Speed of reading vs reading level

[Frogusha]

My DD is considered to be a good reader though probably less good over the last couple of years - in Nursery they put her on a special programme as she was so ahead in phonics, in YR she was top of the class, top set in Y1 and now she seems to be towards middle, if not bottom, of Y2 (from what she tells me other kids are reading). I'm not concerned about her reading at higher levels at this stage but I'd like her to read more interesting books - which happens when you get to higher levels. She's 6 y.o. and level 8 currently (which she was on during the whole of Y1). She's just veeeeery slow but her reading is accurate and comprehension is fine. School books are predictably boring but because she gets so slowly through them she never gets to read anything else (she's supposed to finish a book and get a new one every day at school). Any tips on how to increase the speed of reading? Or is just keep doing it and wait until everything clicks into place for her? There are no issues with blending, she knows a good amount of tricky words. Sometimes she needs help to break a long word in chunks correctly. I'm trying to give her lots of praise and still read to her, of course. I don't want to ask the school to put her on a higher level as I'm sure they know what they are doing and also it'd take us even longer to go through the daily book.

I have a year 1 DD, a few times a week we practice much more basic books than I know she is capable of, as I think this is good practice for speed, confidence, key words, etc. I make a hand out of it, pick and a really simple book d say let's see how quickly we can read this, she enjoys the challenge.

Hand was meant to say game

lolalotta, thank you - that's a brilliant idea!

How is she when she reads for fun at home? Could you try her on books that she picks out for herself? You don't want her reading books too hard for her but perhaps the more interesting content might give her a push? Could you try a simple chapter book e.g. Holly Webb if she likes animals or Dirty Bertie for the humour? You could read a page each at a time. I found it was really helpful to read a range of books - from ones that are super easy to help with expression and more challenging ones to push their reading forward. If she needs help with more than 5-10% of words it's too difficult but if not the combination of more interesting story and a bit of a challenge might move her forward.

An entire year is quite long for one level she might be languishing a bit there and actually need more of a challenge.

I think mainly it is just practice.
Is she getting tired because it takes her so long to get through the book? Maybe try strategies like reading alternate lines or tell her that she reads for (say) 10 minutes and then you'll finish the book.

Can she read in her head? If so, can she read some of the book in her head and some aloud and you discuss it at the end?

My daughter had good strategies and could sound out words accurately but was very slow for aaaages. Sounding out words one at a time, argh! Was really beginning to wonder if she would ever "get" it--but they do suddenly get it in the end. The trick for us was just fitting in more reading! Try a super simple chapter book like Magic Tree House, maybe, and do "half a page each" or "I read a sentence, you read a sentence" till she builds up stamina.

It also helped when we adjusted our schedule a little bit and did reading together in the morning before school. More alert at this time.

She'll get there, don't worry!

It seems surprising that a child that showed an early grasp of phonics and reads daily at home has got stuck on the same level for over a year and still reads very slowly. Has she made expected progress in other subjects?

Have you had her sight checked recently?

Why did she get stuck on one level for a year? Can she read that level accurately? If she can, then it might just be that the level she's on is wrong. Some schools won't move up until children are reading fluently or until they've read all the books in a level.

Getting her sight checked is a good idea, but fluency comes with practice so it might just be a case of waiting until it clicks into place.

It's possible that your DD may have done the same as my DS. He initially really flew in reading but it came to light that his phonics weren't as strong as we'd thought - he simply learnt the "pattern" of the reading books and was adept at guessing words based on their shape, initial letters and pictures. He got to a point where he couldn't use his strategies any more (and actually, it may have been about Level 8) and suddenly the gaps were revealed. He spent a long time at that level, but then it clicked and he moved on.

It seems strange to me too to be on band 8 for a year. Maybe at the start it was too hard for her.
Dd went from a 6 at start of yr 1 to 11. (However by band 6 she could actually fluently read anything including bands grey/brown etc.)
We did reading chest and i picked the bands higher and the practice really helped.
I also bought project x books collection from the book people.
A band 8 book would only take 10-15min.
Like other posters suggested we did alternate pages.

How did she do on phonic check?

Were her original books phonic based or original ORT for instance?

If she can read accurately with good comprehension, Staying in a same band for a year seems very odd.
Does she have confidence issue? Can she read it at school like she does at home?
If only fluency is the problem, I think only cure is practice.

Thanks everyone for responses and encouragement! Yes, she got her eyesight tested last year and it was fine. The levels actually haven't moved much since the beginning of Reception... The reason they are not moving her (in my view, judging by what her reading record says) is that she's so slow. Slow to read at school too. I also honestly record how long it takes her to read at home - 20-30 mins. Which is why there is no time to read anything else after - and she's tired and doesn't want to read more. She moves her eyes around the page all time - like reads one word, looks at pictures, tries to find where the next word is, read one sentence, looks at pictures again... I have to prompt her all the time and help find where the left off or she starts from the beginning. She did jolly phonics but I think her school also mixed in other schemes. We went to a book shop before summer holidays to choose her a couple of non-scheme books and we went by what the assistant recommended based on her level. She couldn't really read them without me (helping her with that 10-15% words she doesn't know). Though perhaps those were not very interesting books. I'll try Magic Tree House and Dirty Bertie. Good point - that she needs to read more in order to read better. She can read her school books silently in her head and is happy to do that but I want to ensure she's reading correctly (and doesn't just guess from pictures). Perhaps I'll try it from time to time, just to encourage her to read more. In the literacy test they did last year she got the maximum score.

Lv8 book level is purple, right? So by the time they are that level, they should have covered or figured out themselves all the phonics to be able to decode any words she encounter. If not, it may be the reason.
Purple on wards, I don't think books are harder, just a bit longer.

It sounds like concentration. Maybe her concentration is better when reading to herself.
I don't understand how she is losing where she is? As she should remember what has been read and could run a finger underneath.
So if you are changing books daily you are not rereading the same one?
We don't actually reread but probably would if we were str to get into the flow.
Is she maybe decoding each word every time in her head rather than memorising them? As i think words get moved to sight memory after a while.
Did she go into yr r reading?

I’m not sure about colours. Yes, I think it’s concentration and it’s also a problem elsewhere - she just gets absorbed by her own thoughts or pics on the page. She doesn’t like tracing with her finger underneath, unfortunately. Sometimes I do it for her and then it’s a bit faster. Yes - it’s exactly right, she’s decoding every word. She does remember some, like “something” which she isn’t attempting to read in chunks but the a simpler but unusual words like “machine” (as it’s —ch instead of -sh like it sounds) she would break into ma-ch-ine every time 20 times in the book we were reading yesterday. I don’t know why she just doesn’t have more sight words - but like others said most likely the key is to read more. She started YR I think on L4 and moved up to 6 in the same month. She is more fluent now but not massively so. We do get a new book every day, never re-read - I think that’s just not going to fly with her :)

I'm going against the flow but my son got a bit stuck on that level and was fed up with the books. We decided to give him a long break over the summer, the only reading he did was things he wanted to look at himself. Instead, we took gripping chapter books and read to him loads. Made it a real feature on hols to go for walks and find the best tree stump or bench or cafe for reading our next chapter. I think somehow hearing a normal speed and reading with expression so much must have done something. He suddenly just emulates this and reads more like an adult.

You could try practising fluency with her with a book she has already read and decoded: you read a section of the book aloud with lots of expression while she looks at the text (she can track the way you're using your voice by making gestures eg pointing up when you get louder - you basically make up your own system for gestures without worrying too much about it) and then talk about how and why you used your voice in different ways. Then she re-reads the same section and tries to copy the intonation, flow and speed that you used. Practise a couple of times if needed till she gets the flow of it.

It's a bit like practising for a performance, except that it's not for public consumption unless she wants it to be. The point is to get her own voice to be the voice in her head when she is reading and to let her experience reading fluency regularly so she knows what it feels like to go at the 'right' speed. It can enhance the pleasure of reading if she knows that she can really entertain someone eg her dad, nan, little brother with her reading because she has the flow and is giving it some welly.

Actually, I've just re-read your last post about never re-reading books. I would start doing that, regularly, first. It's not about being stuck, it's about allowing the deeper comprehension to come because you've got past the deciding bottleneck when you re-read familiar books. Choose the good ones! Talk about the pictures, the clues, surprises and fun words in the books she re-reads.

At the moment, if every book is read word-by-word at a slow pace, she may be finding reading really lacks enjoyment. It is hard to establish that good understanding if she is having to hold so much in her working memory.

If you are reading a new book, another thing you can do to support would be to quickly pick out the words you think she will struggle with and get her to decode them first, talk about their meanings and any ways they are tricky. If you have a small selection of words picked out, you can get her to use them to guess what she thinks will happen in the story and then try to find out if she is correct as you read - pause and talk about whether her predictions were right at key moments.

When you say that there are 10-15% of the words she doesn't know, do you mean words that are hard for her to decode or vocabulary that she doesn't know? If it's vocab, anticipate words she might not know the meaning of and explain them.

In order for a book to be 'readable', it needs to be 95% readable - otherwise it is really hard to make sense of the story. You'll need to try to bridge that gap with her so focusing on learning new words can help with that.

I would recommend paired reading at home for 5-10 minutes a night. It is a proven method of improving fluency and pace of reading. It also helps with reading for pleasure. Below is one school's leaflet for parents (not my school)

conventprimaryroscommon.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Paired-Reading.pdf

Are the books she’s bringing home oxford reading tree ones with biff, chip et al or is it a different scheme?

You say her concentration is an issue elsewhere. What is she like with getting the rest of her work done at school?

Wow - I’m so glad I started this thread! I love the idea of taking the book outside and reading in a park / cafe! How did I not think of that?! Also paired reading - never heard of it before. I always worry that is I even help her with one word that I’m ruining her own effort. Will give it a go. Intonations and gestures is great, will try that too. Her school seems to use 5-6 different schemes. Sometimes it’s Biff and Co, but mostly other levels - they don’t match up exactly. Like 7 in one scheme or 9 on another = 8 ORT.

Re: concentration - she sometimes gets lost in the thoughts in her head, that’s what she says. Some teachers mentioned it too - P.E. for one, that she needs to follow the rules of a game for closely, and at music she gets distracted sometimes. But her class teacher (I specifically asked about it) said it’s not an issue at all. So it seems concentration is an issue but not a huge one. Normally when it’s something she finds familiar and unchallenging.