Reading Aloud — Fluency Practice
Read short passages using fluency techniques.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Read the first pass together. Reading aloud is more fluent than speaking for most people who stutter, which makes it a good place to establish a technique before moving to conversation. The recording card is the most useful — a student who listens back for smooth starts is doing their own analysis, and that is worth more than any feedback you give. Ten minutes covers a full pass with the recording.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student uses their fluency technique on their own. Listen without reminding.Log as correct
- Visual reminderPoint to the picture or card that stands for the technique.Log as cued
- Verbal reminderSay a short reminder, such as 'Use your smooth speech.'Log as cued
- ModelSay it yourself using the technique; the student copies, then tries the card again.Log as cued
Adjust it
Go back to shorter turns: single words or two-word phrases.
Move to longer turns, a new listener, or a little time pressure.
Matching IEP goal
Student will use their fluency technique in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual reminder.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
A ten-part passage read with fluency techniques: the old lighthouse stood at the edge of the cliff; every night its light turned slowly across the dark water; one winter the light went out during a heavy storm; a girl named Nora climbed the stairs with a lantern. The last three cards are the work — read the whole passage again watching your rate, then once more with a recording.
What to listen for
Listen for rate creeping up across the passage. Reading gets faster as the text becomes familiar, and the technique goes first. Watch the sentence starts specifically, since easy onset applies at the beginning of an utterance and every sentence in this passage is a fresh opportunity to use it or skip it.
Carrying it home
Reading one page aloud each night is a realistic and low-pressure home task. Recording it occasionally gives the student something to compare against, which is more motivating than being told they improved.
What's in this activity
- Use easy onset and a slow rate. Read: The old lighthouse stood at the edge of the cliff.
- Every night its light turned slowly across the dark water.
- Sailors far out at sea watched for it and knew they were close to home.
- One winter the light went out during a heavy storm.
- A girl named Nora climbed the stairs with a lantern in her hand.
- She set the lantern in the window at the very top.
- All night she kept the flame going while the wind shook the walls.
- By morning, three boats had found the harbor safely.
- Read the whole passage again, watching your rate.
- Read it once more and record yourself. Listen for smooth starts.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through eighth, for students with a fluency technique to apply.
- Do I need an account?
- No, the whole passage plays free with no login.
- Reading is easier than talking. Does practising it help?
- It helps establish a technique, which is genuinely easier under reduced demand. It is a stage rather than an endpoint — the passage is a place to build the habit before conversation tests it.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.