Reading Fluency Program

How Gemm Builds Reading Automaticity

Our first step is always to ensure that the student has a secure cognitive foundation.  Reading fluency is only truly achievable once auditory processing and other fundamental cognitive skills are functioning at natural language speed.
Gemm's cognitive foundation program

Why Reading Fluency Matters

Reading fluency is all about automaticity: the ability to read subconsciously or effortlessly.  If a child cannot decode without thinking, then decoding is distracting, requiring effort that detracts from the reading comprehension effort. In addition, it is forces the brain to multitask -- decode and derive meaning -- which is exhausting and not likely to be enjoyable.

With an automatic reading style, where the brain is acting like a computer matching text to word memory, the reading rate is also fast. This is why educators focus on words per minute as a fluency indicator. Since the brain can make automatic matches faster than natural language speed, reading fluency is defined as reading at natural language speed.  Teachers also track prosody -- the ability to read out loud with the right emphasis and inflection -- as reading with expression suggests reading comfort.

Gemm's Fluency Program

The most important skills in reading are cognitive -- part of our reading foundation. Here are some examples:

Spelling is a key reading fluency skill.  Ultimately, all words become sight words.  The brain learns to recognize every word as text and matches it to its word memory.  This gargantuan task is only possible if the brain is aware of spelling patterns -- spelling phonetically, then spelling rules, then spelling exceptions.

Accuracy. Fluency requires being able effortlessly sound out to every word, every time.  Many of our students have grown used to skipping words and even worse, guessing. So, for them, this is a new and demanding skill which Fast ForWord devotes a large amount of time.

Sight words.  There are a number of so-called "red" words that can't be spelled phonetically -- words like would, because -- that just have to be learned.  The Fast ForWord reading program introduces and reviews these high frequency words to ensure that students learn them.

Eye tracking.  Development of left to right eye-tracking begins in the cognitive skills stage of our program but is perfected here.

Language structure.  The fluent reader is familiar with the English structure -- syntax, grammar and language conventions.  Most children pick this up through listening in early life.  But for children with language processing issues, these areas need to be reviewed.

Reading Comprehension

Once reading is automatic, the student is ready to move on to the next stage in development: reading comprehension.
Gemm's reading comprehension program