Reading Fluency

The ability to read connected text accurately, at an appropriate pace, and with proper expression - distinct from word-level decoding skill on one side and from reading comprehension on the other. Fluency is typically measured along three dimensions: accuracy (proportion of words read correctly), rate (words per minute), and prosody (appropriate phrasing and intonation). For accessibility, reading fluency is central to discussions of dyslexia, ADHD, low vision, and aphasia, because interventions and assistive tools (text-to-speech, simplified text, specialized fonts, reading rulers, chunking) typically target one or more fluency dimensions. Fluency mediates comprehension: when decoding consumes too much cognitive effort, working memory available for meaning is reduced.