Echo reading is a reading strategy that will help your struggling, or reluctant, reader with fluency, reading orally, new vocabulary, and comprehension.

Echo Reading encourages children to begin to understand that what is written on the page matches the words that are produced orally. This strategy is most effective for children who have learned the basic fundamentals of phonemic awareness.

Most of all children love the reading interaction – and so will you, because you read “with” your child - not “to” your child.

How Echo Reading Works  

To start, select a prized book with short sentences – usually one sentence per page. Read a phrase and then ask the child to repeat what was read. Echo reading can also be used with older children to help them learn a book quickly and gain confidence in their ability to eventually read the story alone.

Recommend Books for Echo Reading

I Went Walking by Sue Williams

Bears in Pairs by Niki Yekai

Dinosaur Roar! by Paul & Henrietta Strickland

Animal Kisses by Barney Saltzberg

Why Echo Reading Helps Reluctant Readers

This easy-to-use reading strategy can help your reluctant reader learn about fluency, expression, and vocabulary. You will model skills to become a successful reader by using voice inflection, appropriate rate of reading, and by paying attention to punctuation marks while reading.

Echo reading helps students to recognize new words and read at a pace that is better for reading comprehension. If your child reads too slow or too fast, they will most likely have trouble comprehending what they are reading.

Echo reading is especially useful for helping emerging readers practice texts that they need to read out loud, such as reports or stories in front of a class, or Scriptures in church.

Once your child has mastered echo reading, let them lead by reading the sentence first. You follow with the echo. How fun!

Can you see how this simple reading strategy can boost your reluctant reader’s confidence?