This week we have been discussing different activities to work on your child's reading fluency. This is one of the components within reading comprehension. Tuesday we discussed Choral reading and yesterday was Paired reading. Echo reading will be today's activity and the last of this series.
We have discussed choosing a text in both choral reading and paired reading. However, I will review some of the principles just in case you have not read those two blog posts. You will want to choose a text that is short. If the text that your child chooses is longer, then select just a portion. You may want to choose something that is interesting, rhymes a lot, something descriptive/"colorful", or is something significant for your child. Other than books, consider the following texts: song lyrics, poems, or a letter.
Echo reading is just what the name describes. If you were to stand in a canyon and yell "Echo", you would hear the refraction of your voice repeat "echo... echo... echo..". The same is true for Echo reading. You, the skilled reader, will read a passage and your child or client will then read the same passage. The skilled reader will read the passage and then the struggling reader reads the passage. This goes back and forth until the struggling reader is able to read the passage fluently and without mistakes.
You might consider typing up the text so you have your own copy. Then you can mark how many errors your child has on the first reading. Count how many times you have to go through the text before he/she is able to read it fluently and without error. Show your child the progress he/she made in a short time! Remember to start with something that is easy for your child to read until he/she is comfortable with the process of echo reading. Then you can move to a more difficult text. The point is to read something that is too difficult for your child to read on his/her own, but for him/her to experience the text and eventually be able to read it on his/her own!
Echo reading, like the two previous activities, is designed to build confidence in your child's ability to read fluently, learn sight words, build this skill to be able to read material that may otherwise be too difficult for your child, and to practice proper phrasing, pronunciation, and expression while reading.
This activity can be great for kids who have to read a speech in front of a class and need to practice. It can also be a great way for kids who struggle with articulation errors to practice their sound(s) at the reading level.