Fix reading problem

Whether your child is just starting out or is much older you need to know two things: 

1) Our brains have systems which work on their own unbeknownst to us. Everyone's eyes look ahead, alerting the brain to bring up from memory storage the next needed letter or word. 

This brain system gives the well-prepared child an amazing boost. Parents depend upon preschool and kindergarten, but there is barely time to provide an introduction. Kids are not ready for 1st Grade reading.

2)  Kids know name and sound for their ABCs but confuse the shapes of b / d and p / q / g within words. 

Goal: Your child will be able to identify b /d and p / q / g within words like about, able, said, helped, quiet, bag by the start of 1st Grade. 

For help, find your child's grade level below. 

Preschool and kindergarten: See - say of all letters is important but only b, d, g, p, q require to be printed correctly. Ignore all other backward letters, it is rarely dyslexia, will not slow your child's progress and will self-correct by 2nd Grade. Remember your primary goal: your child will correctly identify b, d, g, p q within words by the start of 1st Grade.

Also, start getting instant with the 1st 25 sight words. Ask your child to point to words as you read stories together. Reading words in stories is the most efficient way to gain mastery of lots of words pretty quickly. Sight words have vague meanings. Flashcards give your child no context to anchor the sight words but are helpful review after the child is sure of the words.

Remember, the brain anticipates; being well-prepared will give your child a huge boost. 

1st Grade:  Give your child a pencil & paper. Say:  "I want you to write the 1st letter of: 1) basket, 2) bank, 3) borrow, 4) bump."  Play this every day until your child is consistently correct. Move on to d: desk, dishes, door, drum. Then g, p, q.  After your child correctly prints each letter, review by mixing up the starting letters, say: dragon, pigeon, baboon, guppy, quest. Also, practice sight words when reading stories together. Post on your frig a growing list of sight words; 1st 50 by Thanksgiving; 150 by Easter. Repetition of lessons is key.

2nd Grade - high school: We all read using our short-term memory; long-term is a different storage system. Short-term is a loop system which you want to keep "looping forward, no stops."   (Stopping to sound out is counter-productive, quit doing it.)

Until your child has stronger skills, either tell him any unknown word and keep going, or teach my strategy below, bumpy at first but will reap big rewards. Connect to comprehension:

1) Get a story your child can write on.  Tell your child to look through the 1st paragraph of the story and put a dot under every word he knows, sliding over words he does not know. 

That finished, ask your child to read to himself the words he knew in that 1st paragraph. (You may hear him, ignore any wrong words, do not interrupt.)  Ask your child: what is going on in this 1st paragraph? What's happening?

Now ask your child to read the 1st paragraph to you, sliding over unrecognized words.  Does he think he can now figure out his unknown words?  Tell him the word after two tries of sounding out. The word is probably in his speaking word-bank, but unrecognized in print. Many words cannot be sounded out. These steps are a pain in the neck but the child gets faster within a couple of weeks; it will be worth it. 

(Three of my middle school strugglers made the Honor Roll at their school. A  struggling 3rd Grade boy got the highest grade of his entire class on a year-end social studies test.)

Use my blog's search box - top left corner - to find supporting lessons: compound words, then long vowels short vowels,  then ce,  then ge, then adding ing,  then silent gh, etc.

I use eBay as my website. Search: Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.  All my books are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help. 

Have a great day! Mary Maisner