# reading speed



## cindyc (Nov 12, 2005)

OK, my 2nd grader reads really well for his age in terms of content, but he reads r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Today, he was reading phrases like, "exasperating misunderstanding", "repetitious information", and "temporarily argumentative"... BUT, he reads so SLOWLY, with great pause on sentences like, "I want to go to the zoo." He reads that as slowly as the big words above. He still gets some letters confused. Today he asked me "Is that word GOD or DOG?". I don't want to label him yet, as he is young and could grow out of this, but I have seen this twice before, and I wonder if we aren't headed down the dyslexia road. Is it possible that ALL of my bio kids are gonna struggle with this? I know it is often genetic, but 100%?
Also, any suggestions about the slow reading? I honestly can't remember 2nd grade! I know I just did this 3 years ago, but is this halting thing part of a normal process, or something to look at more closely? Does he just need more time/practice?

Cindyc.


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## NMHaines (Sep 1, 2007)

When a child reads slowly or reads in phrases it is showing their fluency rate. They may know the words, but they haven't developed their fluency yet. I would say this is normal in second grade and I have also seen a lot of it in third grade. I don't have any experience in higher grades. Most children learn fluency by listening to a fluent reader (parent/teacher/audio book) read aloud to them. As for the reversals, I don't have a lot of knowledge in that area but research shows that most children grow out of it by the third grade if it is not a learning difficulty.

Wendi


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## cindyc (Nov 12, 2005)

Yea, you are right. I am probably reading too much into this. Just would him to NOT go through that if at all possible!

Cindyc.


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## Seeria (Jul 21, 2006)

Going to have to agree. Seems a fluency thing. One reason fluency is slow is a child hasn't passed over the phonics stage and moved onto whole word recognition. He'll get there =)


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