Tune Me Up, Extra Lube - LTU6 5.75G

[Shannon]

Teaching a willful child is best done by making them want to do whatever you want them to do.  I was a willful child with a lot of fear, and I decided I could not read when I was 4 years old.  My mother taught me the alphabet and how to sound out words, but I decided it was impossible for me to read.

So she tricked me into reading.  She would start a story I really enjoyed, and then when I got good and interested, she would put the book down and go do something else.  When I asked her to keep reading she suggested that I might try to read it.

I insisted that I couldn't.  So she sat next to me and pretended to have trouble figuring out what a word was, and asked me to sound it out for her.  As time went on, I got good enough at it that I was too impatient to wait for her when she would put the book down, so I picked it up and started reading.  Then she pointed out to me that... hey... you're reading!  Congrats!

Maybe that will help.

Thanks, great idea.  These "BOB" and "Pete the Cat" books are insufferable, but it's a great resource for helping kids use word sounds and sound out the words to learn to read.

Your mom was very wise utilizing that strategy!

My mother was a special education teacher.