Learning to Read Fluently Without Formal Instruction?

[nature girl]

Is it possible (for non-gifted children), and what is the best way to go about it? I've never really gone through phonics lessons with my DD, other than teaching letter sounds, and a handful of digraphs. She picked up blending on her own, and now can sound out longer words, but English is such a complex language and if there are phonics exceptions, she struggles. I've taught her basic rules (like silent e, for example), but still need to point it out to her every time. Do you think this is just because she's not developmentally ready? Or should I be focusing on each rule till it's engrained? I should also say she's also nowhere near fluent...She can read many words quickly, but because she still often needs to sound out some of the CVC and CVCC words, I'm now wondering whether the words she reads fluently are all sight words to her. Which would suggest to me again that she's not developmentally ready to decode fluently.

 

She loves sitting with me and going through simple phonics readers/ER Level 1 books, asks to read every day. But now I'm wondering whether this is enough, and whether continuing like this will help her eventually be able to read fluently, or if we should start a formal program. (I've been avoiding it because she loves books so much, and I'm scared of turning reading into drudgery for her.)

[EmilyGF]

Formal instruction can easily take 10 minutes a day or less, so I would just do formal instruction (I love Bear Necessities right now) at her speed - super quickly, if appropriate. 

 

Another idea, if you know the rules, is to have her read aloud 10 minutes a day and then just correct her and point out the rule. I think this would annoy my 5 year old because she likes being listened to when she reads to me and corrected during the lesson. We do less than 10 minutes a day of formal lesson and then she reads 2-3 Bob books to me.

 

My 7-year-old is a super fast reader. I stopped doing instruction with her because she was such  a good reader (she can read Little Women, for instance). She still makes a lot of mistakes when reading aloud because I assumed because she could read, she would read properly. Nope. Now we're fixing those. She spells well despite her pronunciation problems.

 

Emily

[Mergath]

Just like some kids are "mathy," some kids are natural readers and internalize phonics rules without having to be explicitly told.  It's not necessarily a gifted/not-gifted thing, and having to teach the rules doesn't always mean your kid isn't developmentally ready.  But if your child is forgetting the same rule over and over again and starts getting frustrated, you might want to back off for awhile and come back to it when she's older, or just have her practice readers at her current level without incorporating too many new rules.

 

You mentioned being concerned that the words she reads fluently are just sight words, but really, that's what fluent reading is.  Becoming familiar enough with words that we know them on sight and don't have to decode them anymore. ;)  So I wouldn't worry too much about that.  As long as she's practicing decoding other words and not relying solely on sight words, she'll be fine.

[Walking-Iris]

Again how old is she?

 

My oldest never finished a phonics program or workbook. Like your dd he just started reading after some initial instruction. He's never had any trouble reading fluently. Fluency has a lot to do with you, the parent, continuing to read aloud books at, above, and even below their level. 

 

What I did with my oldest was to concentrate on spelling and handwriting. Working through a spelling program that was phonics based (and O-G) did more for his reading skills than if I would have made him finish any of the scripted books I tried with him. 

 

My 6 year old however, I feel, will have to work systematically through a phonics program, as well as a spelling program. He doesn't show any desire to read each day, so I have to gently push and encourage him to practice some reading aloud.

 

I agree with pp, this isn't really a gifted or not gifted issue. It's just how kids will normally learn to read. 

 

I wouldn't really push rules on a child who is young. If she's reading and comes to a word she doesn't know, just gently sound it out with her and mention something to help. But don't worry if you have to repeat that again the next time. That's normal.

 

ETA: Also, working through a phonics program systematically doesn't have to be drudgery btw!! It can be extremely helpful to even a natural reader. It takes less than 5 minutes usually to work through an OPGTR lesson. The rest of the day is spent reading aloud, playing games, hearing Mom read a story, writing, spelling, and so on.

 

 

 

[Tanikit]

I guess it depends what you call formal instruction. I did teach my child phonics - she learnt to read at a very early age by sight but was battling with a few new words (though could make a pretty good "guess" as to what the word was by context and also by trying to sound it out with basic phonics - she was 3 when she sounded out opposites and despite it not sounding at all like the letter sounds and having a double P she did get the word correct)

 

So I taught her phonics using OPGTR - 4-8 words a day taking less than 5 minutes in total - we never did read the sentences in that book as they do not lend themselves to fluent reading - no one speaks like that. On top of that she read to me daily and she still does - because of her age this depended on her interest, but was usually only a couple of sentences initially and over the years has stretched to a full chapter. Is this formal? I do not know. 

 

At times when I see she is sticking on something then I take out a piece of paper and when she gets stuck I write the word down big for her, help her sound it out and teach her the rule and the vocabulary (as many of the issues she has now is because she doesn't know what the word means). I never do this for more than 1-2 words per reading session as I do not want to interrupt the story too much, but it has helped.

 

My youngest at 3 is also reading - she has more stamina than my eldest did at the same age, so reads slightly more to me, but again I wouldn't call it formal. So far I have only showed her how to sound out words that are simple (blends and cvc words), but she knows there are letter combinations that make other sounds too. When she is ready I may also take out the OPGTR words I did with my eldest, right now though we just use the words she is wanting to read wherever they happen to be and whatever phonics they might represent - meaning is always more important than the skill involved because it influences desire to read.

[nature girl]

This is all very helpful, thanks. DD is only 4, which is another reason I didn't want to do anything formal. (And before anyone flames me, haha, she started sounding out words at 2.5, but I had never done anything at all to push reading, just read to her a ton, and she loved books so much she was driven to figure out how it all worked.) She's been so proud of being able to finish simple books, it's that pride and love of story that seem to be driving her, which is why I don't want to do anything that would make it feel like work and take that away. 5-10 minutes sounds do-able though, maybe just writing out the words she's struggled with, like you suggested Tanikit and Walking-Iris.

When I said I have to remind her of rules, she does remember what a silent e means, for example, but I have to actually point to the e for her to notice it. So she'll read a word using the short vowel, then I'll point to the e and she'll reread the word correctly. Just at this point isn't able to look ahead to notice the e is there. She's learned a number of digraphs just by being exposed to words containing them. Which I guess is one of the questions I'd asked myself, whether exposure to rules naturally would be enough. When the time comes to teach spelling, I'll probably end up using an O-G type program rather than relying on memorization (although I love her awful spelling too much to fix it now, lol) and I guess that will help formalize phonics rules as well. I see that as a couple of years away, though.

[dragonflyer]

sounds like she is following a very similar progression to my son.  he would keep forgetting the rule, i would say something like "if this word, the e makes the i say..." and he would be able to finish "say its name," then apply the rule.  just tell her the sound or the rule each time she comes to the word and she will apply it automatically when she is ready. 

something else that has helped us is for me to follow what he is reading with my finger, then if the word is incorrect (or skipped) my finger just stops until he comes back to read the word correctly. 

[Walking-Iris]

Since she is 4, you could focus on her handwriting to help prepare her for spelling. Just continue to let her read, maybe use a Montessori movable alphabet to help her spell some words, http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/Make_a_Moveable_Alphabet.html  This is the one we've made and use. HWOT wooden letters are very helpful as well. 

 

At 4 I would just continue to let her read, read aloud to her, and to begin some handwriting/early spelling activities. OPGTR starts out very gentle. And I would even start something like First Language Lessons 1 with a Kinder aged child who was showing this level of readiness. 

 

You might like something like Peak with Books or FIAR to enhance her enjoyment of the books you're reading and she's reading as well.

[mom2att]

I will tell you what I did with my oldest, who was also sounding out words at 2.5 and reading a bit on her own at 4.  She would get so frustrated with words that couldn't be sounded out (like know, through, etc.)--she was begging me to teach her to read.  I was resistant for the very reasons you stated, OP--she loved books and I didn't want the drudgery of formal instruction to impede that.  Plus I had been brainwashed during my college years in elementary education that phonics was a bad idea--I got over that quickly once I started teaching my own kids!

 

At any rate, I pulled out Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons right around the time she turned 4.  We went through half the book by the time she was 4.5 and never got any farther than that because we didn't need to--that was the push she needed to begin reading fluently.  She could read most anything after that.  The only phonics instruction she had later on was through Spelling Workout.

 

I will add that she is the only one of my three who followed this path.  100EL was a bust with my other two, who learned to read with direct, specific phonics instruction and at a much slower pace.  My oldest was just very words-oriented from the beginning--talked early and well, read early, continue to love reading more than anything.  I will say that if it came down to giving the reason why certain words are spelled/spoken the way they are, my dd would fail miserably.  My boys could no doubt articulate phonics rules way better than their sister, because they have had specific instruction in this area while she has not because so many of those things she just knew intuitively. 

[Korrale]

My son has been reading since he was 2 and he learn with a whole word method. He was able to intuit phonics but I didn't want him not to know the rules. So we went through the slides on wwww.readingbear.org and I had him read through them and he did great. I stopped instructing any reading at that point. And we just read a lot. We corrected any words along the way.

[Staceyshoe]

I think it's very possible, but it really depends on the child.  Some children can teach themselves to read, naturally "get" math, are natural spellers, pick up on rules of correct grammar through reading, or have ingrained music ability.  Every child has things that come more easily to them than others, and it's possible that your daughter will learn to read fairly independently.  For children who naturally sense common patterns, I don't know that learning to memorize and articulate those patterns in formal rules is helpful.  If she learns to read on her own, I would recommend a solid phonics-based spelling program when the time is right for starting spelling.  That way you can feel confident that there aren't gaps in her understanding of phonetic patterns.