Short attention span, Help my child read

Learning to read is like learning to ride a two-wheel bike: your child is required to do many things all at the same time.

The ideas on this page apply to every age because short attention span - short working memory - affects every age group. Research tells us the early lessons are not clear for children. The child is not at fault. At fault is unclear instruction.

1) While reading stories together, start teaching sight words, one at a time. All sight word lists are the same and in the same order. Your school might call the list: Dolch, Fry, Instant, Snap, High Frequency, etc. Sight words are the constantly recurring service words, such as was, saw, were, where, and later thought, though, throught, bought, brought, etc.

The 1st 25 sight words make up 33% of all print. The 1st 100 make up 65% of all print. Knowing these words makes it easy to be successful; but stumbling over any of them creates a cascade of trouble. Children do not learn these words without help from adults. Many sight words look alike and have vague meanings. Finding and circling them in cheap, used books is a powerful way to help your child. (My books include 300 sight words or download the list.)

Tip for all age children: quit stopping to sound out, tell your child the unknown word and ask your child to keep reading. Help your child connect to meaning by reading the known words, sliding over the unknown words - until finished with the paragraph. Next, ask your child what is happening in the story so far.  This method helps your child connect to comprehension.

Return now to look at your child's unknown words in the paragraph. After a couple of "sound out" tries -  tell him the word. Move down to the next paragraph, asking your child to read the words he knows, sliding over his unknown words. Many words cannot be sounded out and children often do not yet have the letter-sound skills needed.  

2) Letters b, d, g, p, q are mirror images and require your full attention. Ignore all other backward letters; they will not slow your child progress, are very rarely dyslexia, and will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade.  Use my blog's search box - top left corner- put in 1st Grade reading and backward b and working memory and how the brain learns to read and ADD, ADHD.

I use eBay as my website if you want a book. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.  All are brand new, no grade level on them, and include my contact info; email or call for help.   Have a great day, Mary Maisner