One thing that we have worked on with my DD is guided oral reading. I read the page/chapter aloud first, then she reads it aloud.
Similarly, you can get books on CD or tape and let her listen to a reading more than once to really pick up flow and phrasing. The idea is that the reader then practices it until it sounds like the recorded version and then reads aloud to someone else. Even better, if there is a younger child in your DD's life that enjoys being read to, she can practice for story telling sessions. Many elementary aged (and adult aged, for that matter) readers need practice to pick up the art of reading aloud for someone else's pleasure. It's a great way to master phrasing and fluency. If you go the chapter book route instead of the picture book route (which would be better for younger child read aloud), I recommend looking for a book with good read aloud rhythms to it. Some books have it, some don't. My absolute favorite older child read aloud:
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It's a book I personally will never get tired of reading aloud, and the chapters are both short and satisfying.
I wonder on this. Dd's 3rd grade teacher was very clearly not impressed with dd and felt her to be of average intelligence. She told me as much repeatedly (and in front of dd) and even went so far as to imply that my dh was unintelligent and that explained why dd9 wasn't as bright as me or dd11. I was chewed out in front of dd early in the year and told that I was the source of all of her problems when I questioned why her MAPS scores had gone from the 89th and 94th at the end of 2nd (reading and math) to the 50s for both at the start of 3rd.
Yes, this could have a big effect. The less open the tester is to the child, the less the child is likely to say. In the assessment we give, the response has to go beyond logic to show "higher level reasoning". I've learned to say, "tell me more about that" until the child has nothing else to say in order to get an accurate read. The first response for many children is the simple one. "Tell me more" is what reveals whether there is more to it than that. If DD's teacher didn't believe in her capability, then she would probably have accepted DD's initial responses as complete. And if DD witnessed these conversations between you and teacher, she wouldn't necessarily respond well to teacher. I think in that situation my DD would be more afraid of looking like she was 'trying to prove teacher wrong' than she would be in demonstrating the full extent of her understanding.
