{"id":9812,"date":"2023-04-03T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.allaboutlearningpress.com\/?p=9812"},"modified":"2023-04-04T11:13:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T16:13:30","slug":"my-child-skips-small-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.allaboutlearningpress.com\/my-child-skips-small-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Help! My Child Skips Small Words When Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Closeup\r\n\r\n

Does your child skip small words when he\u2019s reading? <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Skipping small words is actually a very common problem that we usually notice when our children are reading aloud, but the truth is that many adults skip words as well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Interestingly, the most commonly skipped words are small, high-frequency words such as the<\/span>, in<\/span>, on<\/span>, a<\/span>, and of<\/span>. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

These are function words that a child cannot visualize, and since the sentence can still be comprehended without them, the words are easily skimmed over. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In addition, shorter words are much more likely to be skipped than longer words, and predictable words are more likely to be skipped than non-predictable words.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Why Do Readers Skip Small Words?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n

When I first explored the reasons for skipping small words while reading, I was surprised to find out how much research has been done on this topic. Generally, researchers wanted to study the way the eyes move during the process of reading: how they track, how they jump forward to the next word or phrase, and how much text is taken in at a single glance.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve cited the research at the bottom of this post, but for our purposes, the main thing we need to know is this:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

As a person reads, their eyes jump forward to the next word or phrase, and in this process, small words can be missed.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Longer words or unusual short words grab our attention, while smaller common words are more likely to go unnoticed.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"An\r\n\r\n

In addition to the scientific explanation, there are several other reasons a child may skip words:<\/p>\r\n\r\n