I once worked with a guy who was a very accomplished professional and the vice president of a mid-sized company who had deep difficulties reading. In fact, when he was stressed out or under any pressure, he literally read one word at a time. And by one word at a time, I mean one…..word……at……a……time. He would consider each word, it’s possible meanings, think about this word separately – try and fit it into the context of what he had just read – and get frustrated that this word was too variable in nature (they were almost all too variable in nature) to carry the exact precise meaning that it needed to in context.

I worked with him for over 8 years before I heard the story of his reading issues. It turned out that he was quick to learn how to “decode” letters and the sounds of letters and to read when he was in first grade. But as soon as he graduated to chapter books his troubles began.

So long as he was reading a word at a time he had no problem. If there were pictures with the words to give him clues to the story he was reasonably good at reading. But if you took away the pictures and asked him to read for meaning – he read one-word-at-a-time.

You can imagine what a titanic struggle this was. And he said that up until the 11th grade, he got through schooling by faking it or by having his parents read to him. This is not an uncommon story in that regard. But when he got to the 11th grade, his father, who was a musician, listened to him reading one night and realized that his son was literally reading ever word separately – and could not get the sense of the whole.

My friend was a drummer, his father was a piano player, so they shared the vocabulary of music. So when his father told him, “Paul, you are reading every word like it’s a single note of music. You have to read them a phrase at a time – like a musical phrase where you don’t stop but just play it all in a burst”…well at that point Paul finally had a way to read that opened up the world of books to him.

Why do I bring this up? Well in my last post I asked you to list what you thought the top 10 reading problems were. And at the same time I shared the individual challenges we faced with each of our kids.

Now, by sharing Paul’s unique story – I want to gently lead you to a conclusion.

When you are watching your child read, the top 10 problems are irrelevent in some regard. Because if you are watching for the problems, you may easily miss the solution to the specific and unique challenges that your little chapter book kids may be facing.

Even if they have a “common” problem like dyslexia, or a challenge remembering words that contains spellings or letter combinations that are exceptions to rules – you will miss the solution if you are focusing on their problem.

The DaVinchy Chapter Books for Kids are filled with fun, exciting pictures that make it easy for kids to read. It doesn’t matter if they are dyslexic, or ADHD or ADD or what have you – the reading experience will be more pleasureable and easy and fun.

And if there is a secret solution out there, it is this: make reading fun for your little chapter book reading kids!

Try our free chapter book to get your child started on a lifetime love of reading today!