Reading fluency help for older child

[Mir]

Hi Everyone,

I am wondering if any of you have advice for a teen who was just diagnosed with reading and writing fluency issues. The only advice given for this piece of the evaluation is to have him use audiobooks for life. Is this really as good as it gets? I feel he must have just missed something in his education. His IQ tested as normal. 

Thanks so much for any advice.

[Lecka]

http://readingrockets.org/

Just as a start, you can look at this website.  You can look at "struggling readers."

You can also look at "fluency" under the "reading topics a-z."

Here is a question to ask, is his decoding good?  A problem with fluency can come from a problem with decoding.  That is really common.  There might be scores showing he has lower scores for word-reading skills.  If that's the case, you can look at dyslexia programs.  

 

[Lecka]

https://bartonreading.com/about-dyslexia/

Here is information about dyslexia also.  I think there's reason to think dyslexia is possible, because for some other problems having to do with fluency, you would not expect listening to audiobooks to work out awesome.  Like, if there are comprehension-related issues, are audiobooks going to be perfect?  Maybe not so much.  

If it's just fluency, not decoding and not comprehension, then there are ways to practice fluency.

Basically, repeated reading, of short passages, out loud, is important.  

You can also teach ways to divide up sentences, and pay attention to punctuation.  It can be hard to take the words and combine them so they make sense as you read.  You have to make meaning, as you read, in order to group the words properly.  And this is where it is nice audiobooks do it for you!  A lot of meaning is added in audiobooks.    

What happens sometimes though, is a fluency problem is mentioned, but then it turns out that the problem is coming back from decoding.  And then that is probably more of a dyslexia situation.  Which is not the end of the world at all!  There are remediation programs. 

 

[Lecka]

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Fluency-Lessons-Strategies-Reading/dp/043928838X/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526574986&sr=1-11&keywords=wiley+blevins

I have had this book from the library about fluency, it has a nice sample on Amazon.  I think the content is going to be similar to other books about improving reading fluency.  You might check the library, too.  

[ElizabethB]

It is too early to give up on him!

There are a ton of things that you can try to improve fluency.

First, you need to figure out the underlying problems.  Give my MWIA 3, the 40L quick screen reading grade level test and a nonsense word test, linked at the bottom of my syllables page:

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

If there is a slowdown or any words missed on the phonetic portion of the MWIA or more than one nonsense word missed, I would work through my syllables program and then do nonsense words for fluency drills.  Don Potter also has a bunch of fluency drill work on his website.  But, depending on the underlying problem, different skills need to be worked on.  

If he is reading below 12th grade level, go through my syllables program and then all of the 2+ syllable words in the complete Webster's Speller.

Also, some people may have undiagnosed vision problems, have him read 25 extra nonsense words copied and pasted and printed at 36 point font and double spaced.  If he reads those more than 10% faster than the other nonsense words, have his vision screened with a good COVD doctor.  Here are other vision symptoms that could be causing problems that can be fixed with vision therapy:

http://www.covd.org/?page=Symptoms

Also, he may need to drill letter sounds and get them more automated if they are not instantaneous, especially the 2 letter vowel teams, I have charts for all the sounds on my syllables page.  

If there is more than a 10% slowdown on the MWIA, you are also going to have to do a lot of extra nonsense words and limit outside reading for the first few months of remediation, and will also need an additional phonics program after the syllables program, a good program with word lists to get to fluency for single syllable words.

 

[ktgrok]

Orthographic mapping is the process where you move from sounding things out to recognizing them on sight. It is an audiological process that requires good phonological awareness. I'd do as Elizabeth advises, or do this screening test, or both. http://www.senia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/PASS-directions.pdf

[Ausmumof3]

On 5/18/2018 at 2:40 PM, ElizabethB said:

It is too early to give up on him!

There are a ton of things that you can try to improve fluency.

First, you need to figure out the underlying problems.  Give my MWIA 3, the 40L quick screen reading grade level test and a nonsense word test, linked at the bottom of my syllables page:

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

If there is a slowdown or any words missed on the phonetic portion of the MWIA or more than one nonsense word missed, I would work through my syllables program and then do nonsense words for fluency drills.  Don Potter also has a bunch of fluency drill work on his website.  But, depending on the underlying problem, different skills need to be worked on.  

If he is reading below 12th grade level, go through my syllables program and then all of the 2+ syllable words in the complete Webster's Speller.

Also, some people may have undiagnosed vision problems, have him read 25 extra nonsense words copied and pasted and printed at 36 point font and double spaced.  If he reads those more than 10% faster than the other nonsense words, have his vision screened with a good COVD doctor.  Here are other vision symptoms that could be causing problems that can be fixed with vision therapy:

http://www.covd.org/?page=Symptoms

Also, he may need to drill letter sounds and get them more automated if they are not instantaneous, especially the 2 letter vowel teams, I have charts for all the sounds on my syllables page.  

If there is more than a 10% slowdown on the MWIA, you are also going to have to do a lot of extra nonsense words and limit outside reading for the first few months of remediation, and will also need an additional phonics program after the syllables program, a good program with word lists to get to fluency for single syllable words.

 

Sorry do you mind my butting in?  I just wanted to ask with the test.  How do you count missed words? If child says the word wrong but realises it's wrong and self corrects without any input from an adult do you count that as a missed word or only if they don't get the word at all? 

Dd (who I was talking about on the math thread) is right on the boundary for her age.  I'm thinking we might run through some of the videos for a bit but on the other hand we have a lot of other stuff to work on as well and I don't want to overload her.

[ElizabethB]

On May 23, 2018 at 8:38 PM, Ausmumof3 said:

Sorry do you mind my butting in?  I just wanted to ask with the test.  How do you count missed words? If child says the word wrong but realises it's wrong and self corrects without any input from an adult do you count that as a missed word or only if they don't get the word at all? 

Dd (who I was talking about on the math thread) is right on the boundary for her age.  I'm thinking we might run through some of the videos for a bit but on the other hand we have a lot of other stuff to work on as well and I don't want to overload her.

You count them as correct, but as a "self-correct," mark as s/c over the word.  A young student still learning to read will often have several, an older student should not have more than one self correction, that can also be an indication of problems and non-automaticity of the phonics.

I would work through it--the gain in reading ability and reading speed will help make all other subjects faster and easier in the long run.

[ktgrok]

I watched this video recently on fluency, might be helpful.