A positive relationship exists between sensitivity to rhythm and progress in reading.
Early reading depends on efficient coordination between the ear and the eye for strong associations between letters and their sounds. Voices matter too, as poor oral language skills are a strong predictor of slower progress in literacy.
Researchers have found that the importance of motivation increases as the child’s perception of reading difficulty increases. The reverse is also true. This is why reading 'catch-up' can also feel as if it’s a catch-22 situation.
Although the development of reading fluency is less well understood than are other aspects of reading, it can be assessed by tracking a child's engagement with the text, their expression, prosody, flow and understanding, week by week.
A child builds a sense of mastery through repetition, reviewing and building familiarity with new words in their context (their place). This important sense of context, together with sensitivity to rhythm support the development of fluent reading.
“It’s only an hour that they have with your over the time that you come in over the six weeks and for it to be able to make, for a lot of them, up to a year’s difference in their reading ability is quite amazing really.”
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