Reading Support at Home

Repeated reading is an academic reading intervention that aims to increase oral reading fluency. Repeated reading can be used with students who have developed initial word reading skills but demonstrate lower than expected reading fluency for their grade level.

Repeated reading is the practice of having a student read the same text over and over until their reading is fluent and error-free. This strategy involves a timer to try and increase speed and fluency and can be done once a day at home as part of your evening routine.

Repeated reading was originally used to support students with learning disabilities that impacted their reading until educators realised that most students can benefit from this method. Repeated reading benefits students whose reading is accurate but choppy by helping them develop automaticity (seeing a word and reading it), or the ability to read quickly and accurately. With this automaticity comes increased comprehension (understanding) and higher success in reading in general.

Scientific studies (e.g., LaBerge & Samuels, 1976) revealed the importance of “automaticity” to reading. Readers have to be able to decode without thinking about decoding. We only have so much thinking space available. The more cognitive space devoted to figuring out words, the less available to grasp the text’s meaning.  

Carol Chomsky (1978) had a similar notion of the problem. She thought there was a subgroup of poor readers who “knew” phonics — that is, they knew the letters and sounds and could decode words reasonably well. However, these strugglers couldn’t apply these skills fluently during the reading of a text.

So how can parents use repeated readings at home and how do they work?

Steps of Repeated Reading

1: Sit with your child in a quiet location without too many distractions. Position the book selected for the reading session so that both you and your child can easily follow the text

2:  Select a passage in the book of about 100 to 200 words in length.

3:  Get your son/daughter to read the passage through. (Give them the choice of reading the passage aloud or silently.)

4:  If they choose to read aloud and misreads a word or hesitates for longer than 5 seconds, you read the word aloud and have them repeat the word correctly before continuing through the passage. If they ask for help with any word, read the word aloud. If they as for the meaning of the word, give the meaning.

5:  When your child has completed the passage, have him or her read the passage again until they have read the same piece 3 times through. We are aiming for a rate of at least 85 to 100 words per minute without mistakes.

6: The following night pick a new piece and follow the same sequence again.

Benefits of Repeated Reading

• Helps all levels of readers with their ability to recall facts they have read
• Teaches them a great study skills
• Helps children identify of what’s important in their reading, such as main ideas and vocabulary
• Increases comprehension and results in more advanced questioning and insights
• Leads to faster reading and increased word recognition accuracy
• Helps struggling readers as they transition from word-by-word reading to more meaningful phrasing

Make sure the book you pick is readable by the child with only a few challenging words or mistakes on each page. The aim is for speed and fluency and phrasing so we don’t want them having to decode every word.

With practice and repetition you child will begin reading with more flow, greater understanding and actually begin to love reading. This technique allows success even for struggling readers so that the stress and difficulty of reading is taken away and it becomes much more enjoyable.

Have fun with it! This shouldn’t be painful!

Perhaps get a buzzer or a timer, you try first to beat the clock and then let your child have a go. This will make it fun by turning it into a game or challenge. Perhaps offer a reward for the weekly challenge?

We don’t want to make this stressful or forced, this will be counterproductive and your job as parents is to support at home but not to make learning too formal.

Have fun!

K x