boost short term working memory

We can hold a phone number in our minds for about one and one-half seconds. By repeating it, we can hold it a tiny bit longer, if we keep ourselves free of interruption.

This is an example of short-term memory, also called working memory. Whether you are reading, speaking, listening, or doing a task, your short-term memory is a series of connecting loops that are 1 and 1/2 seconds in length. An interruption breaks successful looping.

The brain is fast. It understands the meaning of a spoken word in 1/ 5th of a second (even before the speaker is finished saying it). 

A capable reader pulls the meaning of a word from his long-term memory storage in about 1/ 8th of a second. 

Big problem for the brain: uncertainty.   Why does this matter to you?  

Your brain and your child's brain likes to be sure. Being sure lets the brain operate at its preferred speeds. You want to be sure your child is certain of: 

1) basic letter sounds and letter sound teams like sh, wh, th, ch, bl, br, cl, cr, ce, ci, cy and later ous, ious, tion, tious, etc. 

2) sight words, and 3) smart comprehension methods. 

My blog gives you 160 free tips; my search box is in the top left corner.  And, you may want to look at my books for your child. 

I use eBay, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you.

In all my books, the tricky letter teams are in bold or underlined so your child sees them as he reads stories. 

Cheat sheets for parents and lots of tips make it easy for you to remove uncertainty from your child's reading skills.     The brain-speed examples used in this blog were researched by Steven Pinker.  This artwork is a woodcut done by Japanese artist Kitagawa (1798-1861). 
Have fun reading with your child, Mary Maisner