6 Smart Strategies to Boost Reading Fluency (And Why You Want To!)

You’ve spent years reading storybooks, store signs, and cereal boxes to your child. But now that she’s learning to read out loud by herself, story time might feel like new territory. When your growing reader furrows her brow with every word and stumbles through most sentences, there are certain steps you can take to set her up for lifelong reading success.

Reading fluency is the ability to read out loud accurately, at a good pace (not too slow or too fast), and with expression. “Although it’s typically measured in school when children start reading on their own, such as at the end of first grade, reading fluency is something you can start working on with them even before then,” says Helen Maniates, Ph.D., associate professor of teacher education at the University of San Francisco.

And it certainly pays to, because reading skills can help your child get more out of every subject in school. “Reading fluency contributes to reading comprehension,” says Maniates. “When children read slowly, don’t pay attention to punctuation, or struggle with particular words, they lose track of the ideas in the text.” Set your child up for academic success with these easy — and fun! — reading approaches.  

1. Show her your own fluent reading talents.

The more often your child hears fluent reading, the more likely he is to pick it up himself. “Start by reading a paragraph or a full page from a book, and then ask your child to read it,” says Brook Sawyer, Ph.D., an associate professor focusing on language and literacy development at the College of Education at Lehigh University. “When you provide that model, it’s an opportunity for the child to get familiar with the story, understand the pacing, and then mimic you.”

As you model, channel your high school drama class: Read with exuberant, Oscar-worthy expression and pause at the appropriate times (at commas, periods, etc.) to demonstrate the cadence of our language. It’s also helpful to play audiobooks in the car to squeeze in extra modeling time when you’re on the go, says Sawyer.

Book Pick: Mouse Cookies & More: A Treasury with CD (Audiobook Read-Along) — Pair this paperback book and CD together for an immersive read-along that inherently models fluency. All three characters, Mouse, Moose, and Pig from the loved If You Give series, bring their wildly fun books, recipes, and songs to this enchanting family treasury.