One of the most difficult challenges parents face with reading is how to increase reading fluency with a beginning reader. Low reading fluency can actually be traced to the learning style of your child. Children defined as verbal learners often have an easier time with fluency because they have the ability to think part to whole and either sight-read or learn to decode reading words.
The ability to decode supports increased reading fluency as well as reading comprehension, because increased reading vocabulary feeds into the meaning of the word or story.
Another group of children are those defined as visual or non-verbal learners, such as children who see words as whole to part and attempt to sight-read rather than to decode words.
Children in this group, who try to sight-read rather than break the words up into parts, fall behind with fluency because half of English words are made up of silent letters. If a child can’t sight-read, he or she needs to decode to understand meaning, which again, leads to greater fluency and comprehension.
Unfortunately for such children, reading fluency becomes an even greater struggle, particularly after third grade, the level at which the learner is expected to become an independent reader. Children in these intermediate grades will be required to read longer, more difficult passages; fluency at this point becomes imperative to school success. Children who only “word call,” or decode words individually without connecting them together for meaning, face an uphill battle because the more rapidly the child reads, the greater the reading comprehension.
Regardless of your child’s particular learning style, teachers and parents can take the lead with various strategies to ensure greater confidence and self-motivation to read.
One strategy is called “rehearsal,” a reading by a parent with the child of high frequency words such as the Dolce Reading List. My suggestion is that you post on a white board any words that are missed and use them for spelling lists as well as for flash cards for practice. After these “high frequency words” are mastered, children can increase their reading fluency.
Another strategy is called “pre-reading.” Parent and child should look at the title of a new story and try to guess what the story is about. Next, they can think of words that the author might use in writing the story. Help the child to begin to think about words in the text that will give him practice in dealing with more difficult words for future reading exercises.
A highly successful reading strategy is called “echo reading,” which addresses fluency through repetition and practice, and builds confidence. With echo reading the parent reads a sentence and the child echoes the reading, eventually reading the selection with the same expression as they are hearing. This can be achieved from a Big Book or chart; along the same line is “choral reading,” a reading in small groups of children, reading continually in unison, using each other’s voices to stay fluent.
Finally, the Read Aloud Program is an excellent strategy for parents to stimulate reading fluency. The Read Aloud Program simply asks parents to read one story to their child, three times per week in 20-minute intervals. Success rates of the 100 plus Read Aloud experimental programs showed a 50 percent increase in participating children’s voluntary reading time and interest.
Implementing these strategies with oral reading of articles and time for rehearsal and practice helps comprehension, sight vocabulary and reading confidence. Moreover, combining fluency within the context of a complete reading program has been shown to stimulate greater interest, especially among struggling readers and gives them the needed support to become independent readers.
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