A free 3-minute check that shows where the trouble is
“My child cannot remember sight words” can mean four different things. Each one needs a different push. Do this check together. It takes about three minutes.
How to do it: do not teach and do not correct. Just listen, and tap what your child could do. Nothing you tap is sent anywhere.
Show your child this screen. Point to each word in turn. Tap each word your child reads right, without help.
Your child reads these three sentences out loud:
The cat is on his bed.
Dad said you can go.
He was in the mud.
Tap each word below that was read right inside its sentence.
Your child reads these six short words. Tap each word read correctly, however slowly.
Has your child practiced these words before (cards, a school list, an app)?
A flashcard asks a child to remember a whole word as a picture: its shape. Short words look alike, so there is very little to hold on to. But in most of these words, most letters do just what your child was taught. In said, the s and the d play fair. Only ai has to be known by heart. That is a lot less to remember, and it gives the word something to hang on.
It is not a diagnosis, and it is not a test for dyslexia. Forgetting sight words on its own does not mean a child has dyslexia. If your child is seven or older and words still do not stay, or reading is very hard in other ways too, tell their teacher what you saw and ask what the school has noticed.
