Latest / The Christy-Faith Show / Ep. 115 - Why Your Child Says Reading Is Boring (And What to Do About It) // Janel Nansenn

Transcript

Ep. 115 - Why Your Child Says Reading Is Boring (And What to Do About It) // Janel Nansenn · The Christy-Faith Show

• 0:00
  Christy-Faith: There is a term researchers use that I think every homeschool parent needs to know. And once you understand it, you will start seeing it everywhere. It's called the Matthew effect, coined by reading researcher Keith Stanovich in 1986. The idea comes from the verse in the book of the Bible, Matthew. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
• 0:20
  In the world of teaching reading, it works exactly like that. Strong readers read more, which makes them stronger readers. Struggling readers avoid reading, which makes them fall further behind. And then the gap compounds. And the number behind this will stop you cold.
• 0:37
  A child who struggles with reading in first grade has a ninety percent chance of still struggling in fourth grade. In all my years coaching homeschool families and in the conversations that happen every day in Thrive Homeschool Community, reading comprehension is often the quiet worry underneath a lot of other concerns. Moms who are otherwise confident will pull me aside and say, my kid can read, but I'm not sure they're understanding what they're reading, and they don't know what to do about it. The nation's report card, the largest ongoing assessment of what American students know, released data showing that only thirty one percent of fourth graders are reading at a proficient level. Thirty one percent.
• 1:16
  That means that nearly seven out of ten children arrive at the single most critical transition in their academic lives without the the foundation they need to make it. That transition has a name. Researchers call it the shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Before fourth grade, reading is the subject, but after fourth grade, reading becomes the vehicle for which every other subject is based on. Science, history, math, word problems, all of it.
• 1:42
  A child who cannot comprehend what they read carries that gap into everything. Vocabulary, writing, critical thinking, all of it. Today, I wanna make sure you listening mama today know what reading comprehension actually is, how to know if your child has a gap, and exactly what to do about it. My guest today is Janelle Nansen, an educational therapist with a master's degree in speech language pathology and audiology, the founder of Readerific, and someone who has spent nearly twenty five years in private practice working with students of all ages on exactly this skill. She has helped over 3,000 students become independent, confident learners.
• 2:23
  So whether your child is thriving and you just wanna make sure you're building this skill well or you have that quiet feeling that something might be off, this episode is for you. Alright, everybody. Welcome to the show. So this is something you need to know about my guest today. Sometimes my team flags people who they think will be great guests for my show.
• 2:55
  Most of the time, I say, great. Yes. This person does sound amazing, and then I add them to my very long list. But every once in a while, someone comes across my desk and I stop everything. That's what happened with today's guest.
• 3:08
  She came to us through the Christy-Faith list, and the moment I saw all of her experience and the results that she gets with kids who struggle, I immediately sent her an email and set up a private Zoom call. And I'm so excited for you to hear the wisdom that she has to share today. Welcome, Janelle, to the show.
• 3:26
  Janelle Nansen: Thank you. I'm honored to be here.
• 3:28
  Christy-Faith: I gave the audience a little bit of a background on you. Is there anything that you wanted to fill in the gaps regarding your history and your background with reading and how you've helped families?
• 3:38
  Janelle Nansen: Yeah. I'd like to tell you this story about how it all led to where I am now. Oh, awesome. Let's do it. Okay.
• 3:43
  So right out of college, I was not happy with the techniques or therapies I'd learned because when I was working with students or clients, I felt like it was at a more superficial level and it really wasn't at that deep root level that was making big changes. So I went to a lot of seminars and conferences. I read books. I talked to specialists. And I came across a number of foundational techniques that change the way kids learn and train the brain.
• 4:13
  So I also learned about eye movements and how we can learn about the ways kids learn through their eye movements. I then took all this training, and I looked at the issues that kids were having. And I put together a program that my clients called the Janelle program. And I started implementing it with everyone. And, of course, it was individualized to whatever people needed.
• 4:38
  And as I was working with this program of mine that I had developed through all these trainings, I started seeing all these improvements. It was reading improved, listening and reading comprehension, spelling, writing, memory, test taking, organization, sports performance because we have to understand what the coach is saying, social skills. All these things were happening. I had students that were transitioning out of special education and thriving. Students that went from d's and f's to a's and b's, sometimes straight a's, and students that wanted to go to college.
• 5:15
  And while today, college obviously is not the end all be all. For some students, that was their dream, their passion, and they didn't feel that before my program they could do that. After my program, that was an option for them. I also found that every child with dyslexia, every child with high functioning autism, most with ADHD, and a lot of students that had no diagnosis but they were falling through the cracks, they also needed this training. And so what happened is is due to my success with all these students, and especially, I was having success with students that other people weren't sometimes.
• 5:55
  Christy-Faith: Mhmm.
• 5:56
  Janelle Nansen: So I had parents and teachers and doctors tell me, you have to get your techniques out to the world. You can't keep them in the four walls of your office. You've got to get them out there. So what I did is I developed a technique or wrote programs about one of my most powerful techniques that helps comprehension and memory. And what I did is I did a beta test in 2023 with 30 kids, and they were age eight to 16.
• 6:27
  And it's a three month program. And in three to four months, these kids average between two to four years in reading comprehension improvement. And in addition, most of them like the program. Some love the program. My middle school and high school boys would say it was okay.
• 6:47
  And when they would say that, would jump up and down really excited and they would look at me like, what are you doing? And I said, that is high praise from you. That is high praise that you say it's okay. Yeah. And so I then asked the kids, not all of them were my kids that I work with, some were siblings and other people.
• 7:06
  But the ones that were mine, I said, does it seem like working with me? Because it's really me speaking over PowerPoints. And and I'm gonna be honest, I was shocked that every single kid that had worked with me said, yes, Janelle. It's like working with you. And I didn't expect that because I wasn't there to say, how was the birthday party?
• 7:30
  How did your test go? And it's just me speaking over these PowerPoints, but the kids were like, oh, no. It's like you. And I even have a mother that's a professional tutor, and she had seen me work with kids and she said, yes, she uses it now in her practice, my program. And she said, it is like working with you.
• 7:49
  So the other thing I found in addition was that they were getting results faster than because they saw me once or twice a week, and they did this daily. So as a result of all of this, Readerific was born.
• 8:03
  Christy-Faith: Oh, that is so cool. Yes. And then and you mentioned because I know you're you have a wealth of experience in all different areas, and what I heard is that you kind of narrowed it down to reading comprehension specifically. And we had a fun Zoom call last week, or was it two weeks ago? I can't remember where we were kinda geeking out over it because at our center, we also did a lot of reading comprehension intervention.
• 8:26
  And one thing that I think we need to get right off the bat is defining terms for mamas because when someone says, my kid struggles in reading, the first thing we know to ask is, okay, fluency or comprehension. So would you tell the listeners right now the difference between reading fluency and reading comprehension?
• 8:46
  Janelle Nansen: Reading comprehension is the ability to understand, interpret, and analyze what you're reading. Reading fluency is being able to read accurately, quickly, and have good inflection or expression. So a lot of people think that if a student reads fluently, that they automatically comprehend well. And that's not the case. There's actually a lot of students that do not comprehend well even though they read fluently.
• 9:13
  So if you have a child that reads fluently but they're not understanding or remembering what they read or they think reading is boring, or they want to have graphic novels or books with more pictures, that's a good indication they have weak comprehension skills.
• 9:30
  Christy-Faith: Yes. And at least in in my experience, when I had parents, we often had parents in third or fourth grade saying, my I'm I'm so confused. The teacher says my kids needs reading help. My kid's a great reader. Yeah.
• 9:44
  And so because of, like, standardized test scores might come back low, and this is a really important piece that everyone needs to understand. And I mentioned it in the intro is that there is that transition around that grade level of you're now not learning to read anymore. You're reading to learn. And if that skill does not come naturally, and in a lot of kids, it does, but a whole lot of kids, it doesn't. They're not going to be making movies out of what they are reading in their head.
• 10:12
  And we're gonna talk about concept visualization a little bit more here. But why does this skill matter so much, this comprehension skill?
• 10:22
  Janelle Nansen: Comprehension matters so much because it's a big part of what we do in all kinds of things in a variety of areas of life. So my clients would come to me and say, we came here for this, but we actually got this so much more. Because strong listening and reading comprehension skills create an improvement in school and work and relationships. They are a basis, a primary basis for solid learning and for communication skills. And I have had dads actually come into my office that were construction workers, and I'm all about living your passion.
• 11:00
  So if that is your passion, that's great. However, these dads shared with me, I was a poor reader. I didn't understand what I was learning. I didn't test well. So my only choice I felt in life was to become a construction worker.
• 11:15
  And they said, My back hurts, my hips hurt, I'm in pain. I've had to push my body so hard. And I don't want my child to be limited. I want my child to have more options. And I often tell people, reading and listening comprehension and memory, it many doors open for people that have strong skills in those areas.
• 11:39
  And conversely, if those are weak, your work and school options are gonna be much more limited.
• 11:45
  Christy-Faith: Homeschooling for kids means I'm juggling roughly 24 different subjects at any given time. And a few years back during a particularly busy season, I hit a wall. I needed some serious help with the heavy lifting of teaching everything myself and managing schedules for four kids. That's when I found BJU Press Homeschool, and we've loved their courses so much that we keep going back. Some families use them for everything and love it.
• 12:08
  I use them for certain subjects. Either way, total mental load relief. Here's what my mornings look like now. Let us take science for example. My three girls do that one together.
• 12:17
  They fire up the lesson taught by a real teacher, well produced, actual teaching, not just click through busy work. And I sit there with my coffee, watch them, or make breakfast, and we discuss the big ideas. Every BJU Press homeschool course prioritizes critical thinking, a biblical worldview, and hands on learning. I just guide the conversation and pick which activity or pages or projects we want to do, and everything's already planned out. They have an online platform included for you called the Homeschool Hub, and it keeps everyone on track, both me and my kids, without micromanaging or nagging.
• 12:48
  And when I have questions, I call my HomeWorks consultant. These people don't just help you get set up. They're available for you whenever you need them. It's like having a homeschool expert on speed dial. Go to b j u press homeschool dot com or click the link in the show notes to find out more.
• 13:02
  People are always curious what curriculum I use for my own fam changes. We've tried a lot over the years. Some work for a season and some completely miss the mark, but there is one that's stuck. CTC math. It's a full k to 12 online math curriculum, and it's won oodles of awards for a reason.
• 13:20
  It's just that good. I use it for all four of my kids, and they couldn't be more different when it comes to math. Finding one curriculum that actually works for all of them, that's been nearly impossible. You know that pit in your stomach when you realize the curriculum that you just invested in isn't working again? Yeah.
• 13:37
  That was us until this one. The genius behind CTC math is that it's adaptive. The questions adjust to each kid's level in real time, so they're always challenged but never crushed. And mama, it does the teaching and grading for us. Yes.
• 13:52
  You heard that right. That's a homeschool mom's dream. Well, especially for me when it comes to math. I would think it's too good to be true if I hadn't been using it myself. And it's not just me.
• 14:02
  Here's why it's become the go to for thousands of homeschool families. Free diagnostics show you exactly where to start, access to all grade levels so your student can fill in any gaps or move ahead, short video lessons that keep your children engaged, automatic grading with instant feedback, and progress reports so you know exactly what's happening without hovering. Math used to be our hardest subject. Now my kids do it independently. Here's the best part.
• 14:29
  Our listeners get 50% off. Use the link in the show notes to do a free trial or to get that half off deal. Don't spend another year kissing math frogs. This one stuck for us, and I have a feeling it's gonna stick for you too. Yeah.
• 14:41
  I couldn't agree more that doors start to close if literacy is not taken care of. And, of course, we do know, and you've heard me shout this from the rooftop rooftops so many times that it's just it's a nonnegotiable. Like, we need to make sure that our kids know how to read well. There's other skills too, numeracy and and other that's why I love homeschooling because we can be skills based rather than just content based. Yeah.
• 15:06
  And so but I wanna talk about this a little bit, and we're kind of and it's okay if I throw you some curveballs here because you're so well prepared for this episode. I'm so excited for the listeners to hear. But, you know, when you know, Janelle, when I have adults tell me, like, in a social setting, like, yeah, I'm not really a reader. I don't really enjoy books. Right?
• 15:25
  I immediately think they're not doing concept visualization.
• 15:29
  Janelle Nansen: So
• 15:29
  Christy-Faith: could you explain and the reason why I jumped to that conclusion, which maybe I shouldn't, but I think I'm kinda right, is that is that humans, we are born loving stories. I feel like we are designed to love story. I mean, there's an ultimate story that we're all a part of. Right? And so humans are naturally wired to love story.
• 15:48
  So if they're not getting the story, they're gonna think that they don't love the reading per se, but that's not necessarily true because they love story. It's just their brain is having a hard time deciphering the story based off the code on the page. So let's unpack concept visualization. And what I love, and this is one, I just love you. You're just so fun to talk to.
• 16:10
  But you and I share this that light bulb moment sitting across the desk from a kid who makes their first image. And ladies, listening, you would be surprised how many kids, the first session, they you asked them to describe something in their head and they can't. So would you let's describe that a little bit so a mom can kind of understand what we're talking about when we use the word concept visualization.
• 16:38
  Janelle Nansen: Yeah. So visualization is making pictures or movies in your mind's eye or your imagination when you're listening or reading. So if you read a sentence that says the dog is chasing the ball, in your imagination, you should be seeing some kind of dog, some kind of ball, some background, maybe the backyard or a park. If it didn't say what kind of ball, you might see a yellow tennis ball. And then as you read more, you'll find out, oh, it's actually an orange softball.
• 17:11
  So you change your picture. If you ask students that like to read and enjoy reading, do you make movies in your head? You'll typically hear yes because visualization is how the brain connects to long term memory and also how we enjoy reading, and it makes interesting reading because you're seeing those movies in your imagination.
• 17:33
  Christy-Faith: Absolutely. And so when a student doesn't do this, we talk about this gap. It just widens on their own. We're let's go back to that Matthew effect. What does that look like, that gap widening, and why does it do that?
• 17:45
  Janelle Nansen: So if you don't read, right, your students that have issues with reading and reading comprehension, they read less. In addition, students that have trouble with comprehension often have trouble with listening comprehension. So they're going to have issues with attending to and understanding what a teacher is saying in addition to retaining and understanding what they're reading and learning. And so as you know, as we all know, students that read more and they're strong readers, they're going to become strong learners. But students that have issues with reading, whether it's decoding or fluency or comprehension, they're not going to be motivated to read as much because it's more difficult.
• 18:32
  They're going to read less and then they're going to fall further and further behind, especially as they go higher in school or higher in grade levels, and it gets more lengthy, more complex. They're just going to have that gap widen, and then therefore, their self esteem will also, you know, start declining.
• 18:52
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. And, you know, that's a huge part of kids who have learning struggles is that shame piece. And I know because I watched it with my sister all growing up. She, in the nineteen eighties, crazily got a diagnosis for dyslexia. They weren't diagnosing girls for anything back then.
• 19:09
  Was like yeah. And actually, reading is still a challenge for her because she has eye tracking stuff, and then also when she was 40 was diagnosed with ADHD. So she has a lot of, you know, the I hate the official term, like, comorbidities, but, you know Yeah. That's kind of what yeah. I've heard some new terms instead of that one, which I like.
• 19:26
  But, anyway, my point is is that when kids aren't practicing, they're not getting better at it. And so that's why the kids who kind of are able to make movies in their head while they're reading, they're gonna love reading. They're gonna read more. Yes. And they're gonna get even better at that concept visualization, have these vivid images in their head.
• 19:45
  And then the kids who can't do that, they're not gonna practice it. They're not gonna enjoy it. It's gonna be more tedious. So that's why this reading comprehension piece, I think, is so important. And and you know what?
• 19:56
  It's bleeds right in even into math. Right? You see a lot of it actually with word problems.
• 20:03
  Janelle Nansen: Yes.
• 20:03
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Talk about that a little bit.
• 20:06
  Janelle Nansen: Numbers come from a different part of the brain, so they're a little harder for people to picture anyway. But when people have issues with language, which is a different area of the brain than math, they will think, okay. You know, I'm good at math. You know, I I can get this math. But all of a sudden, you bring in word problems.
• 20:24
  And because you're adding the language, if this child isn't visualizing, all of a sudden, a student that may be good in this area of math, they'll have issues because this language comes in. And if they don't visualize it, they don't understand that concept. So they start they really struggle with with the word problems if you're not visualizing.
• 20:44
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. It's it's a huge challenge. So what are some comprehension rich activities that every homeschool mom should be doing regardless of whether this is a concern at home? Because we all want this skill to be strong. What are some things that we could be doing?
• 21:00
  Janelle Nansen: So read, read, read to your child or your children and also audiobooks. So audiobooks are great as well. While they're listening to the books while they're listening to audiobooks, you wanna have them look up. So we think of this as the midline of the eye, and eye movements correlate with which part of the brain you're using. So I teach my clients to look up.
• 21:24
  Now, if you ask somebody, what'd you do this weekend? They don't go like this. It's not uncomfortable. You see people go like this. It's just a little bit above the midline.
• 21:33
  But if you have the kids go a little bit above that midline and tell them to think of their forehead as a computer screen and they're picturing what they're hearing from those books or the audiobooks, and they're picturing in their mind, say, make these pictures, make these movies while you're listening. And then every once in while say, well, what color was the horse? Or what did the meadow look like? And then tell them the way your brain works best is to make pictures of what you read and hear because that's how you understand and remember so they know what you're doing. And then sometimes students, they don't have the neurological pathways for picturing at first, and they will say, well, I can't see anything.
• 22:17
  But if you keep looking up, it's just like anything. A of my clients and kids I've worked with, they they go have side to side, which access is the auditory cortex of the brain. So they have what I call a neurological highway for the hearing part of the brain, which is short term memory. But when they look up, it's like they're walking up this steep hiking path and they're slipping and it's new. So they'll they look up and, oh, no.
• 22:40
  I can't see that picture. I don't wanna do that because that's a new area for them and it's uncomfortable. But if you have them keep looking up and keep saying, just it'll get easier just like with anything else in life, You'll be able to see things easier if you look up. It will happen in time with enough practice for most people.
• 22:59
  Christy-Faith: Oh, that's really cool. That's really awesome. Now I wanna ask you because a mom listening, she might be thinking right now, well, how do I know if my kid's struggling? At what age should I start to worry? So first, I wanna answer that, but what types of questions could mama be asking?
• 23:16
  You did mention like what color is is blank, But are there other types of questions that mom could be asking that's just like, okay. If the kid can't do this, there's some flags here.
• 23:27
  Janelle Nansen: You mean, like, the symptoms that you'd be
• 23:29
  Christy-Faith: looking for? Yeah.
• 23:31
  Janelle Nansen: So there's a lot of symptoms actually for people that have weak visualization skills, which is what I address for reading comprehension. I actually have a full checklist for free on the homepage of my website that people can get. So it has a lot of symptoms there. But common ones are things like not remembering or understanding what you read, thinking reading is boring, like you mentioned it. If somebody ever says reading is boring, way unofficially the Janelle answer is 99% of the time, they're not going to be visualizing.
• 24:06
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 24:06
  Janelle Nansen: Because frankly, reading is not boring if you're visualizing.
• 24:11
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 24:11
  Janelle Nansen: So that's important. Kids will like graphic novels. Again, we discussed that. And then having books with pictures, they will not feel independent. They will be like, come over here and am I doing this right?
• 24:26
  Asking a lot of questions. They're not gonna be a real independent learner. They're often spending two to three times longer than they should to complete tasks, academic tasks. So there's a lot of other things too, just attention. One interesting thing, a lot of people that walk into my office and will say, I have ADHD because attention issues is another, you know, area.
• 24:50
  And some of them would walk in and say, we're on medication, but it's not working. Whenever they said that, I know that it was misdiagnosed because attention, as you know, can be a variety of things. It can be sensory processing, visual processing, nutrition imbalances, vitamin balances, and weak or nonexistent visualization skills. So when I would teach these kids visualization, some of them didn't have ADHD anymore. Right?
• 25:18
  That and others of them, they had a true ADHD or other areas that cause it. So their attention improved, but it didn't improve completely because that wasn't every area or every facet that was affecting their attention. But attention, that's an important one. Ability to follow directions if they're struggling with following directions, if they're struggling with spelling words that don't follow phonetic rules, trouble with writing. So I had a student when I used to live in Colorado.
• 25:50
  And he was 15 years old, and he came in one day and he said, I have a writing assignment, and I'm gonna get another f on it. And I said, well, what how do you write? What do you do? And he goes, well, I just start writing. I hope that it matches up at the end.
• 26:06
  And I said, well, what I want you to do is look up and visualize the introduction, the body, and the conclusion before you even start to write. And he came back and he said, I got a B. So visualization impacts a lot of areas, of academic areas.
• 26:23
  Christy-Faith: Yes. I mean, and when you like, tomorrow, just as you go about your day, think about how even when I think of my speaking calendar coming up in the next couple of months, I'm picturing months. I'm picturing blocked out. I'm literally picturing things. I picture a week.
• 26:40
  I picture a year. I pick we are picturing everything. And so, and believe it or not, there are people who can't picture things. Like, it's kind of crazy to think about it, but these people do exist. And these and these kids really struggle in school.
• 26:57
  And I think that's that's really helpful to know. Now I wanna go back to that ADHD thing because that was my experience too at our center. Every kid got diagnosed with ADHD. And then I remember Matthew. I've even talked about Matthew in my talks.
• 27:09
  I can't remember if I mentioned him in my book homeschool rising, but I'm like work after working with him for like a year and a half, I'm like, this kid doesn't have ADHD. This kid might have anxiety. Now I can't diagnose. So I went to the mom and I said, you know what? I can you go to this person to get testing done again?
• 27:29
  And they had the resources to do that, and I knew they did, and I knew that they really wanted to help their son. And so, sure enough, he had anxiety. It was not ADHD. So that goes back to what you were saying where if they don't have visualization skills, a practitioner might think they're just not paying attention during that reading passage. When, no, it could be that they actually cannot and do not have the skills to visualize the passage.
• 28:00
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• 28:31
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• 28:48
  Janelle Nansen: What happens is the brain can only hold on to seven non meaningful units of information at a time. So any word or number that's not pictured is non meaningful to the brain. So if kids are using that auditory part of the brain, they're just trying to remember the words and it's short term memory, they're going to hear or read seven words and then they're going to be off track. And so people will immediately go, Oh,
• 29:11
  Christy-Faith: that's
• 29:11
  Janelle Nansen: ADHD. But the fact is, is that they're not visualizing those words. So if they learn to visualize, the brain will then pay attention. It will understand. It will be able to focus.
• 29:25
  And so I think with ADHD, it's just really important to look at a variety of areas that can impact attention, this big one of visualization.
• 29:35
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Absolutely. And I wanna so a mom who's maybe looking for a program that helps her kid with reading comprehension, is concept visualization. How, how will she know if this program that she's looking at is actually targeting comprehension or just fluency?
• 29:53
  Janelle Nansen: So fluency is going to be if they're just reading and they're just reading and they're not answering questions. And when you read and read, typically you'll become more fluent, which for some kids when they become more fluent because they're spending less energy on decoding, yes, they'll naturally comprehend better. However, for the large amount of students that actually don't visualize, even when they become fluent and keep reading, they're not necessarily going to have good comprehension. So in that case, it's good to find a comprehension program. Now some comprehension programs will have students just read information and answer questions.
• 30:29
  That's working at a very superficial level. It's not training the student to learn differently, and it's really like testing them over and over again. And most kids that I run into, they don't like that type of program because they understand it's not helping them to change. Then there's programs that go a little bit deeper. And they may do things like, okay, you want to build vocabulary.
• 30:51
  You want to answer questions as you read. You want to predict. That's a little deeper level. However, underneath those skills is the ability to visualize. Because prior to me training and visualization, when I would work with kids with vocabulary, we would drill over and over again.
• 31:09
  Even if it was in a multisensory way, we would drill and it would take a lot of work and a lot of effort, and they didn't necessarily integrate the vocabulary into their life. When I learned visualization, which was shortly after college, thank goodness, I would then help them visualize the vocabulary and say, let's see the letters of what that word is. Let's have a picture of what that means. They then were able to get that vocabulary much easier. In regard to questioning as you read, that's a higher order thinking skill.
• 31:38
  It's not just rote memorization or recalling what you read. It's having to think and reason about what you're reading, and the brain does that best through visualization. So if a child is not visualizing and the program is addressing, asking questions, they're gonna have a much harder time with that. And the same thing with predicting. So if you're reading about a student and it's a little child and they're on this wobbly stool and you're visualizing, you see them reaching up to this cabinet.
• 32:09
  Right? You're gonna predict, oh, they might fall. But if you're not visualizing, you're not gonna be able to predict that well. So what you want to do is find a program that addresses visualization. Because what I found was when you address visualization, you don't have to necessarily teach nobody taught me, oh, predict.
• 32:31
  Naturally do it. People that visualize naturally do it. They naturally start assimilating vocabulary through context. Now some kids with more severe learning issues, yes, they might need to go do that. But the first step is learn to visualize.
• 32:45
  So when you do go address those skill areas, they can apply them and understand them. You also want a program that's gonna address finding the main idea and drawing conclusions about what you're reading because those come up so often in academic tasks. In addition, in my opinion, you would like to also incorporate things like spelling because over half the words in our language don't follow phonetic rules like the word enough. And if you ask an adult that's a good speller, what's the spelling rule for that word? You got it correct.
• 33:17
  They will often say, I don't know. I just know how to spell it. Well, if we keep teaching kids all these spelling rules, first of all, if they're visualizing if they're not visualizing, that's hard for them to remember the rules. And there's really no reason to learn all the rules if you just look up and visualize each word. Right?
• 33:34
  And that's what really spelling tests are in school. You want to visualize them and then over time, you get this ability to spell well. Same with following directions. I've had so many kids, even like 16 year olds that can't get jobs, because they can't follow three part commands, like go to the back room, sweep the floor, stack the boxes, and they either don't get hired or they get fired. So even at home, some of my parents have said, I am so frustrated that I asked my child to do three things and they only do one or two.
• 34:01
  So when they learn to visualize directions, it helps them at school, at work, in relationships. So in my opinion, you know, having a program that addresses not just reading comprehension, but also these other skill areas because visualization impacts so many things academically. And if you and if they get practiced in these other areas, it's life changing for many. Many.
• 34:26
  Christy-Faith: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, it's so interesting because Charlotte Mason, was a nineteenth century educator, and there's a whole homeschooling style based off of the Charlotte Mason style. You probably already know it. She wrote so much about narration.
• 34:42
  Narration. And, she wants kids to start out with oral narration, and then at a certain age, when they're ready, move to written narration. Now I wanna tell you guys the science behind this because I love it I love it when Charlotte Mason's proven right. Like, she also said, your kids should be playing outside for hours and hours and hours a day. It's like, yes.
• 35:02
  They actually should. They need the dirt in their toes, the sun on their skin. Right? They need to, you know, skin their knees. But here's the thing.
• 35:11
  What she didn't know and she didn't have the data to back up what we have now is that, basically, by having a child narrate, they are learning the skill of concept visualization. They're literally summarizing for you verbally what they just heard or what they just read. So even without, like, a therapeutic approach, right, it the kids were building those neurological pathways through oral and written narration to comprehend what they're reading. And then there's a small percentage of kids who can't build that on their own. But it's just I think it's a travesty because the American education system just kind of expects it to click.
• 35:56
  It's it's mind blowing to me that they just expect it to click, and it doesn't click for everybody. No. And they're not reinforcing the skills in those early years when kids are learning to read. They're everyone's obsessed with fluency and the science of reading, and I am too. I get it.
• 36:14
  But there's also this okay. Well, now what did you read? What what was that about? Right? And I just think it's just part of the just hot mess of the education system.
• 36:23
  But what's so cool about homeschooling is we can we can rewrite the story for our kids. Hey. Shout out to Summit HealthShare for sponsoring this episode today. I love Summit HealthShare partially because it's my husband's company. What I think they're doing over there is absolutely incredible and life changing for many families.
• 36:41
  What is Summit HealthShare? Well, first, let me start with one of my rants about health insurance. Need I say anything? Probably not. But the co pays, the denials, the in network, out of network nonsense, having to get permission to see your doctor, paying thousands a month, and then them still fighting with you every time you need just basic health care.
• 37:01
  I believe so much in the freedom that comes with leaving health insurance and moving to health sharing. Now it's not health insurance, but it does replace it, and it's been around for over a hundred years. With Summit HealthShare, most families and companies save 40 to 60%, and they have a 98% customer satisfaction. You get to see any doctor that you want, even holistic ones. No networks, no permission slips.
• 37:28
  You ladies know how I feel about freedom. I want medical freedom too. Summit HealthShare has different plan options depending on what your family needs. You might just need major medical, and that's great. On our plan, we get a little bit more, and we get free labs, free office visits, free prescriptions, and no co pays.
• 37:45
  Our family of six has saved a thousand dollars a month. And if it sounds too good to be true, it's not. It's actually how health care should work. We've just been accustomed to overpaying for our health care, and a lot of us don't need to do that. So if you are on traditional health insurance at all, here's what I want you to do.
• 38:01
  I want you to go to summithealthshare.com. When you get to the homepage, you'll see the savings calculator. Go ahead and click that. It takes only two minutes. And when you see those numbers, what you should be paying for the health care you need, you are going to be grabbing the phone so fast because health care is a serious thing, and you're gonna have really personalized questions, and they are used to answering all of them.
• 38:21
  Tell them all of your concerns, all of your questions, and they will tell you full stop if this is gonna be a fit for you or your family. And tell them that you listen to the show because I want you to have the VIP treatment. Go to summithealthshare.com today, and the link is in the show notes. This podcast is also brought to you by The Christy-Faith List. Now hold up because I want you to know what this is.
• 38:41
  I'm really proud of what The Christy-Faith List has become. It started really scrappy just compiling recommendations because I was fed up with guessing which businesses and providers and doctors weren't gonna give me a hard time when I walked through those doors. And I had tons of friends and family members with nightmare situations where they felt like they were walking into an ambush situation just when they were trying to get help for their families. And I was sick and tired of the discrimination that homeschool families were getting. But since then, it has grown into a massive directory of colleges, businesses, doctor's offices, reading specialists, occupational therapists, homeschool graduates that are in business themselves now.
• 39:21
  You name it all in one place. Because why wouldn't we wanna do business with the people who share our values and actually want to work with homeschool families and not give us a hard time? It is completely free for homeschool families to search. And if you are a business owner or part of an organization that loves homeschool families and wants to reach more homeschool families and grow your business in that way, please sign yourself up. We wanna know who you are.
• 39:44
  It's the place where homeschool families support the people who support us. Go to the christyfaithlist.com today. And the thing is is if you're worried, oh, is my kid too old? No. I used to do interventions as well, and we got very similar results, Janelle, where it didn't matter how what age the kid was, they would jump grade levels.
• 40:05
  Yes. Grade levels in just a matter of months. Yes. And so but our intervention was very expensive because it was one on one. And that's why I had to have my audience meet you because what I love about your solution is you have taken what private tutoring was kind of like only available to honestly the elite because these intervention programs are so stinking expensive, and you've created a way that is still extremely effective, but such a lower cost.
• 40:39
  And so but you mentioned earlier, which I want I'm gonna put a link. You mentioned that you have that little questionnaire on your website. We'll put a link directly to that or to your homepage. But would you explain a little bit about your program and what you are passionate about and and why it's so affordable and doable for families who think their kids might be struggling?
• 40:58
  Janelle Nansen: Well, frankly, you you hit the nail on the head. It my passion is so many people need this skill. When I was right out of college, they said three out of 10 people needed to learn this skill. In 2023, in reading psychology, Moretti and Russo, they did a study that showed now many more kids need to learn this skill, a lot. And what's interesting is there's been a lot of research on this skill.
• 41:27
  It's evidence based. Mhmm. But what I was surprised about is that and even throughout my career, I would notice there wasn't even a lot of specialists that were trained in it. Mhmm. And if they were trained, it was just a little bit, and they didn't have a lot of experience.
• 41:41
  And there weren't any programs that were about it. And if it was mentioned in a book, it was just like a little blurb or a couple of pages saying, oh, you know, have them draw something about what they're well, how can we draw everything we're reading? That we're gonna be all day. And so I thought, this is just there's a huge gap in this market, and we have a reading comprehension crisis in our country. Our reading comprehension is at the lowest point that it's been in decades, in decades.
• 42:12
  And here's the thing, I'm in my office and I'm working with kids and adults. I mean, my oldest is in their sixties. I work with five to adult. So and they're all improving across the board. They're improving and reading comprehension.
• 42:27
  And so I think in my heart, I thought, I need to help get this out to And to be honest, not just parents, but even tutors or teachers Yeah. Other people because they weren't really aware, and there wasn't an easy way to do it. And one of the giftings that I have been told that I have is to be able to take something more complicated and make it very simple. And I've made this so simple that frankly, I'm just gonna be transparent here. I think some people think, oh, this is so simple.
• 42:57
  How can this even no one's actually said this to me, but I actually think they might think, how can this work? Because it's so easy. But Yeah. What they don't understand is if they do think that, I haven't had that feedback. I'm just thinking it looks so simple compared to what it does.
• 43:12
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 43:12
  Janelle Nansen: But it's because you've got my years of experience where I've taken the meat of it, and I've and I've put it in a way that's so easy for everybody to use. In fact, I've got a tutor that I know that uses my program, and she's she's just like, yeah. I just press the button, make sure my student, you know, does what you are saying. And and she's seen really nice gains. And so I did.
• 43:34
  I wanted to make this something that could be more accessible to a large amount of people for a lesser cost that could be easy to implement at home, in schools, in charter schools, micro schools, co ops, wherever, that it could be implemented because of this reading comprehension crisis. Because I'm thinking if this is the most effective thing I've ever found, and it is in my career. And I've and I've researched all kinds of things, seminars, book, everything. And this is the most effective technique that I've ever seen in my career. So I'm thinking if I'm getting this success and it's not on the marketplace, I think I need to step up and do this.
• 44:12
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Absolutely. And you're right on all those points. There were hardly anybody is doing this, and people don't really know about it. I agree with you so much.
• 44:19
  And, you know, going back to how our culture is just kind of basically illiterate now, I think it has to do with all the screen time because we're fed the visualization. We are literally given the visualization on a screen, and we are a video culture now. We're not a word culture. So whereas a hundred years ago, maybe maybe it was such a small percentage of people who couldn't build the skill because the culture was so literate, you know, that that words were just everywhere. That's how all information was passed around was through words.
• 44:52
  So it's almost like you everyone had this. They were able to build these neurological pathways. But nowadays, like, my son, he I didn't even know this was a term, but he calls them, like, iPad kids. Like, so I'll use that term lovingly though. Like, now with all these iPad kids, they don't even have to, you know, read a menu at a restaurant anymore necessarily.
• 45:13
  They plop down and they have their iPad and they just tell their mom that they what they want, you know, and and they're not reading. And so I think that you there's a reason it's just another reason why yes, I did a whole episode on screens. I don't know if it was a couple months ago. But, you know, reasonable. We're all using screens.
• 45:32
  You're probably watching us on a screen right now. Our screens are gonna be a part of work, but we can't let screens get in the way of the learning that our kids need. And I think that's really important. Janelle, I just love that you're pouring into the mamas today. So from your expertise, what is one takeaway or a word of encouragement that you want every mom to hear?
• 45:54
  Janelle Nansen: That really there is an answer or answers for most struggling learners, and I'm a big believer in find the root cause. If you find the root cause, you're going to make a significant difference. So just like today what we discussed, if you're going to improve reading comprehension, the best way is not to just have a child read over and over again and answer questions. That's testing them. That's not getting to the deep level.
• 46:18
  So you want to research and look for and find the root cause and work on foundational skills that'll make a significant difference.
• 46:27
  Christy-Faith: I love that. And, you know, because I was an interventionist in this, from my kids being very young, I always made sure to read them children's poetry because I think it's so image full. And I would have them lay down on the floor, and I would read one sentence. And I would say, what do you see? And then we would expand And and I think the reason why I chose poetry is just because it's it was easy, simple.
• 46:54
  They were young, and it's so rich with imagery that it's hard not to. But also just that interventionist in me is like, okay. Are they visualizing? I gotta make sure they're visualizing. Yeah.
• 47:05
  So they would be telling me back. But, also, that's a great thing, mama, to do is get a very short poem that your kid maybe has never heard before and ask them what they see. And and if if something doesn't feel right or you're like, are they where they're supposed to be right now or not? I want you to give Janelle a call because she will tell you. She will tell you if your kid's on the right track or not and what she thinks that you need.
• 47:30
  You told me that you have something special for our listeners today. What is that?
• 47:34
  Janelle Nansen: So I have a code faith 10 that you can put in if you want to purchase a 60 session reading comprehension program or a bundle, and the bundle includes 50% off other products such as multiplication table product or writing sentences or my ebooks.
• 47:49
  Christy-Faith: Awesome. That is so generous. Thank you so much. I'm excited for the moms to take advantage of that. We're gonna link everything to for Janelle's website for Readerific in the show notes.
• 47:58
  So don't fret. Everything's gonna be there. But this really is something that should not be ignored, cannot be ignored. If it is ignored, doors do start to close on children. And we really like to have these skills strong by the fourth grade.
• 48:14
  Again, that Matthew effect. If they're not strong, they're gonna start avoiding. Kids really do need intervention sooner than you think in this particular area. Thank you so much, Janelle, for coming on the show today.
• 48:24
  Janelle Nansen: Thank you for having me.
• 48:26
  Christy-Faith: And also, she is on the Christy-Faith list. So make sure to go and find her there as well. Janelle runs a program called Readerific. Find her at readerific.com. She also has an ebook called Beyond Tutoring with practical strategies parents can use at home right now, and one called Poetry Fun, which after this conversation, I think every single one of you should look at.
• 48:49
  And those links will be in the show notes. If this episode helped you and I really think it did, send it to a mom who needs it. I'll see you next week. You have my heart.