S.

Robertson
ASHA, 2008

Reading Fluency and the SLP: The Whats,

Whys, and How-Tos
Shari Robertson
Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

ASHA POSITION STATEMENT

Speech-Language Pathologists play a critical and direct role in the development of
literacy for children and adolescents with communication disorders.

Critical Skills for Developing Literacy

“What Works” to teach children to read successfully
1. Phonemic Awareness
2. Phonics
3. Fluency
4. Vocabulary
5. Text Comprehension

Most of these skills are familiar to SLPs, many of whom have included phonemic
awareness, vocabulary development, and comprehension as clinical goals for their
students and clients.
However, the notion of reading fluency may be a bit less familiar than our knowledge of
fluency related to oral language.

Goals for Today

Today we will explore WHAT reading fluency is,
WHY it matters to us as SLPs and to our students with communicative disorders, and
HOW we can go about facilitating reading fluency without adding more work and more
stress to our jobs!

Reading Fluency
Reading Fluency is made up of 3 key elements.
Reading text aloud:
With a high degree of accuracy
At an efficient rate
With appropriate prosody

Fluent readers recognize the majority of words automatically (without needing to sound
them out) resulting in a quick and effortless delivery.
They know when and where to pause and match their breathing to natural breaks in the
text.
As fluency increases, reading resembles the natural rhythms of a typical conversation.
As a result, the reading is easily understood by the listener.
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

Non-Fluent Readers
Very few people start off as fluent readers!
Think about how a beginning readers reads aloud –
Little intonation. Questions, statements, exclamations all sound the same
Long pauses, often in in appropriate places.
Slow, labored pace

Fluent readers:
Demonstrate appropriate prosody
High-meaning words (nouns, verbs) are stressed more heavily than words that have less
meaning to the passage (e.g., articles, conjunctions).
This signals they have made the important shift from merely decoding words to
comprehension of the content of the passage.

Reading Fluency and Comprehension

Studies have indicated that there is a strong correlation between reading fluency and text
comprehension.
Each of the three components of fluency contribute to text comprehension

Accuracy
Misreading words impacts on comprehension
For example: decoding “garden” as “gargle” or “garage” would obviously change the
meaning of the passage!

Speed
Decoding slowly sound-by-sound will most likely over-tax the cognitive system so that
few resources are left over for comprehension.

Prosody
Readers who are unable to group words into meaningful chunks as they read or apply
prosody inappropriately will risk misinterpretation of the passage

Fluent readers don’t have to waste cognitive resources on decoding individual words and
can focus their attention on making connections between what they are reading and their
own background knowledge and experience.
In this way, reading fluency maximizes cognitive resources providing a bridge between
lower reading processes such as decoding and upper level comprehension.

Reading Fluency and Pragmatics

Just like oral communication, reading entails a sender and a receiver!
As the RECEIVER, non-fluent readers can miss, or misunderstand, the humor, figurative
language, sarcasm, etc. conveyed by the writer.
Conversely, as the SENDER, fluent readers use strategies, such as appropriate prosody,
stress, and phrasing that facilitate comprehension of the passage for their listeners.
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

More Fluent Readers:

Focus their attention on making connections among the ideas in a text and between these
ideas and their background knowledge.
Are able to focus on comprehension

Less Fluent Readers

Must focus their attention primarily on decoding individual words.
Have little attention left for comprehending text.

Fluency and Children with Communication Disorders

Not surprisingly, children with communication delays are at risk for poor comprehension
of both oral and written language.
SLPS can incorporate activities to support reading fluency as a tool for improving
comprehension in both modes.

Strategy #1 Repeated Oral Readings

One of the most studied strategies related to reading fluency is repeated oral readings.
Repeated oral reading substantially improves word recognition, speed, and accuracy.

Typical readers require an average of 4 readings to achieve fluency

This number goes up substantially with challenged readers.
Ideal number has not been established but the more times the better!

Since fluency is the goal, it is best to use passages that are at, or slightly below, the
individual’s current reading level.
Using text that is part of the child’s classroom curriculum for repeated oral reading is a
relatively effortless way of connecting intervention/remediation to the classroom setting.
Multiple readings of a passage prior to its introduction in the classroom can facilitate
better overall comprehension of the topic (which can facilitate more active participation
in the classroom).
Strategy #2 - Model Fluent Reading
Empirical studies have repeatedly suggested that providing opportunities for children to
hear fluent reading facilitates their own reading fluency
While simply reading aloud to children meets this objective, there are a number of even
more powerful strategies that provide multiple opportunities for hearing and producing
fluent reading.
In fact, children do not actually have to be at the formal reading stage to begin to learn
about reading fluently.

Echo Reading
Adult reads a short amount of text and cues the child to “Copy me!”or “Say what I say!”
Allows the child to experience how fluent reading feels and sounds even before they are
able to decode words.
Child can concentrate on prosody and meaning of passage rather than on decoding.
Best for books with short phrases, bright pictures, and engaging story lines.
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

Paired Reading
This strategy is similar to Echo Reading, but is used more naturally by most adults.
Best for books that have strong rhythm & rhyme or a repetition phrase.
Be sure to read the book at least five times before asking child to pair read.
Use pausing, stress, and intonation to cue child when it is his or her turn.

Older children who are still struggling with reading fluency can also benefit from
participating in echo and paired reading.
Key difference is in the materials that are chosen.
As with repeated oral readings, books or text passages used in the classroom can be echo
or pair read as a way to increase comprehension of the material.
If the child will be expected to read the text aloud in class, practice using paired or echo
reading can facilitate a more successful, fluent reading experience.

Strategy #3 - Sight Words and Morphology

One of the pitfalls of reading approaches that rely heavily on bottom-up at the expense of
top-down strategies is the potential to produce readers who place too much emphasis on
sounding out each word rather than concentrating on the meaning of the passage
Students who primarily use sounding out strategies to recognize words are not fluent
readers.
Getting the word right is an appropriate goal, however, if a reader must put forth a
substantive cognitive effort to do so, little processing space is left over to devote to text
comprehension
In other words, the more words a student knows by sight, the more fluent he or she will
be, leading to better comprehension of the passage.

Schools generally have a list of target sight words for each grade level that can used as a
guide.
Alternately, websites of many state departments of education provide representative sight
word vocabulary lists for state-wide curriculum standards.

Sight word practice can be tied to intervention tasks in a variety of ways.

For example, students can practice sight reading words chosen as targets for articulation
or phonological goals.
Similarly, use of class-assigned reading vocabulary or spelling words in quick sight word
drills at the beginning or end of the session can support the development of automaticity
with very little extra planning or time required.

Focus on morphology
Helping students understand and recognize grammatical morphemes facilitates faster
word recognition and comprehension of written text.
Discuss the concepts of prefixes and suffices and practice identifying them in words.
Talk about the definitions of specific morphemes such as:
un-
anti-
–ness
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

–tion
Have students identify root words and morphemes from a given list of words (created
from grade level sight words or current spelling list words if possible).
Compare and contrast word pairs from the same root word such as:
run vs. running
skate vs. skater
happy vs. unhappy
celebrate vs. celebration

Make up sentences that include at least two variations of a root word

“She started playing the piano at age 5 and eventually became a famous pianist.”
“The best way to turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one is to provide a refund.”
“She was proactive, but he was reactive.”

Strategy #4 - Practice Sentence Stress

Using inappropriate prosody by stressing the wrong syllable in a word can substantially
change the meaning of a reading passage.
For example, there is a big difference between signing a CONtract, and having muscles
that conTRACT when they are cold.
Explicitly teaching children about the role of stress in producing meaning in written
language has the potential to help them improve their reading fluency and comprehension
skills (both oral and written).

Just as some children have trouble synthesizing the rules of language, some may have
trouble learning the rules of reading fluently
Practice sentence stress by explicitly teaching rules regarding commas, periods, question
marks, etc.

Susie did what?

I don’t think so!
Turn left at the corner.
I had hot dogs, french fries, and cookies for lunch.
Yesterday, which was Saturday, was my birthday.

Next
Practice identifying the important words in sentences (those which typically receive more
stress).
What are the important words in this sentence?
(Those that we typically stress?)
I bought a dress.
Her name is Susie.
The party is tomorrow.
Now, try to read them with stress on the “little words”. Does that sound right?

Then
Practice stressing different words to more accurately communicate a message.
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

I am walking to the store.

Child reads the sentence. Then reads it again in response to the following questions.
“Where are you walking?
Who is walking to the store?
How are you getting to the store?

Strategy #5 - Reduce Cognitive Load

Help children be more fluent by reducing the cognitive resources necessary to process the
written information.
One way to do this is to choose materials that tap into the child’s current knowledge or
interest areas.
Having an established comprehension base frees up cognitive resources for practicing
reading fluency

You can also reduce cognitive load by having the child create a story around a wordless
book or picture.
The child becomes very familiar with the story and words which can increase fluency.

Strategy #6 - Choral Reading & Chants

Students read aloud together or with you.
This helps less fluent reader experience fluency without worrying about being the only
one reading.
Chants
Short stories or songs –especially those that call for physical participation – are a
wonderful way to develop rhythm and cadence.

Other Ideas for Building Fluency

Read along with a CD
Poetry – has inherent prosodic elements
Movie Scripts – www.script-o-rama.com
Shared Reading – stories created as a group are read aloud as a group
Buddy Reading – Buddies read alternate pages.

Remember!
The more we learn about the relationships that exist between written and oral language,

the more obvious it becomes that SLPs can increase the impact of their services by

providing intervention that targets skill development in both domains. Facilitating

reading fluency has the potential to provide substantial and positive benefit in skills areas

related to comprehension, pragmatics, vocabulary, and overall academic success.

 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

Consequently, clinicians who are interested in expanding their clinical repertoire with

empirically-based, easy-to-implement strategies may wish to seriously consider tasks that

support the development of smooth, accurate, and prosodic oral reading.

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

Echo Reading Books

I Went Walking Sue Williams
Dinosaur Roar Paul and Henrietta Strickland
Bears in Pairs Niki Yekai
Rosie’s Walk Pat Hutchins
Goodnight, Moon Margaret Wise Brown
In the Small, Small Pond Denise Fleming

Paired Reading Books

Dinosaur Stomp Paul and Henrietta Strickland
Time for Bed Mem Fox
Silly Sally Audrey Wood
One Duck Stuck Phyllis Root
Quick as a Cricket Audrey Wood
The Wide-Mouthed Frog Kevin Faulkner
The Silly, Slimy, Smelly, Hairy Book Babette Cole
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing Judi Barrett
Dogs Don’t Wear Sneakers Laura Numeroff
Sheep in a Jeep Nancy Shaw
The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket,
The Very Lonely Firefly (and others) Eric Carle

Wordless Books
Good Night, Gorilla Peggy Rathmann
Good Dog, Carl Series Alexandra Day
Picnic (one of a series of wordless books) Emily Arnold McCully
Deep in the Forest Brinkton Turkle
Tuesday David Weidner
Freefall David Weisner
Changes, Changes Pat Hutchins
Will’s Mammoth Rafe Martin
A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog Mercer Mayer
The Silver Pony Lynd Ward
Zoom Istvan Banyal

Chants, Rhymes, Songs

Hand Rhymes Marc Brown
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed Eileen Chistelow

The Seals on the Bus Lenny Hort
Mary Wore Her Red Dress Merle Peek
Sing Along Songs Mary Ann Hoberman
Marsupial Sue John Lithgow
Classic Jump Rope Rhymes: The Schoolyard All-Stars Klutz Press
Schoolyard Rhymes: Kids' Own Rhymes for
Rope-Skipping, Hand Clapping, Ball Bouncing,
and Just Plain Fun Judy Sierra

Poetry
Anything by Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Light in the Attic, Falling
Up, A Giraffe and a Half)
Anything by Jack Prelutsky (For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone,
Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, The Frog Wore Red Suspenders, Read Aloud Poems for
the Very Young, It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles).
The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems Mary Ann Hoberman

Progressive Stories
In a Napping House Audrey Wood
Drummer Hoff Fired it Off Barbara Emberly
The House that Jack Built Various versions available
Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Various versions available

Websites to with Resources that Support Reading Fluency

www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx (fabulous poetry resource)

http://lightupyourbrain.com/index.html (free audio recorded stories and books)
www.script-o-rama.com
 S. Robertson
ASHA, 2008

PRIMARY REFERENCE: Robertson, S. Reading Fluency: Building a Bridge to

Comprehension. www.speechpathology.com

References

Blevins, W. (2001). Building fluency: Lessons and strategies for reading success.
Scranton, PA: Scholastic.

Carbo, M. (1981). Making books talk to children. The Reading Teacher, 35, 186-189.

Chard, D., Vaughn, S., & Tyler, B. (2002). A synthesis of research on effective
interventions for building reading fluency with elementary students with learning
disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35, 386-406.

Hudson, R., Lane, H., & Pullen, P. (2005). Reading fluency assessment and instruction:
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National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the
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LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information

processing in reading. Cognitive Psychologist, 6, 293-323.

Meyer, M., & Felton, R. (1999). Repeated reading to enhance fluency: Old approaches
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Montgomery, J. (2006). Building vocabulary for language and reading. Annual

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Rasinski, T. (2003). The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word
recognition, fluency, and comprehension. New York: Scholastic.

Robertson, S. and Davig, H. (2002). Read with me: Stress-free strategies for building
language and literacy. Eau Claire,WI: Thinking Publications.
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ASHA, 2008

Stanovich, K. E. (1980). Toward an interactive-compensatory model of individual

differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly,
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Tyler, B. J. (2002). A synthesis of research on effective interventions for building reading

fluency with elementary students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning
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