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Once a child has learned to sound out words, the next
step is to help him or her read more quickly and
smoothly. The more kids see and work
with words, the more they are able to effortlessly decode them. Fluency skills are
the ability to see the "big picture" rather
than
reading word for word. This improves
reading
comprehension by allowing the reader
to concentrate
on the meaning of words rather
than on the reading
of them. When kids aren't
fluent with reading,
they have to
expend
so much
mental energy on the
mechanics of reading that
they can't absorb
the meaning of what they have read. In fact, children who have problems with fluency tend to
find reading to be hard work. Help
your child through this stage by encouraging lots of
enjoyable
reading that will give them the confident
and skill to read even more
on their own.
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