If you’re looking at this page thinking you hate reading aloud please don’t click away yet. Reading out loud is one of the best things ever. I can tell you are not convinced, but please stay with me on this one. Let me explain why it’s so beneficial for developing general reading skills.
Reading out loud has helped me develop control, timing and focus of attention. At the same time I’ve developed natural reading rhythm.
However by far the most important factor is the confidence reading in front of other people has given me. It’s made me feel like I’ve beaten dyslexia.
Regular out loud reading practice will put you on the fast track to beating dyslexia. I find it more challenging than reading silently. You may be thinking you’d rather flush your computer down the toilet than listen to my gibber, jabber. However please please give it a go.
Normal readers do most of their basic practice by reading aloud. It almost seems like a natural stepping stone to start reading out loud and then move on to silent practice.
Most dyslexics struggle to read during childhood. Literacy skills are developed over a longer period of time. If you’ve learnt most of your reading skills through silent practice then please please please start practicing out loud as well.
It focuses me on one word at a time. When reading in my head I sometimes make unintentional word predictions. My eyes will also be jumping about on the text. Reading aloud helps discipline focus and timing.
It’s also helped me develop natural reading rhythm. This makes the information in the text clearer. As a result I remember more of the content. This may be linked to the idea of rhythm development being beneficial for overcoming dyslexia.
After a while you’re out loud reading will start to sound like a person giving a speech rather than a continuous string of words.
Decoding unfamiliar words is the hardest part of reading. Reading out loud helps you decode words concisely. Therefore fluency grows as a result. Click here if you want more help decoding words.
Reading aloud is done under real time conditions. It puts you under pressure to avoid long pauses. This makes the relationship between fluency and decoding more succinct.
The most important point is the confidence reading aloud has given me. Once I was able to read in front of another person it made me feel like I wasn’t dyslexic any more. I felt like I didn’t have anything to hide.
Once I was able to read clearly to another person it change the way I felt about myself. Reading clearly in front of another person made me feel like I’d beaten dyslexia. Click here if you need a confidence boost.
Reading out loud is a great way to challenge and build reading skills. If you feel you’ve done less than the average amount of out loud practice then please give it a go. I promise if you get into the habit of doing some you will find it so rewarding.
If you are thinking to yourself you can’t read out loud, you can you are just not very good at it yet. I really don’t want to get in to boring or cheesy catch phrases but if it’s really hard to do now it will be really rewarding when you improve. Click here for more reading help.
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