Fluency as a means to reach true mastery

Fluency as a means to reach true mastery Chanie Kessler, M.S. Shema Kolainu- Hear Our Voices October 14th 2004

Introduction • Why fluency? • Does it help? • Research of using fluency procedures as a means to help students reach true mastery. • ( Binder, 1978)

What is Fluency? • = accuracy + speed = Quality + pace = doing the right thing w/o hesitation = automatic or “Second Nature” = True mastery (Binder, Carl 2004)

With percent correct we can’t tell the difference • Percent correct handicaps our students, when we fail to measure along the time dimension, use impose a serious constraint on our expectations for students, as well as on the likelihood that we will work to “normalize” their skill proficiencies.” (Binder, Carl 1978)

With percent correct measures, can’t go higher than 100% • 2 students receive 100% in a program, however one completes task in 1 min. and the other in 15 min. • What does this tell us

Procedures Two 4 yr. old students with severe language and communication delays. • Fluency drills run daily Participant A ( 1 minute timings) • drawing lines across paper (see/write) • and tact (label) • Numbers (see/say) Participant B (1 minute) • tap tambourine-right hand (see/do) • Pinch (pull coins out of playdough) right hand ( see/do)

Student L

Student A

Results • drills were effective in helping students increase their performance

Practice Makes Perfect! • “If you want to get better at it, you have to practice. There’s no other way to do it. For me practicing is fun – I enjoy improving myself, and I enjoy developing new skills.” (Jordan, Michael 1991)

Stages of learning 1. Acquiring new behavior 2. Practicing components for fluency and endurance 3. Applying and combining fluent components(Binder, Carl 2004)

Things to keep in mind • Student’s speed is dependent on instructor • Use clear worksheets, present quickly etc. • Not all programs should become fluency drills.

Fluency as a means to reach true mastery