And for late readers, this can be the main vehicle for keeping their knowledge base growing and concurrent with their peers'. My daughter Kristen still prefers audiobooks at age twelve. And she just finished a Jane Austen novel, something I would never expect her to tackle in book form, but one she had no difficulty with in an audio format. It surprises me the vocabulary that she has been able to acquire. It is way beyond grade level, even while reading is still an area for growth.
Music is also often an area of strength for the late reader.
I used a lot of music tapes with my kids. Bible verses set to music, math facts set to music, the names of the states, etc. I saw all of these resources a means for keeping that knowledge base growing while waiting for the independent reading skills to kick in. Audiomemory and Wee Sing tapes were two of our favorite resources. Field Trips are even more critical for the late reader.