Bonnie Terry

“I can read!” – Doc Meek

September 5th, 2013 |

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Today I am full of gratitude that I live in a literacy culture. I am so glad that my mother learned to read as a child. She is 95 years old now and can’t do many things, but she still enjoys reading! Even when she’s confined to her bed. – Doc Meek

This is your HowToLearn.com Newsletter from Pat Wyman

Re: Fix the most common reading problem in 5 minutes

Dear Doc,

Today’s article is from our reading expert, Bonnie Terry, of BonnieTerryLearning.com

Kids that take a long time to read or do their homework typically actually have a reading problem known as reading fluency problems whether they have a learning disability, dyslexia, or ADHD. In fact even kids that are gifted can even have reading fluency problems.

In all my years as a learning disability specialist and educational therapist I can easily say that about 95% of the students I’ve seen in my 35+ years of teaching kids with reading problems have had reading fluency problems. Reading fluently describes how a skilled reader reads aloud.

Let me give you an example…I met Jason in March; he was in 4th grade. He had brown straight hair and a great smile, although he didn’t smile very often then. He was floundering; it took what seemed like ‘forever’ to read. He repeated, skipped, and substituted words when he read, too. It was painful to listen to his stilted repetitive reading. His classmates were zooming right past him. His mom Kate was losing sleep over what to do and how to help him. She had already been told by the school that Jason would most likely be held back.

Kate, at a loss for what to do contacted me and told me what was going on. First I reassured her that there was much that she could do as a parent to help Jason. Then we got started.

I knew we needed to work quickly to get his reading level up so that he wouldn’t be held back. One of the keys to Jason’s improvement was reading fluency training which helped him to sound out words more quickly and read accurately without repeating, skipping or substituting words. By the end of his third session of specific fluency activities he had already improved his reading speed and accuracy. Within several days he went from 30 words per minute to 60 words per minute. His confidence soared.

What Causes Reading Fluency Problems

Reading problems are typically due to a combination of learning skills, areas of perception, that aren’t working as well as they could, should, and can. And you can have a reading problem without having dyslexia or a learning disability.

So, what specifically was going on with Jason?

Jason did not have an actual learning disability or dyslexia. What Jason did have was a variety of areas of perception (visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic) that weren’t working as well as they could have been which impacted his ability to read fluently.

Jason was very bright; he just couldn’t read quickly enough to gain meaning from what he read. So, to improve both Jason’s speed of reading and his comprehension, a major component of what we did was reading fluency training which improved his speed, accuracy, and comprehension as well as the areas of perception that were not working as well as they should have.

Continue reading here for:

The Most Important Activity A Parent Can Do to Boost Reading

Pat Wyman, The Center for New Discoveries in Learning, Inc., 4535 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV 89102Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options