ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the identification and remediation of a difficulty commonly encountered by learning-disabled students as they learn to read. It presents specific techniques that teachers can easily use to determine if students are decoding text automatically and also suggests a variety of techniques for developing this skill. The chapter discusses scenario, which accurately describes the lack of fluency experienced by learning-disabled students, was reported by an inner-city St. Paul H. Brookes teacher who had taken a cognitive psychology course that included material on automaticity theory. The amount of time and practice needed to attain automaticity varies, but eventually, all students become competent at automatically recognizing printed words. Once the automaticity stage in word recognition is reached, learning-disabled and nonhandicapped students are alike in that they can recognize the printed words with accuracy, speed, and little effort.
