Reading speed

[Nancy B]

My 8th grader is a VERY slow reader, especially when he's reading something that he's not particularlly interested in. I would love some ideas on how to help him increase his speed. I have been very lenient with him this year, because his math and science are very time consuming, but I am honestly worried about him doing high school work next year.

Nancy
mother of 3 (13,8,2)

[AngieW in Texas]

Have you actually tried timing him? Reading quickly is a skill. My youngest is dyslexic. Reading quickly is a skill she has needed to learn.

Most of the websites below refer to younger students, but the principle is the same.
http://www.ldonline.org/article/6354
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/fluency
http://www.prel.org/products/re_/assessing-fluency.htm

Repeated readings are the main method to work on this. My dd was using grade level passages from DIBELS for a long time, but now I just have her start her oral reading with several one-minute timings. She reads for one minute. Then she re-reads for one minute. Then she re-re-reads for one minute. She gets farther every time she re-reads.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Learning to speed read would increase both regular reading speed (ie, you wouldn't always read 1000-10,000 wpm) and comprehension. Try www.speedreading4kids.com

HTHs,
Pamela

[Claire]

A program I would recommend highly is Rewards Secondary (http://store.cambiumlearning.com/ProgramPage.aspx?parentId=019005487&functionID=009000008&site=sw) from Sopris West. It is entirely scripted, so there's no teacher prep. There are about 20 lessons, and the entire program takes about 25 hours working one-on-one. It improves multi-syllable word attack skills very efficiently. Starting about halfway through, the program adds in repeated readings (timed) to help develop fluency (speed in combination with accuracy). I think it is a *great* high-school prep program for reading. I used it with my dd and a neighbor boy (10yo and 11yo), and they both increased about 3 grade levels in reading. To do this program you need the Teacher's Guide and a workbook. (Buy 2 workbooks if you want to resell the program as a set and recoupe about half your investment. It is a popular program on the swap boards.)

[Antonia]

Try this website: busyteacherscafe.com/units/fluency. It has lots of ideas for improving fluency. I used several of them including parroting, rereading, and reading with audio with my son, and it helped his speed a lot.

[Jenn in CA]

This may or may not be applicable to your situation, but my slow-reader son is much more motivated if I tell him to read a certain number of pages, rather than for a certain number of minutes.

He also has to write about most of his reading, which tells me whether he understood it or not.

We used Rocket Reader, a speed-reading program, for a couple years when my boys were younger. It helped a lot while they were using it, but when they stopped, they pretty much went back to their old ways.