Have you ever been helping your child read and when they try to sound out a word it comes out all mixed up or something totally different? For example, your child sounds out the word “stop” and it comes out “tops” or “pots” or something totally unrecognizable.

Your child may be struggling with working memory.

Working memory is the ability to actively store information in the mind for brief periods of time in order to process and use it.

Working memory is important when learning to sound out words and read.

Students with ADHD, language impairments, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities often struggle with working memory.

Children who struggle with working memory need a different approach from the typical whole word sounding out approach. The whole word sounding out approach requires the child to store each component sound of a word in working memory and then retrieve that information to put all the sounds together to determine the word. This is difficult for children with working memory problems.

If this scenario sounds familiar, please reach out to me. I know other strategies that work better than whole word blending for helping children who struggle with working memory.