Reading Plus/Fluency in Reading CD by Taylor Associates

Someone on the Reading Board suggested I look at QuickReads for fluency. I did, and I think it looks great for my 5th grader. It claims to be “of interest” through 9th grade even though the fluency level only goes up to 5th grade (Level E). You can check it out at:

http://www.quickreads.org/

The woman on the REading Board also told me that you can buy single copies of the Quick REad student book for $9.95 each. So you could try it out without wasting much money.

I’ve used the longer Readings in the SPIRE program in the past for fluency. I just counted out short passages. I like SPIRE very much, but wanted to switch to some shorter readings for a while.

Read Naturally and GReat Leaps have both been recommended by many people on the Reading Board here. Good luck

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll take a look at quick reads. I had looked at Reading Naturally before. What I thought was interesting about the Fluency in Reading CD is that it forces the reader to move his eyes at a certain pace by using a window. Our optometrist felt that my daughter is moving her eyes too slowly and that this would get her going, so to speak. It’s interesting how the fluency effects comprehension, but I’m not sure if there are not other issues at work here also, more language based that the LMB v/v would address. I’m not sure what SPIRE is - I’ve not heard of that one.

There is a software program called Vision Builder you may want to look at. There is a demo at http://www.visionbuilder.no/ . I believe the cost is in the neighborhood of $50. This program can gradually build up the speed at which the eyes sweep a line of text. Might be less expensive than the other program.

Nancy

Thanks Nancy! I will check it out. Have you used it? Or do you know anyone who has?

I just ordered it, but it won’t arrive for a week or two. Cost was $45. Have you tried the demo at the website? I think that provides a good idea of how it works.

I do think VB is specific to eye tracking, and that is probably the only skill that will benefit from the program. I am buying it for a student who did vision therapy but still clearly has some residual tracking issues when reading text. I will be using it in conjunction with Great Leaps (http://www.greatleaps.com ) to improve fluency, and Rewards from Sopris West (http://www.sopriswest.com/rewards/) to work on decoding skills. Fluency can be held back for a number of reasons, and eye tracking is only one of them.

Vision Builder is supposed to come with 8 texts per grade level built-in. I plan to add additional texts (fluency work should always be done at least one grade level below decoding level), probably from Quick Reads (which I have to get busy and order on Monday). QR are short texts, I think with word counts, to use for repeated reading to develop fluency.

Anyway, just wanted to point out that Vision Builder has a very narrow focus. I am getting it because I can see that this student does not sweep her eyes smoothly and continuously across a line of text. Since she has already had vision therapy, I am confident that it is not a visual efficiency problem.

Nancy

We bought Vision Builder and like it. The only thing I don’t like is you are supposed to be able to put your own text files in, but it hasn’t worked too well. That might be because I’m not doing something right, I’m not overly computer-literate. But my DS really enjoys it, and he likes me to speed it up.

I was able to input my own texts with Vision Builder. The format they use is very unusual, so my first attempt wasn’t very good. Once you figure out how you’re supposed to put the stuff in, it’s easy. In fact, you can do it simply by creating word documents in their folder. The trick is understanding how to leave their symbols in the document, and then putting your stuff into the right places. Try experimenting with it a bit.

I’d post more detail here, but it’s been awhile since I did this, and my student has the CD at home so I can’t check anything.

Nancy