Reading And ADD

How To Identify The True Underlying Issue

Reading comprehension problems or a lack of reading stamina are common symptoms of ADD, (Attention Deficit Disorder) because reading requires selective attention, the ability to stay engaged.

Reading and ADD represent a chicken and egg situation:

---- Is the child unable to read because of ADD or ADHD, or

---- Is difficulty with reading making it hard to stay focused?

ADD Causing Reading Problems
If you cannot focus, you cannot learn. There is no getting around the fact that reading requires instruction, and that to be effective reading instruction requires focus. There is no doubt that children with ADD find learning to read a long and painful process.
Learn more about causes of ADD

Even if a child with ADD is one of those fortunate children with strong processing skills that is able to pick up reading naturally -- about 25% of children are in this category -- ADD can still undermine reading, as reading comprehension and critical thinking while reading require strong selective attention skills.

The best way to differentiate ADD and reading problems in these cases is by assessing reading fluency, reading speed. If a child is able to read fluently at a 6th grade level or beyond where the word sight list is beyond a child's memory capacity, but reading comprehension issues are still evident, ADD is a possibility, along with working memory and other cognitive issues.

Reading Problems Diagnosed As ADD
The more common cause and effect of reading and ADD is that processing or phonological awareness difficulties are undermining reading skills, creating a reluctance to read, which is interpreted by teachers and/or parents as an attention deficit disorder. These same processing difficulties undermine listening comprehension in class and at home, further encouraging a misdiagnosis of ADD.

In younger ages, if sounding out words to a teacher or parent, decoding, is somewhere between a struggle and downright embarrassing, children will drift off or act up to to try to change the subject. It is human nature to avoid what is overly difficult or humiliating.

In older children and adults, if reading is empty calories, if weak reading comprehension skills mean that much of the meaning from the text is missed, including the most interesting and nuanced inferences and themes, then staying engaged while reading is a chore.

The more detailed questions that require a complete understanding of the story or the information do become problematic. A lack of sufficient reading fluency to “read” a passage with ease to the degree that reading produces the simultaneous process of visualizing the picture that the written word has created, i.e., reading comprehension, is the impediment. This is a reading deficit, not ADD.

Bright children with ADD tend to use their high-level ability to compensate and build sight word vocabulary based upon memory, not phonics.

This is a dead end approach to reading -- as they get older the word list will outgrow their memory capacity -- that can mask a reading problem for several years. Many children are suspected to have ADD and only diagnosed with a reading problem in 3rd, 4th or 5th grade -- only at this level of reading difficulty is their flawed reading approach revealed.

Another way this problem with reading or ADD decision becomes clearer is when a child, who starts out being fine with reading, shuts off. As noted above, memorization may fail them when they tend to read the word incorrectly, substituting a similar word. Those children that cannot attain success by memorization often declare that they no longer like to read, maintaining that they never liked to read and keeping this stance to protect against criticism of their increasingly under-developed reading skills.

Treating Attention Symptoms Caused By Reading Difficulties

As noted above, many suspected ADD issues are actually reading issues, and are best treated as such. Gemm Learning provides Fast ForWord to treat the underlying causes of reading difficulty, including building the required selective attention skills not developed in the struggling or reluctant reader.

Fast ForWord is a series of reading programs that first build the cognitive skills required for reading, so called MAPS -- memory, attention, processing and sequencing -- and then moves on to vocabulary, spelling, language structure, reading comprehension and critical thinking.
Reading programs

Treating Reading Problems Related To ADD

Where the source of a reading difficulty is ADD, you will most often observe other symptoms of inattentiveness or hyperactivity away from reading or academic activity. Where there is ianttentiveness, our cognitive software can make a significant difference.
Our programs for ADD

If you are not sure where your child falls in this reading and ADD choice, call for a free consult. To make an appointment outside Monday-Fridays 9-6PM EST, complete this simple consult request.
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