Once your child is able to recognize words in print, it is crucial that she also gain an ability to read smoothly and at an efficient pace. If she continues to hesitate and stumble during reading, her slow pace undermines comprehension — by the time she gets to the end of a sentence she will have forgotten what was at the beginning. The best way for a child to develop reading fluency is through practice, both through oral and silent reading. As with other reading skills, however, your child may need specialized help via a more structured program.

Great Leaps Reading

Great Leaps is a one-on-one program designed to be taught in short five- to ten-minute practice sessions. The child completes several timed one-minute readings under the direct supervision of the teacher or tutor. The goal is that the child will have no more than two errors per reading; correction of errors is through immediate feedback and modeling of the teacher. As soon as the child meets the goal with one passage, he “leaps” to a passage written on a slightly more difficult level.

One unique aspect of the program is that it focuses on teaching sight words via small phrases, such as “when we try” or “who is that,” with the idea that reading phrases in context will work around the common tendency of struggling readers to skip or stumble over small function words, like “the” or “from.” Studies suggest that it is possible to gain two to three reading levels with a year's instruction with this program.

Guided Oral Reading

Another approach to building fluency is for the student to repeatedly read the same passage or short story under the guidance of a tutor, or with a computer or tape recorder, or with peer assistance, or a student partner or buddy. Reading can be done in a timed context to build speed and the teacher, peer, or recording device promotes accuracy.

Computer-assisted programs include Failure-Free Reading, and Read Naturally. Computer software offers the benefit of instant feedback in a setting that can be controlled by the child. Alternatively, the child may be encouraged to read along with tape recorded passages of a book. For example, with the Carbo Recorded-Book Method, the teacher records small segments of a few minutes each of high-interest reading materials onto tape cassettes in short phrases, at a slightly lower speed than normal, to allow the child with reading difficulties to follow along while looking at the same passage in print. The student listens repeatedly to the recording while reading along, later reading the passage unassisted to the teacher.