How to improve reading fluency....

[HeWillSoar]

Per testing, my son (15) is weak in reading fluency compared to comprehension and decoding.  He does have lower processing speed and working memory.  We just started homeschooling last year-- FYI.  His math skills are up (yay!) but we need to work more in this area.  He has NEVER enjoyed reading and struggled with it in PS, though he got by.  Any suggestions?  I wonder if I need to look further medically. 

[Gil]

We build reading fluency by reading reasonably below their max reading level. Building fluency at a lower level has increased fluency at the levels in between the lower level and their max level.

 

If my kids max reading level was 6th grade, then I'd have them build fluency by reading at a 3rd-5th grade reading level. To help them acknowledge and consider punctuation, I went through a stage where I highlighted every punctuation mark on the page. Then slowly I'd highlight maybe 90 or 80% of the punctuation on the page, then drop to 75% and so on until they didn't need the visual reminder to pay attention to the punctuation.

 

Repeated readings of some passages/pages/chapters helps also. I have a friend who does reading intervention at the middle and highschool level and one thing that she recommended that we do is read aloud from/perform picture books orally. There can be complex sentences, tricky vocabulary and different characters on a single page, but it isn't as threatening to the students. Plus, its easy for a short assignment to have "meaning" because the entire story is contained within the book. Plays are also good for this, but you could also use novellas/short stories. Additionally if you can try listening to audiobooks read aloud and think about and discuss what made it a good and effective reading of the book. (both fiction and nonfiction) another activity is to listen to a passage and then try to read the next passage with a similar "flare"/style as the recording. Reread the passage until you feel good about your reading.

 

 

[ElizabethB]

Per testing, my son (15) is weak in reading fluency compared to comprehension and decoding. He does have lower processing speed and working memory. We just started homeschooling last year-- FYI. His math skills are up (yay!) but we need to work more in this area. He has NEVER enjoyed reading and struggled with it in PS, though he got by. Any suggestions? I wonder if I need to look further medically.

The decoding may not be as strong or as automated as you think, he may need phonics reciew, especially with multisyllable words. Have him take the MWIA level 2 and the New Elizabethian test.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/readinggradeleve.html

 

I have free multisyllable resources on my website and can recommend others for purchase, plus, depending on the MWIA scores, he may need extra nonsense word work.

Edited January 30, 2016 by ElizabethB

[ElizabethB]

My page "Why Johnny Doesn't Like to Read" might explain some of the things you are seeing, and could be the cause of both the fluency and not enjoying reading problems.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/aliterate.html

[PeterPan]

What do you mean medically?  You're wondering if he has ADHD and could go on meds and if meds would help?  Who did your evals?  That was a question they should have answered.  So they're labeling him SLD reading?  It would be good to sort that out, because then you could use that documentation to get access to services.  And it would be good to have CTOPP scores to confirm that his decoding is ok.  I assume they ran a CTOPP?  How was his RAN/RAS score on that?

[kbutton]

Have you had a check with a COVD optometrist for developmental/ocular motor issues? Those were a big factor with both my kids, and their symptoms were wildly different. My younger one had some fluency issues (though the public schools disagreed), and he had major issues with eye tracking (which were NOT obvious at home because he just pushed himself up to a point). 

[VinNY]

http://haslett.k12.mi.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=11653&

 

^^ free  and if he is having issues with multisyllabic word reading  try Sopris West REWARDS

 

[HeWillSoar]

What do you mean medically?  You're wondering if he has ADHD and could go on meds and if meds would help?  Who did your evals?  That was a question they should have answered.  So they're labeling him SLD reading?  It would be good to sort that out, because then you could use that documentation to get access to services.  And it would be good to have CTOPP scores to confirm that his decoding is ok.  I assume they ran a CTOPP?  How was his RAN/RAS score on that?

 

I wondered if he could have dyslexia or an eye tracking problem.  I know that he has ADHD but we don't medicate. The school did his educational testing but I question just how thorough it was.  I will have to check but I don't think they did the tests you mentioned.   I also took him to a psychologist to do behavioral evals on our own. 

[PeterPan]

Yes, look through what they did so far.  A CTOPP is a pretty common test of phonological processing.  It's true though that kids with ADHD will often have some dyslexia-lite symptoms and kids with dyslexia will often have ADHD.  They used to be one diagnosis in fact, minimal brain dysfunction.  You'll see remnants of it mentioned in disability laws.  Hopefully your psychs either did some testing for reading disability OR saw good enough scores that they decided they didn't need them, kwim?  I'm not saying that's a perfect process either.  Obviously they could have missed it.  But it's possible there just wasn't a need, wasn't an indication of a language processing disorder.

 

For getting his eyes checked, you would go to COVD.org and look for a developmental optometrist. I usually suggest people just start with the basic annual eval and ask them to SCREEN for the extra stuff (convergence, focusing, etc.).  That way you know if the longer, developmental vision eval, is even warranted.  That's usually a separate, longer, more $$ eval, so you don't want to do it unnecessarily.  You'll have dyslexics with no developmental vision problems and kids with no dyslexia who do have them.  It just varies.  And obviously you can have both together!  

 

And yes, developmental vision problems could cause that sort of overall dislike of reading in spite of being able to decode just fine.  After all, if you get headaches, double vision, and your eyes are struggling to track and making you lose your place on the page every time you try to read, would you like to read?  Obviously not, lol.  And kids don't know what is normal to tell us.  That's where the testing is so helpful.  My dd has ADHD, no dyslexia (even though I wondered for quite a while because her spelling was bad), and for her VT was awesome.  She turned out to have convergence issues, and they had piled up to where her visual processing was affected.  

 

Well tell us if they did the CTOPP or something similar and maybe see if you can find his achievement testing.  See if there's anything in there noteworthy.  Even "just" ADHD can cause a lot of issues with reading.  He might need comprehension strategies.  He might not be reading things he enjoys, and that's just a total bust for kids with ADHD.  My dd is a phenomenal reader now, but if you hand her something she isn't engaging with she will retain NOTHING.  So, to me, first thing I'd do (and this is just me) is ask whether there is ANYTHING he enjoys reading.  Like what about comics? Does he like Calvin & Hobbes?  Or manuals or magazines about a passion of his?  How does he do with audiobooks?  Have you ever tried immersion reading?  That's where the app highlights the words in the ebook as the audio version plays.  A kindle fire will do this, and the kindle app for *android* will do it.  I don't know if the kindle app for *mac* yet does it.  Turf wars and all that, sigh.