How to increase reading speed in 8 year old

[Mumof3onetwothree]

Wondering what methods teachers use to help children increase reading speed. My child is in Oxford reading tree level 13 which her teacher doesn't think is a problem for her age but she's very slow and she often complains of getting tired. It's making her reluctant to try reading anything other than her homework readers.
I was reading Narnia books at her age but she isn't anywhere near anything like that.

I would focus on increasing enjoyment and motivation, and speed will come.

Variety of enjoyable books, offering to read every other page with her, doing smaller chunks of her school book and you being the one to stop after a few pages so it doesn't become a battle. Lots of praise. Obvious stuff but it's so important.
And now as a parent: mine (6 and 9) do most of their reading in bed at bedtime- because it's either read or lights out reading is the treat! And my 6 year old much prefers reading in his head (eldest was the same)- if you think about it as an adult it's much less tiring. So if your daughter is the same perhaps mix it up and don't always expect reading aloud.

I’m an ex primary teacher and now home educator.

My honest advice is other than practice as much as SHE likes I really would not put any sort of pressure on her to read faster. Fluency just comes with time and practice.

Children all develop at very different speeds and she will get ‘there’ in her own time. We put so much emphasis on reading levels and abilities due to school but the reality is that children do not follow a line on a graph. They are all unique and should be allowed the grace to develop in their own sweet time and way ❤️

Thank you for this, yes she does read in her head. She will only read when sitting beside me though as gets stressed when she doesn't know a word. She very quickly says she's tired and wants to stop. I have done an lot of extra reading and phonics practice with her at home over the years, she doesn't seem to mix up bs and ds much but I do feel a bit concerned as there is a history of dyslexia in the extended family. I don't know if getting tired quickly and being a slow reader could be a sign. Many of her peers who haven't had the extra help at home are reading much more than her.
She's really unmotivated to read anything. We do lots of trips to the library and buy new books, swap books with friends etc but she just wants me to read them to her.

It may help to prep the reading first. Look at the words she might not know and work them out together. Look at the pictures and talk about what is happening without reading the text. Even reading it through to her first is a good strategy because then she knows the story so she isn’t trying to make sense of that as well as decoding the words. Depending on how much she is expected to read, I’d aim to get her to read the same section twice - works well for building fluency in younger children so should help her.

Thanks so much good to know about this

educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-shining-a-spotlight-on-reading-fluency

Work on fluency perhaps

I know it isn’t what you asked, but have you had her eyes tested recently?

I agree with reading it first, and also possibly take it in turns to read a page each? That way she is getting a chance to read, but also getting a rest and isn’t losing heart at the speed the story is going at. It’s a bit of a catch 22 - if they read slowly, chances are they will have forgotten things they read earlier (certainly as they move on to chapter books and need to retain plot) so then the book becomes less coherent and more frustrating and the reading becomes slower. Reading is more satisfying when you are better at it.

Does she like audio books? I think most library subscriptions include access to audio books now? Perhaps she could listen to a story then, when she finds one she likes, read it herself.

Does she have any interests which you could find non-fiction books about? Horses, football, cooking…? I remember checking a baking book out of the library and spending hours reading about ridiculous ways to ice cakes when I was quite little.

Have you considered visual processing difficulty? Slow reading, tiredness when reading, reluctance etc can all be signs. It won't be picked up on an eye test she would need a referral to the Visual Processing Clinic for your NHS area. School can do this but in my area a parent can refer too. You can also buy a pack of coloured overlays fairly cheaply on amazon to see if any help while you wait.