My daughter just turned 6. When she tries to sound out words she sometimes gets confused. She will put in sounds to letters that are not there in the word. For example, she sounds out “d o g t” for dog. Other times she will get “d” and “b” mixed up, and she also gets sounds messed up at times when she reads even though when going over the alphabet in or out of order she knows them all. She will sound out d-o-g for d-o-t or h-a-d for h-a-m. This doesn’t happen every time, just enough to upset her once a week or so. Help.

Your daughter’s problem is a very common one as young readers begin to put it all together. They are starting to remember words and retain them in their reading and spelling vocabulary. Consequently, when they see the beginning letters of a word they already know, they quickly fill in the rest—sometimes incorrectly. It’s very common. The problem usually solves itself as they become better and more experienced readers, and as they increase their reading and spelling vocabulary. If she misses a word here and there, help her sound it out correctly, but only once. If she can’t solve the word, tell her what it is and move on. This way she won’t get frustrated with the one word she can’t read and still be happy about the 6 or 8 that she did read. Help her as she goes, and this problem should solve itself as she reads more and more. It sounds like you’re doing a great job. Keep up the good parenting, and enjoy the process of working with your child.