After more than 20 years of helping students exceed their expectations and reach their goals, we must sadly announce that we have closed the Fluency Factory. But owner Rich McManus hasn't ended his lifetime dream of helping all people become better readers.

THE SECRET OF SAY AND SPELL

By Richard McManus

I am now sharing a secret that has had an immense impact on many of our students.

I feel this exercise is so important that I am going to share it with this column, and thereby give it to anyone who reads it. Some years ago I had a student who was struggling with reading — he was an 8th grader who was reading at 5th grade level -- and reading very slowly. We taught him decoding skills quickly, and his ability to read challenging materials improved rapidly.

Building fluency with say and spell exercise.

WHAT IS FLUENCY?

Fluency is the ability to perform a skill quickly and accurately. Fluent performances lead to retention, endurance and application of learned skills.

Fluency is also an indication of mastery of a skill. Our program is based on mastery - students move up in difficulty levels when they have mastered (become fluent in) the skill they are working on.

You can see and hear fluency. Fluency is the difference between an expert and beginner, between a real useful skill and a lifetime of struggle. Much like how muscle memory works with sports and musical instruments, fluency in foundational skills opens up avenues for higher order work because they begin to feel “natural.”