When parenting a bright right brain kinesthetic learner, it’s important to recognize the risks of solely focusing on reading fluency without addressing reading comprehension. While reading fluency refers to the ability to read words accurately and quickly, reading comprehension involves understanding and deriving meaning from the text. Both aspects are crucial for effective reading skills and academic success. Here are some risks associated with emphasizing reading fluency while neglecting reading comprehension:

1 – We have had hundreds of bright right brain kinesthetic learners, where their reading fluency had been improved, but their reading comprehension was two, three or even four years below grade level.  We had one case where the school told the parents the student was reading a grade below grade level.  I asked the psychologist if she had tested the student’s reading comprehension and she had not.  I asked her to.  Her testing showed his reading fluency was at the 9th grade level, but his reading comprehension was at the 2nd grade level.

2 – Superficial Understanding: Prioritizing reading fluency alone may lead to a superficial understanding of the text. Children may read quickly and accurately, but they may struggle to grasp the deeper meaning, analyze complex ideas, or make connections between different parts of the text. This limits their ability to engage with the material fully.  The right brain kinesthetic learner often has trouble recognizing words they have seen before and understanding high frequency words (e.g. and, the, but, what, except, greater than, less than, etc.).  This is why they often do not understand passages and almost always have problems with math word problems,

3 – Lack of Critical Thinking: Reading comprehension promotes critical thinking skills such as evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing information. By focusing solely on fluency, children may miss out on developing these essential skills, which are vital for higher-level reading and academic performance across subjects.

4 – Reduced Vocabulary Development: Reading comprehension allows children to encounter new words in context and expand their vocabulary. When the emphasis is primarily on fluency, children may not spend enough time exploring the meaning and usage of words, leading to limited vocabulary growth.

5 – Struggles with Complex Texts: As children progress through their academic journey, they encounter increasingly complex texts that require strong comprehension skills. If reading comprehension is neglected, students may face challenges when confronted with sophisticated content, leading to frustration, lower confidence, and decreased interest in reading.

6 – Limited Application of Knowledge: Reading comprehension skills enable students to apply what they’ve read to other areas of learning. Without a solid foundation in comprehension, students may struggle to connect information from different sources or transfer knowledge to new contexts, hindering their overall academic growth.

7 – Improving reading comprehension often includes addressing visual process, working memory and processing speed issues.

For the bright right brain kinesthetic learner, improving reading comprehension requires to both identify address all the relevant issues and to ignite a love for reading.

8 – For the right brain kinesthetic learner, improving reading comprehension includes identifying and addressing issues with word recognition, understanding the small words and getting a non- or struggling reader to like reading.

To support your child’s reading development comprehensively, consider integrating strategies that enhance both reading fluency and reading comprehension. Encourage them to read a variety of texts, discuss the content, ask questions, make predictions, and summarize what they’ve read. Providing a balanced approach will foster their overall reading abilities and help them become more confident and proficient readers.

For the bright right brain kinesthetic learner, reading comprehension is often a major challenge.    At 3D Learner, we specialize in helping the bright right brain kinesthetic learner to improve their word recognition, vocabulary, working memory, processing speed, visual processing and igniting a love for reading, in addition to improving reading fluency.

If you would like to discuss how we could develop your child’s academic skills, while reducing anxiety and building their self-esteem, call us at 561-361-7495 or click here to schedule a Improve reading fluency and reading comprehension conversation .