The more you read, the easier it is to read, but what if reading is still difficult? Is the best way to reading independently just toughing it out and persisting although you may be skipping words or reading at such a slow pace it’s difficult to know what you’re reading?
For students, choosing the right level reading passage is important. It’s been suggested that if a reader wants to read a text independently, they should be able to decode 95-97% of the words.
For older dyslexic students, this can mean texts that seem childish compared to their intellectual level. As Joanne Pierson points out, one solution to this difficulty is have dyslexic students read these texts to younger children.
Another option is finding “hi-low” books that are written specifically for older dyslexic students who need content at their intellectual level but lower reading level. A nice list of publishers for these books can be found at Reading Rockets. Most librarians know about these books, so they may be able to help you find these in a general collection.
But what if there are texts your student or you want to read that are above your reading level? One idea you might think about is combining listening with reading.
SOME WAYS OF LISTENING WITH READING ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS
One of the best ways to improve reading fluency is a practice called guided oral reading.
With guided oral reading, a partner (usually a parent, teacher, or tutor), usually listens to a student reading and provides correction and feedback.
Guided oral repeated reading (re-reading passages with explicit feedback) was also found by National Reading Panel to improve fluency, but also reading comprehensive and word recognition.
Recently, I learned about the Buddy Books program from ObjectEd.
It has several features that make guided oral reading and guided oral repeated reading much easier and connecting it to Bookshare allows students to access millions of books for free (if you don’t have a formal dyslexia “diagnosis”, the Neurolearning app may be an inexpensive way for students up to the age of 18 to access a free Bookshare subcription).
In the Buddy Books ‘Buddy’ mode, readers take turns reading passages alternated with an AI reader. Misread words are identified and in a Review Mode, students can see and hear a correctly read passage with their one with some mistakes. When they read it again, they can correct their mistakes and see how much they improved (parents, teachers, and tutors can follow this too). Buddy Books can be a helpful addition to reading programs. It will not replace structured literacy, but it can help improve reading fluency.
