What is Dr Charles Potter’s reading fluency programme?

Dr Charles Potter’s reading fluency programme is a resource of large-print phonically based ebooks which can be used for developing reading fluency. The materials can also be used to develop spelling and sequential writing and spelling skills.

As at the end of 2016 there were eighty books in the series. The books are graded in terms of difficulty from foundational through basic to more advanced levels. There are also activity books which accompany books at the foundational level.

What is the aim of the programme?

The aim of the programme is to promote access to materials and methodologies for developing reading fluency at low cost. This is done through a network of parents, therapists and teachers who have used the programme and found it to be effective.

What are the ebooks about?

The ebooks are a series of stories about animals. The story in each book has been developed for and then workshopped with children who have reading difficulties. Each word in each story can be phonically decoded, and the stories are written and formatted in a way which enables the book to be printed out and bound, and then read by parents, working in partnership with their children.

The books aim to develop reading skills and to entertain. Parents report observable changes in reading fluency, and at the same time indicate that their children enjoy the stories and find the characters funny. Many parents also report that they find the books amusing, despite the amount of repetition necessary to improve their children’s reading fluency.

.How are the ebooks used?

As the ebooks are designed to develop reading skills as well as entertain, they can be read for enjoyment. Their chief usage, however, has been in developing reading fluency.

The best results have been obtained where parents and their children have used the ebooks regularly in twenty minute reading sessions, and have used a repetitive paired reading method called the 3 x 3 oral impress method. A tutorial letter outlining this method is provided with the initial ebook free of charge. A workshop is normally also conducted with the parent by a skilled programme user, to ensure that the method is used correctly with the child.

Parents report that the 3 x 3 oral impress method is easy to learn and then implement. Parents also report that workshopping the method with a skilled programme user is helpful when working with the ebooks for the first time.

So how do I access the material?

Join the network of existing users. This is easy to do. My next post will tell you how membership works.