Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Six Minute Fluency program reviews?

Does anyone have experience with the Six Minute Fluency program? My quick internet search leads me to wonder if it's a tool for struggling readers. I am trying to divine what DS9's scores mean and why he's using this program at school.

DS9 is a dysgraphic in a class for dyslexics, which is working out about as poorly as possible. I've just learned that he's reading level 5 passages from this program in class and has been clocked at 276 correct words per minute. That strikes me as sufficiently speedy to not require fluency exercises, but maybe they have some value I haven't discerned? Is level 5 associated with grade 5, or does the program follow a different structure?

I've become accustomed, this year, to discovering that DS9 is being taught using entirely inappropriate materials so it's a struggle to not assume this is a fresh new disaster!

What is his error rate when reading 276 wpm? The education dogma I encounter is that a kid reading that fast must be making a significant number of errors. I encounter wide eyes when my DD reads that fast with 100% accuracy.

If the error rate is low (<2% or so), then you need to ask what his intervention goal is that he's working on with this program and how this program will meet the goal. I'd then follow up with asking how will you know he's met the goal (measurable goals and all that).

I have not been in schools that used this specific program, but I can give you some general thoughts about fluency, and what I was able to glean from my own quick internet search. Yes, the tool is often used for struggling readers, but, no, it is not designed exclusively, or even primarily, for remedial readers. (That application is, however, important for marketing purposes, which is why you will see RTI triangles attached to its promo materials.) Reading fluency is a skill that NT students continue to develop well into the secondary school years. Fluency at a grade 5 reading level does not automatically translate to fluency at an adult reading level. (Of course, I cannot speak to your son's actual level.)

Level 5 does equal grade 5, but even so his cwpm is way over the normative goal for grade 5 reading, and suggests that he should be moved up, probably one to two levels. One of the challenges, though, is that the program relies on partner reading, and it is highly doubtful that there is a dyslexic in his classroom reading fluently at the grade 4/5 level. He probably should be (if he isn't already) reading with an adult as his partner, which the program explicitly recommends for this situation.

The program has levels up through ninth grade, but the package he is using is only grades 4-6; the school may not have access to the higher level.

You may find this manual of interest. Please be considerate about test security, though, as it contains placement and progress monitoring exams. Links on this page to the primary (grades 1-3), intermediate (grades 4-6), and secondary (grades 7-9) manuals:

Index of Six Minute Solution Manuals http://www.wou.edu/~brownbr/Classes/The_Six_Minute_Solution/

Agreeing with aeh. I used the Six Minute Solution with my dyslexic son. If he is reading at 276 wpm, he is probably not getting much out of the program. If they want to insist that he work on fluency, the difficultly level should be increased until he is reading at 150 wpm (or less) and his goal should be to get it up over 200 wpm. And as aeh points out, the school may not have the resources to do this.

I'll add that the secondary level is only $150 for a set of reproducibles, so it may not be prohibitive for the school to purchase it. It is also possible that a set exists in the upper grades somewhere. You may wish to inquire about both these possibilities.

Thanks, everyone, and thanks for the link, aeh.

I don't have any information about errors, just the number of correct words. I'll follow up on that, goals, and adjusting the level of difficulty. I'm guessing he's reading with the teacher, but I'll confirm that, as well.

DS9 was also given the San Diego Quick Reading Assessment, which appears to be a list of words, sorted by grade. It put DS9 at grade 5 (which surprises me, given what he reads at home). Any thoughts on this assessment measure?

It's the freely-available assessment included with the Six Minute Solution program, and consists of ten-word lists by grade level, up through grade eleven. It's a decent screening instrument, but can't be compared with more comprehensive assessments, even the oral reading fluency assessment passages in Six Minute Solution. Once you get three words wrong in a list, that's your frustration level. The level beneath that is your instructional level, which would be where he would be placed for reading fluency work. I would say it was probably fine as a rough screen to place him initially, but as soon as he started scoring high on the actual assessment passages, they should have started re-thinking his placement.

I should also mention that it is a pure word calling measure, which doesn't allow high-level thinkers to use context to support word calling/decoding. It is not impossible that he actually does word call in isolation at around a grade 5 level, even if he comprehends at a higher level. Wouldn't be the first or last time I've seen a child display a multi-grade/multi-SD gap between decoding and comprehension, in this direction. And that's on more accurate and reliable measures than this.

The problem I had with the San Diego Quick Assessment is that when I would keep going with the test after "frustration level" was reached, the kid would go for several levels getting one and two wrong. What does that mean?

It means that this is a screening instrument that works with the middle +/- 1 SD pretty well, but isn't so sharp for children with atypical profiles.

I don't know exactly what it means for any specific child, without seeing their test behavior and error analysis, plus ecological validation of my hypotheses, but I can offer some examples of possible interpretations. Some children change strategies as tasks become more difficult, moving, for example from sight reading/word calling to decoding/word attack, using phonetic and morphological principles. This can mean that they make errors around the time they reach the upper range of their sight vocabulary, often substituting visually- or morphologically-similar words (for example, omitting or substituting affixes). As words become even more challenging, they move far enough out of their familiar vocabulary that they switch to their decoding strategies for novel words, which, in a good phonetic reader, can be quite sophisticated, allowing them to progress another few levels on the strength of their word attack skills. Often, you will see them slow down a little as they switch from sight reading to decoding, which also benefits the words they actually know, but might have miscalled based on sight reading.

Interesting, I looked up the quick reading assessment and my DS, also 9, missed 0 words on the 5th grade list, but 3 on the sixth grade list. I guess he doesn't have an instructional level (defined as missing 2 words) then, haha.