitudes condition the effort he puts forth and the satisfactions he gets from the reading experience. The effect of initial attitudes is cumulative; a satisfying reading experience produces an enthusiastic approach to the next experience, whereas an unpleasant recollection of past attempts to read may result in halfheartedness or out-and-out withdrawal or rebellion in the face of another reading task

Reading Interests

Although interests are usually specific, there are certain kinds of books that boys and girls generally prefer at certain ages. Pre-adolescents of both sexes usually like dog and horse stories: they frequently mention Lassie Come Home, The Black Stallion series, and Jack London's books. Most of them also like mystery stories. More boys than girls read adventure stories such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and science fiction. As they grow older, their interests diverge. Boys continue to enjoy adventure and sport stories, and move toward historical novels and science. Girls prefer teen-age tales and become interested in love stories and careers. Both boys and girls, if they are good readers, eventually include some of the classics in their reading.

One boy of average ability, who seemed to be reading well up to capacity, described the changes in his reading interests as follows:

At the age of five to seven I liked reading very much. About nine or ten I did not like it so much. But as I got older I realized the importance of reading and grew fond of it. From then on I have liked reading very well. At the age of five to seven I liked small adventure stories. As I got older, I liked to read big and better adventure stories and some mysteries, too. Today (age fourteen) I like reading biography and Abraham Lincoln, George Washington.
This boy's increasing interest in reading accounts, in part, for his superior achievement in reading.
 
A fourteen-year-old boy in the ninth grade described his reading interests thus:

In the first grade I started reading Golden Books and had quite a collection of them. My parents helped me in various ways—by encouraging my reading and getting all the books I wanted.

When I was in grade school most of my reading was of comic books. My brother and I had over 350 comic books. Nowadays I like fiction books like Jules Verne writes. Today I want to read more and more. Just this summer I read every day, usually a book a day. The only thing that made me worry about my reading was not being able to find a book to read. I have had no reading difficulties that I could not handle by myself. So I enjoy reading more and more.

This youngster, who was about average in ability, made high scores on his reading test—90 percentile on vocabulary, 75 percentile on comprehension, and 87 percentile for total reading score. After passing through the comic-book stage, he returned to good reading with increased interest and enjoyment. Wide reading pays off.

In general, the teen-agers who said they liked to read and did read a great deal during at least part of their school life were the ones who made reading scores that were commensurate with their ability. Exceptions to this general rule were those who said they read a great deal, but apparently read superficially. They usually scored high on speed of reading but low on comprehension.

Influence Of Radio, Tv, Movies, And Comic Books

Much has been written about the way in which the mass media of communication affect children. Paul Witty8 has systematically studied this question over a period of years; he has summarized information on how many hours a week children spend viewing television, which programs they watch, what effect television has on their reading. Elementary school children spend, on the average, about twenty-seven hours a week looking at TV programs. Their parents spend about the same amount of time; teachers and high school students spend less. Except in individual cases, there is no clear evidence that watching TV decreases reading. But it will be interesting to hear what some teen-agers say about the influence TV has had on them.

Undoubtedly, TV competes with reading, as the following statements suggest:

"When I see dramatizations of stories on TV, I have no urge to read books about them."

"TV has affected my reading, because when a good television movie comes on, I stop reading."

"When my brother comes in and turns on TV, I can't read so I watch TV."

"If you can see a story on TV, why not watch it? Why read it?"

"Sometimes I begin to read and then I hear something on TV or radio. I will often stop reading to see what it is. But I'm improving in this."

In defense of television, radio, and movies other teen-agers give them credit for a number of values, some not commonly assigned. The most common comment is that these media sometimes stimulate them to read or to buy books:

"Radio and TV have helped me because when they advertised books, that made me want to read them. Watching stories on TV also made me want to buy the books."

"On TV I always listen to science fiction movies. The more I listened to them the more I would like to be a space pilot and now I read science fiction stories and like them."

"TV made me want to read more about the political debate I heard and find out the facts about it."

"Movies have influenced my reading by prompting me to read the book because the movie was interesting."

"The movies have affected my reading greatly by making me want to read some books and compare them with the movies."

"If I have missed seeing a movie that is good, I usually try to read the book."

A bright girl with excellent reading ability gave several concrete examples:

TV, the movies and comics have had some effect on my reading. For example, I saw an episode last year which was taken from the book Pride and Prejudice. I became so interested in the plot and characters that I got the book from the library and read it. Another time I saw the movie Flicka and its sequel Thunderhead and eventually read both books. These are just examples and have occurred many times.

Other young people mentioned more unusual values of these mass media:

I think TV, radio and movies have made things more interesting and easier to follow. I understand more of what I am reading. On the other hand, TV has kept me from reading. It didn't exactly keep me from reading; it was easier than reading.

Probably this adolescent girl is not the only one to follow the line of least resistance.

Radio and TV help me to listen better and so I can read better. When I watch TV, I always try to pronounce words correctly and watch out for words I don't know the meaning of.

These few quotations suggest most of the pros and cons of radio, TV, and movies as they are related to reading: they do enrich the child's experience background for reading; they introduce him to new words, thus increasing his vocabulary; they may arouse his interest in reading certain books and plays; they may stimulate him to compare the book with the television, radio, or movie version. Whether TV and radio increase one's listening ability is an open question. Sometimes it seems as if continuous bombardment by insignificant sounds must cause psychological deafness, or a disinclination to listen.

Even more has been written about the effect of comics, especially on juvenile crime and mental health. The teen-agers have something to say about the values of comic books. They make three main points: reading the comics may give one the impression that reading in general might be fun; it is necessary to acquire some reading ability in order to understand the comics; and certain comics may lead one toward a better quality of reading material. They have expressed these ideas in their own words as follows:

"Comics gave me a funny point of view of reading." [If comics convey the idea that reading might be fun instead of drab drudgery, they serve one useful purpose, especially for reluctant readers.]

"TV, radio and movies have no effect on my reading ability. But comics hat is going on. So comics have helped me in my reading."

"I think comics have also influenced my reading of funny stories, because the comics made me want to read stories the comics were about."

"When I was about eleven or twelve, I used to like comics, but now I like adventure stories which I get from the Public Library."

Reading will survive television as it has survived other competitors. The more able learners prefer to use their own imaginations rather than accept the producer's version of a story. They prefer to reflect on what they read rather than be hurried from one program to another. The interruptions for commercial messages annoy them. And they want to have access to the ancient and modern wisdom of the world.

These programs do take up a lot of children's time. But we can help them plan a balanced day, including time for reading, for outdoor activities, for being alone, and for being with friends.

Parents are pleased when children break away from TV, the modern Pied Piper, and return to reading worth-while books. A recent cartoon pictured a little boy reading a book and his mother at the telephone saying: "I'm so excited I can hardly bear it. Tommy's turned off the TV program and picked up a book!"

Expressed Dissatisfactions With Reading

In their compositions, adolescents mention few difficulties or dissatisfactions with their reading, other than slow rate. When asked specifically to state their dissatisfactions, poor readers mention a great many lands of difficulty.

Their dissatisfaction with their rate of reading is expressed in many ways:

"Too slow—just not fluent. My study is slowed up by my slow and faulty reading."

"I find it necessary to spend too much time reading."

"Slow reading leads to frustration.'*

"Desire to read more widely."

"It takes so long that interest wanes."

Faulty comprehension and poor memory give rise to these comments:

"Don't know what I am reading—what the story is all about." "Can't remember the meanings of words." "When I finish reading, I don't remember what I've read." "I read inaccurately."

"Hard to get the point of my assignments."

"I can't understand most of the things I have to study, because I can't read."

Inability to concentrate:

"My father feels I don't concentrate enough."

"Unless the reading comes to the point right away, I lose interest."

Specific difficulties with the mechanics of reading include difficulty in pronouncing new words, inability to recognize their meaning, misreading words, extreme difficulty with spelling, and skipping words.

Being below grade level is of concern to many—"not being able to keep up with my grade."

"I would like to improve my reading so that I may do well in my other subjects."

These are surface descriptions of reading difficulties. Interviews with these individuals would uncover the deeper roots of their difficulties.

Influence Of Reading On Personal Development

Many children and adolescents assert that reading has had little or no influence on their personal development. Those who say this are mostly poor readers. The influences they do recognize are interesting and sometimes amusing:

"The books I have read that influenced me were mostly Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, who were always getting in trouble and running away. I found out in these books that running away never gets you anywhere except the place you're going."

"I like teen-age books the best," [a teen-age girl said] "they give me more ideas on what kind of friends I want and what kind of guy I want to marry. These are both very important factors in someone's Me."

After reading a book one likes, one often chooses another of the same kind: "Sometimes when I read a book I like very much, it influences me to get another book and read it."

Another kind of influence takes the form of identification: '"When I read different stories, I wonder if that would ever happen to me and what would I do. So I read on and find out what the story says."

Other books arouse specific emotions:

Some of the books that I have read made me want to go out and kill every enemy we have. Some books make you cry, like God Is My Co-Pilot. I saw this first on TV; that's why I had to read it I know the book is better than the picture.

Still other books help readers increase their understanding of themselves and others: "A book about a family of eight children and their troubles made me realize that you can have a big family and still be happy."

The Trembling Years, a book about a girl stricken with polio, described her thoughts and feelings, her pain and trouble so vividly that it made one girl realize how much she had to be thankful for.

To some adolescents reading gives a deeper understanding of world problems. After reading Ernie Pyle's Brave Men, one boy wrote:

After reading this book I learned the truth about war. ... I saw its horror. I saw that men in the Armed Forces were not supermen, but just ordinary people pulled into the maelstrom like needles pulled to a magnet. I learned that there is glory to a victorious army, but it comes only after many men are killed or wounded. The book gave me the viewpoint that war is evil and opened my eyes to the destruction of war.

A few adolescents mention the religious significance that they have found in certain books:

Two books have influenced my attitudes enough to mention. These are The Robe and Love Is Eternal. The Robe has given me a deep respect for my belief in Christ and God. Love Is Eternal has made me see love in a different light. Both have given me a few reasons as to why people have a purpose on this earth today—that is to love their fellow man and forgive their faults and infirmities.

One boy described how reading influenced his choice of a career:

Books have influenced my point of view toward my career—that of being a pharmacist. If I had not read books on the subject, I would probably not have decided to be a pharmacist. When I read books on the lives of other people, I see how they lived and how they treated other people. I believe those who were kind have influenced my life. They taught me to be more thoughtful of the people around me.

One perceptive sixteen-year-old girl said she believed that "when you read something, it affects you in either a negative or affirmative way."

Whether or not a book influences an individual depends on the individual as well as on the book. He may not be ready for the message that the book contains; he may not have had the life experiences that he would need to interpret it. One girl whose mother urged her to read Shakespeare prematurely, refused to do so. For a time, she called everything she especially disliked Shakespearean. Later she began to read Shakespeare of her own accord, with pleasure and profit. An individual's response to books is also likely to be affected by the attitudes of his friends, by his reading ability, his interests, and his needs at a given time.

Concluding Statement

To help a child learn to read, we must first of all be sensitive to the way he is thinking and feeling. Does he approach reading tasks with eagerness and confidence, or with reluctance and fear? Let us try to see each situation through his eyes.

Children and adolescents have given us sound advice, advice based on their firsthand experience. We may summarize it briefly: Children have happy memories of being read to by parents or grandparents. Before they go to school, they would like parents to help them read words on signs, and other words that they are curious about. They want parents to care about their reading, and to give them credit for the progress they are making.

They want parents to help them pronounce unfamiliar words and get their meanings, but not to tell them things that they are able to figure out for themselves.

If they are having difficulty and need additional practice, they are glad to have their parents cooperate with the teacher.

They appreciate having their parents bring home books that they are able to read and that are really interesting to them.

They want their parents to be sensitive to their feelings—to understand that they need much more approval than criticism; to appreciate their efforts and not become impatient when they are slow to learn; to expect the best of them; to realize that they really want to please their parents. They also want their parents to avoid doing certain things that make them angry, bored, or overanxious.

Questions And Answers

1. How do children feel about being placed in special or remedial reading classes?

It depends on the class, how it is introduced and how it is taught. Many students consider it an opportunity, as this boy did:

The summer after the fifth grade my mom had me go to a reading teacher to learn me how to read and that did some good, but not enough. In the eighth grade I was put in a special reading class. I learned more about reading in that class than anywhere else.

It is very important to introduce the class to the pupils as a special opportunity for those who have the ability to read better. There should be no stigma attached to being in the special reading class. In many schools the word "remedial" is not used; these classes are called Special English, Reading Improvement classes, Small English classes, or other names that avoid suggesting something is wrong with the children enrolled in them. As a matter of fact, so-called remedial classes are really developmental because instruction begins where the individual pupil is, and helps him to progress from there.
 
2. In seeking special help in reading for a child, is there a danger of making him feel inferior?

Wendell Johnson, one of the most creative thinkers in this field, emphasizes the danger of labeling a child as a stutterer or a psychiatric case. This would also apply to labels such as "retarded reader" or "remedial reading case." Some parents, in their sincere efforts to help the child read better, take him from one clinic to another, subject him to many tests, and usurp his play and recreation time for remedial work. Such strenuous efforts to improve his reading may well give the child the idea that something is very wrong with him; that his parents are dissatisfied with the way he is and are trying to change him. All of us resist being changed. Our self-concept is persistent.

The parent should first be sure that a special reading class is necessary. Under skillful instruction many children make the desired progress in their regular classes. If the child is unable to profit by regular instruction, he may then be assigned to a special reading group. This is done by the reading specialist, whose decision is based on teachers' recommendations and observations, as well as on the results of both standardized and informal tests. The feelings of the child and the point of view of the parents should also be considered before placing child or adolescent in a special reading class.

3. How can a parent know when to accept the child's reading achievement as the best he can do, and when to put pressure on him to do better?

This is a very complicated question. The only answer that can be given without detailed knowledge of the child is: 'It depends. . . ."

It depends on the child's mental ability: Is he retarded in other ways, slow to learn, unable to profit by the best instruction?

It depends on the child's physical condition: Has he uncorrected defects of hearing or vision? Is his energy level generally low?

It depends upon his previous school history: Was he deprived of effective reading instruction in the lower grades?

It depends upon his feeling about himself: Is he afraid to grow up; afraid to learn about the world and himself through reading? Is he expressing some hostility or resentment by not learning to read?

These and many other conditions may prevent any child from using his real ability. In any case, putting pressure on him is not likely to improve matters. It is necessary to discover the cause of his difficulty, with whatever expert help is available, and to do what the diagnosis shows to be desirable and necessary.

Children often say that they wish their parents had made them read more. They want parents to have standards and hold firmly to them. This is sound, provided the standards are ones that the child can live up to. The pull of a clearly recognized, realistic goal is far more effective than any amount of parental pushing and prodding.

4. What kind of fears may underlie inability to read?

Fears lurk behind many facades. The child who seems stubborn and refuses to read may be terribly afraid of not making a good showing. The child who seems to resent parental help may be afraid that the parents will be impatient with his slow learning. The child who is apparently compliant may go through the motions of reading without any real inner motivation because he fears losing his parents' approval and good will.

Many of these fears decrease as the child sees objective evidence of his success in reading, and as reading situations become less tense and deadly serious.

5. Can a child read too much?

Few parents seem to be worried about this. Probably today's world is "so full of a number of things"—besides reading—that few children read to excess. However, an occasional parent may overemphasize reading, or an occasional child may retreat into the world of books in order to escape from the real world that has been a source of bitter disappointment to him. Such was the case with Joan, who was unpopular with the other children because she was indifferent to them and because she dressed and behaved differently. Joan cultivated an intellectual aloofness and always tried to shift the conversation to books, authors, or philosophy. Here was a gifted child who used reading as an escape from a social world in which she was unhappy.

This excessive interest in books is rare; it should not be confused with intellectual curiosity. The latter finds in books an understanding of Me—not a refuge from the distress of Me.

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