Asleep at the...book?
3 Strategies to Boost Self-Monitoring, Working Memory, and Sustained Attention while Reading
(For Part I in this series on Executive Function Skills and Reading, click here.)
You're driving home from work. Or school. Or the grocery store. It's a route you take often and know like the back of your hand. You're suddenly parked in your driveway, but you can't for the life of you remember turning at the intersection, stopping at the stop sign at the end of the street, or even pulling into your driveway.
Has that ever happened to you?
Sometimes our children do something similar while reading. They go into autopilot--their eyes might be moving across the words, but unless they are actively monitoring their attention and understanding, those words might as well be going in one eye and out the other.
When we ask children what their book is about or to tell us about the chapter they just read and they stare at us blankly, we often assume it is a comprehension problem. It might be, or it might be an issue with self-monitoring, working memory, and sustained attention--three executive function skills that are heavily involved in reading. Until we support the development of these skills, we can't expect reading comprehension to improve.
So how do we help our children boost their self-monitoring, working memory, and sustained attention? Here are three easy strategies to take your reader out of autopilot mode:
Read, stop, retell, reread
Every few paragraphs or pages (experiment with how often this is needed), ask your child to:
1. Stop 🛑
2. Retell what she just read in her own words
3. Reread the previous section if retelling is difficult
I sometimes draw stop signs on post it notes and place them every few pages in a book as a reminder for students just starting out with this strategy. In the beginning, you might even need to place a stop sign every page or even every few paragraphs. As your child begins to read more actively, the spacing between stop signs can gradually increase.
You can also download this printable bookmark set with retelling prompts. Cut the bookmarks along the dotted lines and place every page or so in your child's reading.
With practice, this strategy will help your child shift away from reading on autopilot to actively reading and self-monitoring for understanding.
Write it down!
The act of taking notes improves attention and retention of information. Encourage your child to jot down important facts, details, or events on post-it notes or in a notebook. Experiment with different note taking formats--try time lines, labeled drawings, bulleted lists, and diagrams. This can also serve as a useful reference for children who have trouble keeping track of plot in longer novels. Before each reading session, encourage your child to quickly review his or her notes so that day's reading begins with a refreshed memory.
Make character lists
Your child might benefit from this strategy if he or she...
has trouble remembering character names
gets characters confused
is reading a book with many characters and/or complex time lines
Start by pointing out how lists can help us remember things, and how we can also use them to help us while we read. Ask your child to brainstorm some different lists that might help him or her remember information while reading. Keeping a character list and a plot events list (or time line) are often the most helpful when reading fiction.
We want children to feel like this is a helpful tool for them to use rather than extra work they have to do. Keep it simple--a large sticky note or sheet of paper tucked inside the front of the book can work perfectly for quickly jotting down character names and plot events (and it can double as a bookmark!). Remind your child to refer to the list when confused and to continue to add to it as new characters are introduced.
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