The earliest phase of reading for pleasure is nearly always portrayed as a social activity, with children sitting alongside a caring adult, who holds the book. The typical scenario shows a child smiling as they point to the illustrations and this is the normative social construction of reading at home.

The reality is often somewhat different. Fast-paced routines are necessary to keep modern family life on track. Social, cultural, technological and economic factors have shaped the home lives of children, and influenced the extent to which children read at home, with 21st century family life in the globalized economy often characterized by time constraints, ‘productivity’ goals, limited support from the local community and chronic stress.

About 60 years ago, a programme called, ‘Listen with Mother’ went out on BBC Radio 4 in the afternoon. The ‘comfort zone’ of reading was something that listeners dropped into without a second thought. The pace of life was less frenetic and there were fewer distractions to disrupt shared attention, stillness and ease of engagement. The BBC presenter prefaced the beginning of each featured story with this catch phrase: ‘Are you sitting comfortably? (pause) Then, I’ll begin.’

As children become fluent, independent readers, this ‘comfort zone’ becomes even more important because they must settle themselves to read. Although the act of reading may appear solitary - after all, the child sits alone with a book, it is nonetheless a social one. The author’s 'voice' and the illustrator’s 'squiggles' hold the mind of the child in rapt attention and guide the reader sentence by sentence, through the narrative.

From listening to stories to independent fluency

Unless held safely within their ‘comfort zone’ many children currently read for speed and without a deeper level of engagement. Every school has children who read quickly but without meaning, and there are also others who slow down so much that comprehension fades away and scatters.

The real question is: how do we help the children centre themselves within their ‘comfort zone’, the point where decoding and comprehension naturally come together?

What the ‘comfort zone’ of reading looks like

When children are in the ‘comfort zone’ of reading - (I’m using this somewhat clunky phrase just to convey an idea in this blog post), three benefits stand out:

• The overall pace of reading feels comfortable and flexible.

• Children can use contextual cues to decode irregular or unfamiliar words.

• Clarity in terms of the context helps them anticipate what’s coming up next in their reading.

These three factors may be why a positive feeling of forward direction characterizes fluent reading. Reading in the ‘comfort zone’ feels relaxed, interesting, and meaningful. This is where reading for pleasure begins.

What’s missing when pupils read outside this ‘comfort zone’

Children who are fast, but not fluent don’t have this degree of flexibility and responsiveness in their reading. They read words at pace, but they are not assimilating meaning.

Those who read too slowly struggle too. Their working memory is overloaded with decoding, and comprehension fades before it can take hold. “As a headteacher, the question is how to direct scarce intervention time effectively”

In both cases, the ‘comfort zone’ is absent, and the reasons for this are unique to each child.“There is one approach that works with executive functions directly: rhythm.” But first let’s dive into the core EFs.

The role of core executive functions in rhythm-based fluency

Executive functions (EF) are the hidden architecture that underpins the ‘comfort zone’ of reading.

Working memory allows children to hold information in mind while decoding, so meaning and mechanics can work together in an efficient way.

Cognitive flexibility helps them adapt when the text throws up irregular words, ambiguous phrasing, or 'garden path' sentences, or even unexpected twists and turns in the plot.

Inhibitory control stops them rushing too fast, decoding words based on their shape only, and from the more rhythmically stable perspective, creates capacity for the grammatical, contextual and decoded elements to cohere.

Without the core executive functions, children remain on one side or the other of the ‘comfort zone’ of reading: fast but superficial, or slow and effortful.

Why rhythm supports the ‘comfort zone’ of reading

Rhythm helps to organise language at a very deep level. Even our muscular reflexes are rhythmically programmed. An infant is born with ‘stepping’ and ‘sucking’ reflexes and these are examples of the primacy of rhythm as an organizational factor that precedes language. In language processing and in learning to read, rhythm focuses attention to the onset of sounds, regulates the efficient use of working memory, and is elastic and supple enough to support the flexibility in timing needed for fluent reading.

When rhythm enters the picture, faster-paced readers often learn to slow down enough to connect with meaning. Slower readers develop momentum. Rhythm has a centering effect: it’s the sweet spot where decoding and comprehension align.

Reflection for leaders

For school leaders, the real question is how to help pupils find their comfort zone when resources are stretched thin. Every September, reading assessments highlight pupils who remain outside their ‘comfort zone’ of reading. Whether they read fast or slow, they are missing the relaxed flow where fluency and meaning couple together.

✨ This 'comfort zone' is where fluency feels natural, and comprehension becomes spontaneous.

For some schools, reaching this zone feels elusive, especially when traditional interventions have delivered only marginal gains. But rhythm offers a different pathway: one that is precise, efficient, and rooted in executive function. It is not another layer of workload, but a way of aligning the natural processes that make comprehension possible.

➡ This is why I created Rhythm for Reading — a structured programme designed to strengthen executive functions and unlock fluency in just ten minutes a week. Schools using this approach see measurable change within three weeks, and sustained transformation across a term.

If you are ready to explore how this can work for your pupils, you can find all the details here: 
Visit the programme page