Build a Reading Fluency Game
How to Build a Personalized Game to Strengthen Reading Fluency
Does your child have dyslexia or a relative weakness in reading or spelling? Build Reading Fluency with This Simple (and Fun!) Decoding Game
Does your child with dyslexia like playing games with you? Do they like having fun while they learn?
Here’s an easy game you can create together. You can do this! It’s do-able and builds reading and spelling skills.
It is a custom Go Fish-style word game that supports fluency, confidence, and literacy. Have fun with this! Why not?!
You can use the words in the book you are ALREADY READING together for extra reading fluency practice!
When you read with your child, you’re not just sharing a story—you’re also gathering valuable insight and data into how they’re progressing as a reader.
Struggled words provide you with important information.
When your child skips a word, mispronounces it, or guesses, that’s data you can use.
Would your child benefit from learning more about that word?
“Capture words” that will be helpful to learn more about together.
Two Ways to Gather Words to Practice
- Before Reading: Skim the page before they read and pick out words that might be tricky.
- During Reading: Underline or take note of which words are challenging during reading time. These become your word list for future practice.
Whether you prep ahead or notice them during reading, these words form the foundation of a personalized learning experience.
When you make the game, play with a small number of words.
After you make a few cards ask your child, how many more should we make?
Keep it small!
Have fun playing “Go Fish” with the words with the words you captured.
What You’ll Need:
- Blank Index cards or cardstock
- Scissors
- Pen, pencil or favorite writing tool
Setup Instructions:
- Cut index cards in half (like in the picture) to make two cards per word.
- Use the blank unlined side.
- Parent and student each write the same word at the same time on both halves—this creates a matching pair.
- As you write the word, say that names of the graphemes (letters) aloud.
- Talk about how the word is used in the story and other related words.
- Examine the letters and graphemes in the word and how they are being pronounced.
- Note anything that doesn’t make sense and save your unanswered questions.
💡 Parent Tip: Remember that you are learning too, and that you can learn together with your child. When you want more information, look up words on etymonline.com and you can also ask AI tools like ChatGPT for guidance.
If you’re working with a reading specialist for dyslexia or dysgraphia, bring your questions about those words to your sessions for additional support.
How to Play:
- Put all cards face down.
- Mix them up.
- Deal each player 3 cards.
- Players take turns asking each other for a matching word. Show the other player the card you are asking for as you read it.
- If a match is found, the player collects the pair and goes again.
- If not, the player draws from the pile.
- The game continues until all pairs are matched.
Each time your child sees and says the word, it reinforces spelling, pronunciation, and meaning.
After you play the game, go back and find the same words in the book, and re-read those sentences.
Listen to your instincts and modify to make this work for you!
For example, if writing down words on the spot feels like it’s too much, try recording your child reading aloud. Listen back later to spot tricky words and build your card deck from there.
This approach is especially valuable for readers with dyslexia or dysgraphia, who benefit from explicit instruction and games that make learning less stressful and more enjoyable. I use it with kids with orthographic dyslexia, surface dyslexia, and phonological dyslexia to build vocabulary, decoding skills, and comprehension.
