Published: February 03, 2010 11:14 am      

Different types of reading skills

Why can’t the child who scored near perfectly on an SAT complete a college application? How can the child who calculates the molarity of a chemical solution to the millionth find it so hard to balance her checking account? What gives?

In daily life, people use three distinctly different types of reading — fictional, textbook and functional. Though eyes pass over words for all three, fundamentally different skills are used for each. Adults proficient at all three may no longer notice these distinctions. However, children who excel in textbook reading may struggle mightily with functional until this skill set is taught.

Discerning subtleties of meaning is key to successful functional reading. Consider the stop sign. As parents, we’re thrilled when our toddler sees the familiar red octagon and yells, “Stop!” We take pride in this first sign of reading. Yet the placement of this sign can significantly change its meaning — a reality often lost on our children. When placed on a storeroom door it means, “Stop and never go.” When placed at a two-way intersection it means, “Stop — then proceed only when no cars are coming.” When placed at a four-way intersection, it means “Stop until it’s your turn. Then, proceed even if many cars wait.” While teens tend to get the subtleties of stop signs, this same initial ignorance of nuance frustrates teens in their first encounters with the forms and procedures used in the business of life.

Whether toddler or teen, children who encounter a new term or procedure tend to be incredibly concrete. They latch onto the first explanation, becoming confused and frustrated if there is deviation. If one medical form asks for an insurance identification number, but the next form asks for an insurance member number, teens have trouble understanding both forms ask for the same information. Adults know because we have completed so many of these forms. Only this same concrete, world experience will prepare our teens.

Every time you get a form, have your teen complete it. Help them decipher new terminology and work through any fuzzy areas. Whether it’s a medical form, bank statement, tax return or application for the youth mission trip, this practice will give in-depth experience in completing forms. As teens work the process, they become more adept at understanding how forms work and more competent in completing them properly.

Another aspect — enable children to avoid compartmentalization. High school classes often intensely focus on one aspect of study. Though this allows for deep understanding of the point at hand, it doesn’t necessarily tie that point to a larger experience and leads to compartmentalization. This can be seen in the daughter who aces her way through algebra, but can’t balance a checkbook to save her life. The theory never quite connects to the reality. Parents sometimes need to connect those dots.

Remind daughter of the lessons she completed on compound interest and explain how interest received impacted the balance in her checking account. Assign son the duty of determining how much paint is needed to repaint the living room or how many bags of grass seed will cover the front lawn. If you get a blank stare, explain that all those lessons he learned finding area — length multiplied by width — will tell him how much paint or grass seed he needs. As teens see a connection between a concept learned in school and solving an issue in life, both become more interesting and functional competency rises.

How can our geniuses struggle with the small stuff? For them, it's not so small. In an increasingly bureaucratic, form-driven world, understanding the nuances and technicalities can be overwhelming. As we teach how to comprehend forms and offer supervised opportunities to practice, we prepare our children to competently face all the tasks the information age thrusts upon them.

Tess Worrell is the mother of eight and teaches parenting and marriage. E-mail her at tess@yourfamilymatterstous.com.