Fluency and comprehension advice pls

[Cortina]

A couple of questions. How do you improve fluency? Is it just practice? Is it a developmental thing?

DS needs to improve fluency, he can decode well and typically will read his books with 100% accuracy. He has an average reading age I'd say but seems to be stuck at a level where he finds books 'easy' to read but his fluency hasn't developed in the way that would make him able to progress the next level.

I'd say his comprenhension was pretty good, better than his reading skills, but he appears to demonstrate quite a low level of understanding to his teacher at school? The teacher will ask a question about a character in a story to check his understanding eg 'why did the girl eat the ice cream' and he'll shrug or give an answer that suggests he hasn't understood.

Maybe it's not quite as good as I think but there seems to be a gulf between what he demonstrates at home and what he says to the teacher etc.

Any ideas? Is this common/uncommon Thanks

Fluency is practise, practise and more practise. It really does just come with time. Does he read with expression, taking ino account punctuation, speach, etc? And does he read a variety of types of books - prose, non fiction, poetry, plays, etc?

If he finds it hard to deal with conmprehension at school, how about him writing his responses down? If you or the teacher know the book, jot down a couple of questions for him to go away and answer. He might find this easier.

Does he like particular types of books that you could use to start with?

How old is he BTW?

Thanks. He's 5 and a half.

He's only just 'got' speech - in that he knows someone is speaking if he sees speech marks - and just about gets full stops, not sure about commas, they are not that present in his 'band' of books.

He does read with some expression, not that different from his peers I've heard read - apart from some of the advanced ones. He does need to work on developing his expression though, his 'bandwidth' is more taken up with the decoding I think at the moment.

He's not that fast or clear at writing - beyond the basics - at the moment. He can write simple sentences but not much more at any speed.

He does have favourite books and enjoys being read to which is something, so I guess It's keep on keeping on?

Yes keep at it! Ask him which was his favourite bit in the book (if you can have a favourite bit in half a dozen pages...). Why a character did something? Whether he thinks the character would like what he's having for tea tonight! What he thinks wil happen on the next page etc etc. Obviosuly don't bombard him with questions, but encourage his involvement with the book beyond just decoding the words.

Are there any books he particularly likes - even if you're doing th reading - again maybe use these to try and involve him beyond the basics and develop his understanding - i.e. why do you think Dennis and Gnasher want to throw snowballs at their teacher?!

I think it's practice that makes all the difference. The more familiar the words the more capacity he has to understand the text and then he will be able to read more fluently as he can predict the sentence.Does that make sense?

Is he in yr1? He is still quite young in reading terms. The penny dropped for DS at the beginning of yr 2. I seem to remember that there were periods when he became much less fluent and that was when he was struggling to read the actual words.

I also think keep reading to him, modelling good rhythm and intonation.

Thanks, good advice here.

Titchy, I will keep doing that, I do that. What I don't get is that he does not seem to demonstrate his comprehension at school to the same degree he does at home?

There seems to be a gulf in what I know he understands and what the school think he understands. They can only go on what they see in the classroom I guess and perhaps it doesn't matter and will all gel together in time?

There are often differences between home and school. Sometimes children are a bit more reserved at school, and often wanting to focus on something else too - so many distractions there!

It will all come with time. Keep reading, keep letting him enjoy it.

Fluency will come once he doesn't need to decode quite so much, which again somes with practise.

He is doing well. He is only 5y.

We have done a couple of things to improve fluency with DD who is just 6 and in year 1. Both have been with home books at bedtime firstly I put my finger under the word I am reading so that she can follow the words as I read them. Secondly we do seesaw reading I read one page of a book like charlie and Lola and then she reads the next page. Of course these are famliar stories, but her fluency and expression have improved massively at school by doing this.

We have the same issue with what is seen in the classroom and what happens at home. I will speak to the teacher again and did leave a note in her last reading record that her comprehension was good and the book was read with ease. We were given the extra reading notes and teaching guide questions and she was spot on in her answers to all the comprehension questions. you could maybe ask for something similar?

I am still concerned though that my dd appears quiet and reserved and unwilling to answer to many questions in her reading book. She isn't like this at home and i don't think just because she is quiet in her group it should slow down her progress.

I think you need to keep speaking to the teacher and pop in a note, or write in his reading record that comprehension is very good and books are read with ease.

Reading familiar (or easy) books is good for practising fluency. It takes away the decoding for a bit, so they can focus onother aspects, such as flueny and expression.