Using Phonically Based E-books to Develop Reading Fluency

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the ‘Tales of Jud the Rat’ reading fluency programme and its logic, and to present preliminary results from its use as a form of e-learning. The first section of the chapter provides an overview of the develop‐ ment of the ‘The Tales Jud the Rat’ series. Literature relevant to the neurolinguistic basis of the materials is then reviewed. Results from initial case study and the first cohort of children who have worked on this programme with their parents are pre‐ sented in the third section, while the final section of the chapter provides an evalua‐ tion of the current status of the programme and indicates its potential uses. At this stage in the development of the programme, there is plenty of material avail‐ able, and the ebooks and supporting methodology are currently being used by the parents, therapists and teachers of over seventy children with reading difficulty across our country. Some of the children live over a thousand kilometres from my rooms. Others are in schools or clinics. The results have been promising both with primary school children as well as with adolescents in high school. Parents, thera‐ pists, teachers and children have also provided positive evaluations of the effects improved reading fluency has had on reading ability more generally, as well as on school work.