Is there an app that. . .

[La Condessa]

. . .will help my daughter improve her speed and accuracy for high-frequency sight words?

 

We have done pure phonics and she can decode at a high level, but will almost constantly mess up the little common words. It's not that she can't sound them out or doesn't know them, she can read them fine when I force her to stop and pay attention to the little words. It's as though she doesn't even see them the rest of the time--she will just insert any small, common word into that spot as she reads. The easier and more common the word, the less likely she is to get it right. 'A', 'and', 'I', and 'the' are constantly interchanged. Slightly less common words are likely to have some similarity--the, these, then, there, theirs, this, might be very frequently interchanged. But she reads all of these words fine when I make her stop to look at them, though she gets really annoyed with me for constantly stopping her and telling her to pay attention to the words.

 

She took the DORA last week and did abysmally, though I know she can read and understand passages from short chapter books and words like "brethren", "measure", and "patient". It turned out that she did so badly on the high-frequency words that the test never went on the the reading comprehension section.

 

If there is an ipad app for distinguishing between sight words quickly, preferably customizable or with a setting to choose between similar words, I think that would be really helpful. Many of the apps I have looked at are aimed at teaching kids to memorize high-frequency words by sight, so they are slow with lots of repetition, tracing, etc. Something like Sight Word Ninja would be great if only it did similar words--the kid hears and has to tap on the correct word quickly as it moves across the screen. But it's not going to help my daughter pay more attention and really look at the words as she reads if she only has to choose between very different words like 'people', 'like', and 'me'.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

[Plink]

Swapping small words is very common.  In general (barring learning disabilities) it will improve with time and general exposure to sight words and practice reading in context.  

 

You are right to recognize that extra flash cards, etc. won't give you the result you are looking for.  If you want to improve her working memory, which is the base of the skill set you are discussing, try a few of these apps: http://www.libertyhillhouse.com/2013/04/01/dyslexia-apps-more-than-just-phonics/

 

Better than apps is to play slow reading games.  Have her read a paragraph in her turtle voice.  Try another as if she was in slow motion.  The next she needs to highlight every other word as she pronounces them.  Read in the dark with a flashlight beam just big enough to illuminate one word.  Circle every vowel before reading each word.  Have her read the story internally before saying it aloud and reward her with a chocolate covered raisin for every line sentence without error.  Craft your own "notch card," decorate it with her favorite stickers, and use it to view only one word at a time....  Make it fun, and she will enjoy slowing down.  

[MerryAtHope]

LOVE the turtle & reward ideas posted above! Not an app, but you may find this article on skipping small words helpful. The recording idea might be one to try with her. You could replay the recording and see if she can find where she skipped or guessed the wrong word.