Does Your Child Do Slow, Robot-Like Reading?

If you find yourself nodding off through your child’s reading, then it could be the case your child needs more FLUENCY in their reading.

Fluency is “reading like you speak.” It’s not about a race to read as many words as quickly as possible.

In fact, many teachers send fluency passages as homework for a child to read and reread. Some of them time the children on their speed and accuracy of reading, but I have not always found that helpful for every student in my personal tutoring experience. (Many of my students were given anxiety over that). I find just more reading practice helps with fluency.

Your child is able to figure out most if not all of the words, so how can you help your child’s reading fluency?

1. READ ALOUD TO YOUR CHILD

   Your child needs to have something to imitate. Hearing fluent reading enough can make a huge difference. Audiobooks can come in handy here as well. Basically, your child needs a model to show what fluent reading is like.

   You can have fun with this and read a page for your child the way it should be read (good example) and then read the page the way it shouldn’t be read (poor example). This is funny to the child, and it points out the difference in how it sounds.

   For a poor example you can:

   go slow sounding out words

   ignore periods and read through them

   pause at the end of each line even when there isn’t a period

   read monotone without feeling

2. BUDDY READ WITH YOUR CHILD

   Take turns and go back and forth. It might be your child takes a page and you take a page. It might be you each take one sentence, depending on how the book is laid out.

3. REREADING

   Once your child has “made it through” a short book or passage, have him go back and read it again! You may need to keep the first time short. For example, maybe read only 4-5 sentences at first (or two pages of a 1 sentence per page book) and then go back and reread that section to sound more fluent. I used to call it “teacher reading” because my students understood that the second time they read the material it could help them sound like a teacher reading it to her class.

   Rereading is MAJOR and often gets overlooked. It has other benefits such as confidence and increased comprehension.

4. PRACTICE READING COMMON PHRASES

   You can find common phrases from looking up “sight word phrases.” Print them off and cut them into strips of paper. Stick them in a bag and mix them up. Pull one out and read it. Call it a game. You can also try having the phrases on a single sheet of paper and practice reading them quickly with a timer (if that is particularly motivating to that child).

   **Be careful to choose a good fit book. Do not expect fluency when a child can’t figure out a good portion of the words. Watch my video on GOOD FIT BOOKS here!

5. BACK UP TO EASIER BOOKS FOR A WHILE & GRADUALLY INTRODUCE HARDER BOOKS.

   This is so simple and so often overlooked. In fact, it MIGHT be the only action for your child that needs taking. If you back up to an easier level of book that your child CAN read fluently, the child will enjoy the book more and have more confidence. Stay in similar level books for a while and gently introduce other books here and there that are just a LITTLE more difficult. Allow that process to be gradual. It’s ok to grab a book off a shelf, start the first page, and decide to put it back because it’s a little too hard for the time being. You can always come back.

A child who needs fluency practice is usually a child who CAN read most of the passage or story, but is slow to do it and pauses between most words.

Fluency doesn’t happen overnight.

If you buckle down, and have solid practice for several weeks, you WILL see a difference. Just know that your child is in a particular developmental stage of reading and will not always need to be in the “buckle down and practice daily” mode. You can do it for a little while. You’ll be shocked at the results when you finally do this!

Remember, you are your child’s most influential teacher!