My child reads slowly, word by word. How do you build reading fluency?

Fluency is reading that is accurate, quick enough to hold the meaning, and smooth. Slow, word-by-word reading usually means decoding is not yet automatic, so the answer is rarely to push for speed. It is to make the words themselves easier through practice at the right level, then to reread familiar text so the same words come faster the second and third time.

What built smoother reading for your child: rereading a passage they like, reading along with a recording, easy books a little below their level, taking turns aloud? Did chasing speed ever help, or did it always backfire?

Rereading works because the words stop costing effort. Lillory keeps a reader on words they can already decode before adding the next pattern, which is the same idea turned into daily practice.